Green Supply Chain Research Paper

GREEN SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

CONTENTS

Introduction 2

What is the need for Green Supply Chain Management? 2

Strategies for establishing green supply chains in an organization 3-4

Benefits of Green Supply Chain Management 4-5

Challenges Involved in Establishing Green Supply Chains 5-6

Green Design 6-8

Green Sourcing 8

Green Logistics 8-

Green Supply

This is why green supply chains have to be at the core of those businesses who want to be sustainable in the long run.

Apart from the monetary and environmental benefits that can be gained from going green, following are a few other reasons why a company’s supply chain should go green:

1. Increasing consumer awareness and preference for greener products

2. Greater pressures from stakeholders to be green

3. Rising global temperatures and the threat of a fatal global warming

4. Monetary costs in the form of carbon taxes levied by the governments

5. Increasing energy and resource costs

Strategies for establishing green supply chains in an organization

1. Information Technology: With the advent of the internet and the advances in information technology, it has become possible for various parties in the supply chain to send and share information at a moment’s notice, and this availability of real time information helps organizations to maintain optimal on hand inventory levels, make better decisions with respect to production, shipping schedules

If yes, are they willing to wait for as long as it takes? Going green in ¬supply chain management is bound to take quite a lot of time, energy and decision making by the cream of management. It definitely isn’t a once and for all fix but something that would be an ongoing process.

Also, many businesses have a reactive approach to regulations, and fail to be proactive, missing out on the strategic benefits a green supply chain could bring them. Going green has the challenge of being unable to paint the big picture in terms of returns at the very beginning, and this makes it very easy for companies to not commit their energy and resources towards going green.

If a company wants to have a responsible sourcing program, that would require them to have an in depth look at their suppliers’ production processes. This could pose to be quite a problem if the suppliers aren’t willing to open up about the process at the risk of divulging their knowhow. Also, if the suppliers were to be transparent about their processes, that would also make them more transparent with their pricing. In addition, smaller suppliers might also want the big customer to support them in terms of funding, labour and technical