The Impact of Green Supply Chain Practices on Supply Chain Performance

Supply Chain Management (SCM) has become a critical factor to sustain organization’s competitive advantages. In this regard, many firms and researchers have attempted to find out factors that affect either positively or negatively on SCM. Recently, Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) has been receiving the spotlight in many studies. Social and political concerns about the environment in Korea emerged in the early 1990s when Korean government established new environmental regulations in order to implement environmental management throughout the entire supply chain. The Korean government established national GSCM strategies. However, there has been minimal research on measuring GSCM performance among Korean enterprises. It is critical to conduct the research on the relationship between GSCM practices and supply chain performance among Korean firms. In this research, the relationship among Korean enterprises will be empirically tested. The supply chain performance measurement system includes three dimensions: resource, output, and flexibility.

CO2 and inorganic nutrient enrichment affect the performance of a calcifying green alga and its noncalcifying epiphyte

Ocean acidification studies in the past decade have greatly improved our knowledge of how calcifying organisms respond to increased surface ocean CO2 levels. It has become evident that, for many organisms, nutrient availability is an important factor that influences their physiological responses and competitive interactions with other species. Therefore, we tested how simulated ocean acidification and eutrophication (nitrate and phosphate enrichment) interact to affect the physiology and ecology of a calcifying chlorophyte macroalga (Halimeda opuntia (L.) J.V. Lamouroux) and its common noncalcifying epiphyte (Dictyota sp.) in a 4-week fully crossed multifactorial experiment. Inorganic nutrient enrichment (+NP) had a strong influence on all responses measured with the exception of net calcification. Elevated CO2 alone significantly decreased electron transport rates of the photosynthetic apparatus and resulted in phosphorus limitation in both species, but had no effect on oxygen production or respiration. The combination of CO2 and +NP significantly increased electron transport rates in both species. While +NP alone stimulated H. opuntia growth rates, Dictyota growth was significantly stimulated by nutrient enrichment only at elevated CO2, which led to the highest biomass ratios of Dictyota to Halimeda. Our results suggest that inorganic nutrient enrichment alone stimulates several aspects of H. opuntia physiology, but nutrient enrichment at a CO2 concentration predicted for the end of the century benefits Dictyota sp. and hinders its calcifying basibiont H. opuntia.

Análisis de ciclo de vida de una nueva solución arquitectónica que mejora el rendimiento térmico de la envolvente del edificio: fachada natural aljibe. Life Cycle Assessment of a new architectural solution that improves the thermal performance of the building envelope: Natural Green Tank Façade

Análisis de ciclo de vida de una nueva solución arquitectónica que mejora el rendimiento térmico de la envolvente del edificio: fachada natural aljibe.

Testing the performance of a green wall system on an experimental building in the summer

It is known that a green wall brings some advantages to a building. It constitutes a barrier against solar radiation, thus decreasing and delaying the incoming heat flux. The aim of this study is to quantify such advantages through analytical comparison between two facades, a vegetal facade and a conventional facade. Both were highly insulated (U-value = 0.3 W/m2K) and installed facing south on the same building in the central territory of Spain. In order to compare their thermal trend, a series of sensors were used to register superficial and indoor air temperature. The work was carried out between 17th August 2012 and 1st October 2012, with a temperature range of 12°C-36°C and a maximum horizontal radiation of 1020 W/m2. Results show that the indoor temperature of the green wall module was lower than the other. Besides, comparing superficial outdoor and indoor temperatures of the two walls to outdoor air temperatures, it was noticed that, due to the shading plants, the green wall superficial temperature was 5 °C lower on the facade, while the bare wall temperature was 15 °C higher. The living wall module temperature was 1.6 °C lower than the outdoor, while the values of the conventional one were similar to the outdoor air temperature.

Swimming performance of hatchling green turtles is affected by incubation temperature

In an experiment repeated for two separate years, incubation temperature was found to affect the body size and swimming performance of hatchling green turtles (Chelonia mydas). In the first year, hatchlings from eggs incubated at 26 degrees C were larger in size than hatchlings from 28 and 30 degrees C, whilst in the second year hatchlings from 25.5 degrees C were similar in size to hatchings from 30 degrees C. Clutch of origin influenced the size of hatchlings at all incubation temperatures even when differences in egg size were taken into account. In laboratory measurements of swimming performance, in seawater at 28 degrees C, hatchlings from eggs incubated at 25.5 and 26 degrees C had a lower stroke rate frequency and lower force output than hatchlings from 28 and 30 degrees C. These differences appeared to be caused by the muscles of hatchlings from cooler temperatures fatiguing at a faster rate. Clutch of origin did not influence swimming performance. This finding that hatchling males incubated at lower temperature had reduced swimming ability may affect their survival whilst running the gauntlet of predators in shallow near-shore waters, prior to reaching the relative safety of the open sea.

How green is green? A framework for environmental performance assessment in operations

This paper presents a framework based upon a relationship between environmental benefits and the investments and costs needed to implement and run company operations. As the results of environmental management become more evident it is proposed that the benefits rather than the environmental impacts are measured in the analysis of environmental performance. Four categories, or stages, are defined in this paper: “creative-green”, “expensive-green”, “inefficient-green or beginner”, and finally, the “complacent” stage. The paper describes the characteristics of each category and provides examples of indicators that could be used to measure environmental benefits. Qualitative and quantitative methods are necessary to classify companies according to the framework. It is believed that this paper can assist companies and public organisations to assess operations and projects considering their level of sustainability. The proposed framework can impact FDI and environmental policies in the public arena, and foster innovation on environmental practices within the private sector.

Green supply chain performance measurement using the analytic hierarchy process:a comparative analysis of manufacturing organisations

The main purpose of this research is to develop and deploy an analytical framework for measuring the environmental performance of manufacturing supply chains. This work's theoretical bases combine and reconcile three major areas: supply chain management, environmental management and performance measurement. Researchers have suggested many empirical criteria for green supply chain (GSC) performance measurement and proposed both qualitative and quantitative frameworks. However, these are mainly operational in nature and specific to the focal company. This research develops an innovative GSC performance measurement framework by integrating supply chain processes (supplier relationship management, internal supply chain management and customer relationship management) with organisational decision levels (both strategic and operational). Environmental planning, environmental auditing, management commitment, environmental performance, economic performance and operational performance are the key level constructs. The proposed framework is then applied to three selected manufacturing organisations in the UK. Their GSC performance is measured and benchmarked by using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), a multiple-attribute decision-making technique. The AHP-based framework offers an effective way to measure and benchmark organisations’ GSC performance. This study has both theoretical and practical implications. Theoretically it contributes holistic constructs for designing a GSC and managing it for sustainability; and practically it helps industry practitioners to measure and improve the environmental performance of their supply chain. © 2013 Copyright Taylor and Francis Group, LLC. CORRIGENDUM DOI 10.1080/09537287.2012.751186 In the article ‘Green supply chain performance measurement using the analytic hierarchy process: a comparative analysis of manufacturing organisations’ by Prasanta Kumar Dey and Walid Cheffi, Production Planning & Control, 10.1080/09537287.2012.666859, a third author is added which was not included in the paper as it originally appeared. The third author is Breno Nunes.

Senior managers’ perception on green information systems (IS) adoption and environmental performance:results from a field survey

Based on a Belief-Action-Outcome framework, we produced a model that shows senior managers' perception of both the antecedents to and the consequences of Green IS adoption by a firm. This conceptual model and its associated hypotheses were empirically tested using a dataset generated from a survey of 405 organizations. The results suggest that coercive pressure influences the attitude toward Green IS adoption while mimetic pressure does not. In addition, we found that there was a significant relationship between Green IS adoption, attitude, and consideration of future consequences. Finally, we found that only long term Green IS adoption was positively related to environmental performance. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

Green supply chain performance measurement using fuzzy ANP-based balanced scorecard:a collaborative decision-making approach

The purpose of this paper is to delineate a green supply chain (GSC) performance measurement framework using an intra-organisational collaborative decision-making (CDM) approach. A fuzzy analytic network process (ANP)-based green-balanced scorecard (GrBSc) has been used within the CDM approach to assist in arriving at a consistent, accurate and timely data flow across all cross-functional areas of a business. A green causal relationship is established and linked to the fuzzy ANP approach. The causal relationship involves organisational commitment, eco-design, GSC process, social performance and sustainable performance constructs. Sub-constructs and sub-sub-constructs are also identified and linked to the causal relationship to form a network. The fuzzy ANP approach suitably handles the vagueness of the linguistics information of the CDM approach. The CDM approach is implemented in a UK-based carpet-manufacturing firm. The performance measurement approach, in addition to the traditional financial performance and accounting measures, aids in firms decision-making with regard to the overall organisational goals. The implemented approach assists the firm in identifying further requirements of the collaborative data across the supply-cain and information about customers and markets. Overall, the CDM-based GrBSc approach assists managers in deciding if the suppliers performances meet the industry and environment standards with effective human resource. © 2013 Taylor & Francis.

Mitől zöld egy vállalat - avagy mit is jelent a jó környezeti teljesítmény? (What makes a company green – or what does good environmental performance mean?)

A vállalati teljesítmény megítélésénél egyre nagyobb hangsúlyt kap a környezeti teljesítmény vizsgálata. Nem egyértelmű ugyanakkor, mit is jelent a jó környezeti teljesítmény: egyesek például a szennyezőanyagkibocsátás csökkentését, míg mások egy környezetirányítási rendszer bevezetését értik alatta. Az eltérések miatt sokszor nem kapunk hiteles információt arról, vajon a környezetileg jól teljesítő vállalatok versenytársaiknál sikeresebbek-e vagy se m. A szerző a cikkben kísérletet tesz egy a környezeti teljesítmény átfogó értelmezésére szolgáló modell felállítására, amely lehetőséget biztosít a vállalati és a környezeti teljesítmény kapcsolatának pontosabb megismerésére és így jobb vállalati döntések meghozatalára. _________ When evaluating corporate performance, more and more emphasis is put on the assessment of environmental performance as well. It is not obvious however, what good environmental performance means: some researchers interpret it for example as decreasing environmental load while others as introducing an environmental management system. These differences in many cases lead to contradictory conclusions, whether environmentally good companies would outperform their competitors in other fields as well. In the article the author attempts to build a model for interpreting the concept of environmental performance, enabling more exact analysis of the relationship between company and environmental performance, and so making better company decisions.

Future CO2-induced ocean acidification mediates the physiological performance of a green tide alga Ulva prolifera

The oceans take up more than 1 million tons of CO2 from the air per hour, about one-quarter of the anthropogenically released amount, leading to disrupted seawater chemistry due to increasing CO2 emissions. Based on the fossil fuel-intensive CO2 emission scenario (A1F1; Houghton et al., 2001), the H+ concentration or acidity of surface seawater will increase by about 150% (pH drop by 0.4) by the end of this century, the process known as ocean acidification (OA; Sabine et al., 2004; Doney et al., 2009; Gruber et al., 2012). Seawater pH is suggested to decrease faster in the coastal waters than in the pelagic oceans due to the interactions of hypoxia, respiration, and OA (Cai et al., 2011). Therefore, responses of coastal algae to OA are of general concern, considering the economic and social services provided by the coastal ecosystem that is adjacent to human living areas and that is dependent on coastal primary productivity. On the other hand, dynamic environmental changes in the coastal waters can interact with OA (Beardall et al., 2009).

Cyber foraging for green computing, improving performance and prolonging battery life of mobile devices

The increasing dependency of everyday life on mobile devices also increases the number and complexity of computing tasks to be supported by these devices. However, the inherent requirement of mobility restricts them from being resources rich both in terms of energy (battery capacity) and other computing resources such as processing capacity, memory and other resources. This thesis looks into cyber foraging technique of offloading computing tasks. Various experiments on android mobile devices are carried out to evaluate offloading benefits in terms of sustainability advantage, prolonging battery life and augmenting the performance of mobile devices. This thesis considers two scenarios of cyber foraging namely opportunistic offloading and competitive offloading. These results show that the offloading scenarios are important for both green computing and resource augmentation of mobile devices. A significant advantage in battery life gain and performance enhancement is obtained. Moreover, cyber foraging is proved to be efficient in minimizing energy consumption per computing tasks. The work is based on scavenger cyber foraging system. In addition, the work can be used as a basis for studying cyber foraging and other similar approaches such as mobile cloud/edge computing for internet of things devices and improving the user experiences of applications by minimizing latencies through the use of potential nearby surrogates.

Green supply chain management practices and firm performance: evidence from Finland

In order to address the increasing stakeholder requirements for environmentally sustainable products and processes, firms often need the participation of their supply chain partners. Green supply chain management has emerged as a set of managerial practices that integrate environmental issues into supply chain management. If implemented successfully, green supply chain management can be a way to achieve competitive advantage while enhancing the environmental sustainability of the firm. The overall purpose of this dissertation is to contribute to the discussion on green supply chain management practices from the perspective of their drivers and performance implications. The theoretical background arises from the literature on competitive strategy, firm performance and green supply chain management. The research questions are addressed by analysing firm-level data from manufacturing, trading and logistics firms operating in Finland. The empirical data comes from two consecutive Finland State of Logistics surveys in 2012 and 2014, combined with financial reporting data from external databases. The data is analysed with multiple statistical methods. First, the thesis contributes to the discussion of the drivers of GSCM practices. To enhance the understanding of the relationship between competitive strategy and GSCM practices, a conceptual tool to describe generic competitive strategy approaches was developed. The findings suggest that firms pursuing marketing differentiation are more likely to be able to compete by having only small environmental effects and by adopting a more advanced form of external green supply chain management, such as a combination of strong environmental collaboration and the increased environmental monitoring of suppliers. Furthermore, customer requirements for environmental sustainability are found to be an important driver in the implementation of internal GSCM practices. Firms can respond to this customer pressure by passing environmental requirements on to their suppliers, either through environmental collaboration or environmental monitoring. Second, this thesis adds value to the existing literature on the effects of green supply chain management practices on firm performance. The thesis provides support for the idea that there is a positive relationship between GSCM practices and firm performance and enhances the understanding of how different types of GSCM practices are related to 1) financial, 2) operational and 3) environmental performance in manufacturing and logistics. The empirical results suggest that while internal GSCM practices have the strongest effect on environmentalperformance, environmental collaboration with customers seems to be the most effective way to improve financial performance. In terms of operational performance, the findings were more mixed, suggesting that the operational performance of firms is more likely to be affected by firm characteristics than by the choices they make regarding their environmental collaboration. This thesis is also one of the first attempts to empirically analyse the relationship between GSCM practices and performance among logistics service providers. The findings also have managerial relevance. Management, especially in manufacturing and logistics industries, may benefit by gaining knowledge about which types of GSCM practice could provide the largest benefits in terms of different performance dimensions. This thesis also has implications for policy-makers and regulators regarding how to promote environmentally friendly activities among 1) manufacturing; 2) trading; and 3) logistics firms.