Investigating Environmental Performance and Competitive Advantage with the perspective of Green Supply Chain Management

Abstract

Green supply chain management is a modern practice adopted by manufacturing firms having greater influence on environmental sustainability. This study, based on the resource-based view theory, advances in the current debate by determining the impact of GSCM practices and moderating role of environment management system and firm size on environmental performance by leading towards the competitive advantage. By using questionnaire as a tool and taking purposive sampling of 209 organizations of Punjab, Pakistan, this study tried to fill the gaps of previous literature and determined the influence of five dimensions of GSCM practices (green design, green purchasing, green manufacturing, green distribution and packaging and green marketing) on environmental performance and competitive advantage. The results revealed that GSCM dimensions influence directly to the environmental performance and indirectly to the competitive advantage for large sized firms while this response is dull in case of small size firms while effective environment management system accelerates the strength of these relationships. This study contributes theoretically by providing a lens to judge the GSCM and EP relationship in the context of firm size and provide guidelines to industrial practitioners for implementing GSCM strategies in order to get long-term competitive advantage under the umbrella of environmental sustainability.