Background: The implementation of green supply chain management activities as a business strategy remains unfamiliar to many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries such as South Africa. Setting: Implementation of green supply chain management activities by South African SMEs is necessary, given both the high failure rate of such enterprises in the country and the proven ability of such activities to promote the success of businesses. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between green supply chain management activities, operational performance and supply chain performance in manufacturing SMEs in South Africa. Methods: Data were collected from 219 manufacturing SMEs operating within Gauteng. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to assess the psychometric properties of measurement scales. Hypotheses were tested using structural equation modelling. Results: Four green supply chain management activities, namely green purchasing, reverse logistics, environmental collaboration with suppliers and green manufacturing, exerted a positive influence on operational performance. Environmental collaboration with suppliers exerted the highest influence on operational performance when compared to green purchasing, reverse logistics and green manufacturing. In turn, operational performance exerted a strong positive influence on supply chain performance. Conclusion: The results of the study suggest that manufacturing SMEs in developing countries could benefit by adopting green supply chain management activities, with improvements being realised in terms of increases in both operational and supply chain performance.

The failure rate of most small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in South Africa remains very high, with up to 70% of such businesses closing down within the first 5 years of operations. High business operating costs incurred by SMEs are often cited as one of the major causes of these failures. It may be argued that to reduce these costs, and hence improve the success rates of SME ventures, supply chain management (SCM) strategies should be adopted and implemented.Aim: This article provides an analysis of the connection between SCM strategies, supply chain agility and supply chain performance among SMEs in South Africa.Setting: A total of 407 owners, managers and professional employees of SMEs operating in Gauteng were recruited purposively to participate in the study.Method: To test the proposed relationships, the collected data were analysed using exploratory factor analysis, Pearson correlations and regression analysis.Result: The results of the study disclosed that all four SCM strategies (supplier collaboration, total quality management, technology adoption, supply chain integration) correlated with and predicted supply chain agility. Technology adoption (β = 0.54) emerged as the strongest predictor of supply chain agility. In turn, supply chain agility correlated with and predicted supply chain performance.Conclusion: The article concludes by recommending specific interventions that may be employed by SMEs to ensure that the adoption of SCM strategies yields positive outcomes.

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