Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine a multitude of motivators that facilitate the implementation of green practices (GP) in the context of Chinese manufacturing industry. Also, this study aims to explore the influence of GP on the environmental performance, operational performance, and financial performance of manufacturing firms. Design/methodology/approach This paper developed a conceptual model to investigate the stakeholder drivers and commensurate performance outcomes of GP. Statistical analysis was based on the data collected from 124 manufacturing firms across the Greater China. Finally, the hypotheses were empirically tested by partial least squares approach. Findings Of the ten proposed hypotheses, seven are considered valid. The statistic results reveal that pressures originate from employees, senior managers, and customers exert significant positive influence on firm’s decision to adopt GP, while the drivers generated from government and competitors is non-significant. More specifically, this study indicates that environmental performance partially mediates the relationship between GP and operational/financial performance. Originality/value The originality of this research is that it proposes a novel conceptual model, ascertains the primary drivers in promoting GP in Chinese manufacturing industry. This research provides policy insights for professional organizations, regulators, and legislators to further promote GP.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to reveal how the meanings of the current national curriculum reform in China changed in its transmission from the outside authoritative mandate to the local school practice through a case study of a lesson study on a reform practice called the "thematic teaching" in the Chinese language course. Design/methodology/approach -By a longitudinal study of the case for more than two months in a primary school in Beijing, China, the authors of this paper followed all the steps of the lesson study cycle conducted by all the Chinese language teachers in the school. Observations, interviews and document analysis were employed to capture the teachers' thoughts, actions and especially group interactions in trying to understand and implement this new reform practice. Findings -The study found that due to the marked differences between the professional reform discourse and the teachers' native discourse, the meanings of the reform tended to look alien to school teachers. In order to make meanings out of the reform, the teachers in this lesson study resorted to their own native discourse to understand the reform. Such strategies as "de-contextualization" and "re-contextualization" were found in the teachers' joint efforts to reconstruct and reenact the reform. Originality/value -This research points to the importance of school teachers' own belief system in teaching as revealed by their native discourse. Only by finding an adequate link between the outside reform discourse and the teachers' native discourse, can the national curriculum reform truly take hold in the school.

Purpose This paper aims to present an empirical study on the multidimensional relationships between sustainable supplier management (SSM) practices and buyer–supplier performance from the buying firms’ perspective. Specifically, the authors focus on four SSM practices, namely, sustainable supplier selection, sustainable supplier monitoring, sustainable supplier development and sustainable supplier collaboration, and test their effects on three buyer–supplier performance measures, namely, supplier performance, buyer–supplier relationship and buyer competitive advantage. Design/methodology/approach Based on data collected from 256 manufacturers across different geographical areas and industrial branches in Greater China. A conceptual model was proposed and tested using structural equation modeling technique with the help of SmartPLS 3.0. Findings The sustainable supplier development and sustainable supplier collaboration have positive relationships with supplier performance, while sustainable supplier selection, sustainable supplier monitoring and sustainable supplier collaboration have positive influence on buyer–supplier relationship and buyer competitive advantage. Furthermore, the relative importance and contributions of the individual measures was also identified. Originality/value This study simultaneously integrates the constructs of SSM practices and buyer–supplier performance. Moreover, it seeks to make a contribution to existing literature from a theoretical perspective by investigating the sub-dimensions of SSM practices and buyer–supplier performance.

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