Green supply chain practice adoption and firm performance: manufacturing SMEs in Uganda

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the relationship between five green practices and firm performance. In addition, this paper investigates the influence of each green practice on environmental performance, economic benefits, and economic costs. Design/methodology/approach Data were collected based on a cross-sectional survey of owner/managers of 200 manufacturing SME firms in Uganda, Africa. SPSS was used to find descriptive means and test relationships between green practices and performance outcomes. Structural equation modelling was used to test for the influence of each practice on performance outcomes. The structural equation modelling results were obtained using the Covariance-Based Structural Equation Modelling software. Results were compared with similar studies conducted in developing countries. Findings Different green practices affect different performance dimensions in different ways across different industries. For example, eco-design and internal environmental management practices significantly influence environmental performance; green purchasing and internal environmental management practices significantly influence economic benefits; and internal environmental management practices affect economic costs. Overall internal environmental management is the key to positive outcomes across the three performance criteria. The authors show how the results obtained vary from similar studies conducted in developing countries and explain possible reasons for the difference. Research limitations/implications Africa is a rapidly industrialising nation faced with difficult choices between economic growth and increased pollution. Because SMEs represent the majority of manufacturing firms, they are the main polluters. Hence, better understanding of the costs and benefits, both environmental and economic, is important to encourage green practice adoption for the betterment of community health and prosperity. Originality/value Despite numerous studies on the relationships between green practice adoption and performance outcomes, only a few studies include both economic costs and benefits in addition to environmental performance. The study covers five green supply chain practices, whereas most similar studies are limited in the number of practices examined. The African context is unique and important because industrial development and environmental protection goals are in conflict. Similar studies are predominant in an Asian context which is more developed than Africa. The findings and comparisons raise important questions for further research in relation to the roles of national regulations, geographical markets and industry types in furthering green practices in manufacturing.

Understanding the Green Development Behavior and Performance of Industrial Enterprises (GDBP-IE): Scale Development and Validation

“…Industrial enterprises are affected by production, life, and policies. Therefore, the GD of industrial enterprises has been increasingly valued by researchers [12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. This section provides a review of the relevant literature in terms of three aspects: Influencing factors, GDB-IE, and GBP-IE.…”

Impact of knowledge management capability and green supply chain management practices on firm performance

“…GSCM practices contribute to the environment performance through reduce the consumption of water, energy, hazardous and toxic materials in the production as well as reduce the generation of wastes, effluent, air emission, environmental accidents and improvement of the health and safety of worker and community (Eltayeb et al, 2011;Wilburn Green et al, 2015). Environmental performance (ENP) can be achieved from the internal environmental management system by implementing the environmental management program such as adopting 14001 environmental certification system, information technology, and total quality environmental management (Namagembe et al, 2019). Qinghua conducted an empirical study in the Chinese automotive industry, and revealed that internal environmental management such as top management commitment, middle management support, environmental compliance, and auditing programs, the environmental management system has a significant positive impact on environmental performance.…”

“…External-GSCM practices such as investment recovery contribute economic performance (ECP) through reselling and reusing of unused, scrape and surplus material (Qinghua , and at the same time contribute to the environmental performance by minimize the waste generation, remanufactured and recycled (Namagembe et al, 2019). Some researchers argue that green purchasing and cooperation with customers do not directly earn economic benefits rather in the long run they bring sustainable competitive advantages (Green, Zelbst, Meacham, & Bhadauria, 2012;Qinghua Zhu et al, 2007).…”

“…Green supply chain management practices emerged into sustainable business to work closely with supply chain partners to achieve sustainable competitive advantages (Attia & Essam Eldin, 2018). Nowadays, GSCM practices gain much attention on to the researchers, NGOs, practitioners (Namagembe, Ryan, & Sridharan, 2019;Saeed, Jun, Nubuor, Priyankara, & Jayasuriya, 2018). Many researchers identified GSCM not only improve environmental performance but also improve economic performance (Eltayeb, Zailani, & Ramayah, 2011;Qinghua Zhu, Sarkis, & Lai, 2007).…”

Cash inflow conundrum in Ugandan SMEs: A perspective of ISO certification and firm location

“…Kintu (2017) established empirical evidence of the relationship between core values and entrepreneurial performance in SMEs of Uganda"s central region. The study by Namagembe et al (2018) focused on green practices and firm performances. In addition, the study by Islam et al (2018) discussed the contribution of mobile money to firm investment.…”