Quality and Environmental Management Linkage: A Review of the Literature

This article presents a conceptual and empirical review of the literature related to the link between the different perspectives, models, and tools associated with Quality Management and Environmental Management. Several academic works identified in the literature that aimed to establish conceptual similarities between QM and EM are reviewed and discussed. In general, terms, the scholarly literature suggests that the main quality practices and programs associated with the Quality Management paradigmsuch as ISO 9001 and Total Quality Managementfacilitate the adoption of environmental practices associated with corporate Environmental Management. However, there is evidence of certain limitations driven by different biases, whether or not they are recognized in the reviewed publications. The concentration on some avenues of research focused on very detailed aspects of the linkage between QM and EM is discussed. Conversely, lines that have been overlooked and are in need for more research were also identified. The implications for scholars, such as suggestions for further research, are included as a contribution of the article.This research was funded by the Basque Autonomous Government (Grupos de Investigacion del Sistema Universitario Vasco; GIC 15/176) and the Chaire de recherche du Canada sur l'internalisation du developpement durable et la responsabilisation des organisations

Re-evaluating green marketing strategy : a stakeholder perspective.

Purpose The present study aims to examine the influence of stakeholders on green marketing strategy (GMS). Marketing literature recognizes that stakeholders play a significant role in influencing organizations and markets, but has not targeted a single integrated approach to examine the relationship between stakeholder management and GMS. Design/methodology/approach This research comprised several phases, including the development of a typology of GMS, an analysis of how managers prioritize stakeholders, a study of the influence of stakeholders on GMS, and an analysis of the influence of the organizational context on managers’ perception of the stakeholders. The hypotheses were validated using multivariate correlational techniques. Findings The study identified the stakeholders associated with GMS and their impact on the strategy adopted by the firms, and established how this is moderated by the firm’s own economic sector and organizational characteristics. Research limitations/implications Future studies might replicate and extend the research in other industries and countries to ascertain whether environmental concerns have different effects in other contexts. Practical implications The surveys on GMS and stakeholder perception undertaken in the present survey are a potential source of information for managers because they can be used as a self diagnostic tool to determine if a firm’s attitude to the environment is reactive or proactive. Originality/value Results show that the organizational “greening” process is not a linear, one dimensional progression, rather an uneven process in which several GMS profiles prioritize different stakeholders. The results also reveal that underlying perceptual, behavioral, and organizational factors influence GMS implementation.Green marketing; Environmental management; Stakeholder analysis; Spain;

Analyzing potential effects of implementing Green Supply Chain Management practices: A case study of the buyer-supplier relationship between Equinor ASA and Simon Møkster Shipping AS

Master's thesis Industrial Economics and Technology Management IND590 - University of Agder 2019Green supply chain management is receiving a growing attention from both academia and practitioners, as a response to environmental concerns and an increasing synonymous between business operation and supply chain management. This concept is highly relevant for industriesthat extensively impact the environment. Where operators in the Norwegian petroleum industry is becoming aware of the environmental impact in their supply chain, especially within themarine fleet.This thesis will therefore focus on a central practice to implement the concept: cooperationwith suppliers for environmental objectives. The objectiveis to analyze how contract management may positively influence thispractice, withanemphasize on the contracts. A literature review was initiated to develop an understanding of the research field and key aspects, and to iteratively construct the research model. The study was empirically driven, where a case study research was conducted based on the buyer-supplier relationship between Equinor and Simon Møkster Shipping. Empirical data was collected and analyzed from a total of seven participants, divided between the case companies.Findings indicatedthat the standard contracting option: time-charter, resultsin a conflict of interest, especially with the increasing focus on energy efficiency. The supplier’slack of reasoning for collaborative efforts, appears to derive from an inefficient allocation of benefits. Time-charter contracts was therefore analyzed based on the applicability for energy efficiency, where empirical findings directedthe attention towards the strategic fit of performance-based contracts. A conceptual change corroborates with this interest, where collaborative efforts for greening appears to be strengthen, as it potentially aligns their objectivesand ties performance to an incentive structure. Enablers and operational barriers were further investigated,where the complex supply chain of petroleum was discovered as one ofthe key aspects. Hence,it would be demanding tochallengethe standard and easily managed time-charter contracts, but at the same time increasingly important in an industry highly vulnerable to environmental concerns. The practicein focus is perceived as an antecedent for further implementation of green supply chain management and would therefore be part of a proactive response to a topical demand

Exploring the direction on the environmental and business performance relationship at the firm level. Lessons from a literature review

The interest of scientists and companies in understanding the business implications of environmental investment is timely; however, a dilemma remains at the firm level: is the environment a “strategic competitive factor”, as in the “Porter point of view”, or is it a “luxury good”, as in the “Wagner point of view”? Our research contributes to this debate through a review of the papers published in scientific journals between 2000 and 2015 that discussed the direction of the relationship between the environmental and business performances of enterprises. The objectives of the research are: (a) to verify if there is an agreement in the scientific literature of the last 15 years about the “Porter–Wagner dilemma” when focusing at the firm level; (b) to underline the prevalent cause and effect directions of the relationship between environmental and business performance; and (c) to investigate the reasons for any disagreements in this topic among the scientists. The results show that the main agreement regards the positive bi-directional relationship, as a virtuous cyclic approach with mutual effects between business and environmental performance; nevertheless, more complex hypotheses emerge, such as nonlinear and/or conditional relationship, that need to be further explored. On the other hand, the Porter–Wagner dilemma remains, and the main reason for the non-agreement among scientists can be due to the several non-homogeneous variables considered in the analyses. Thereafter, as lesson for scientists, the priority is to share univocal methods to measure firms’ environmental and business performances

Absorptive capacity and relationship learning mechanisms as complementary drivers of green innovation performance

This paper aims to explore in depth how internal and external knowledge-based drivers actually affect the firms\u2019 green innovation performance. Subsequently, this study analyzes the relationships between absorptive capacity (internal knowledge-based driver), relationship learning (external knowledge-based driver) and green innovation performance. This study relies on a sample of 112 firms belonging to the Spanish automotive components manufacturing sector (ACMS) and uses partial least squares path modeling to test the hypotheses proposed. The empirical results show that both absorptive capacity and relationship learning exert a significant positive effect on the dependent variable and that relationship learning moderates the link between absorptive capacity and green innovation performance. This paper presents some limitations with respect to the particular sector (i.e. the ACMS) and geographical context (Spain). For this reason, researchers must be thoughtful while generalizing these results to distinct scenarios. Managers should devote more time and resources to reinforce their absorptive capacity as an important strategic tool to generate new knowledge and hence foster green innovation performance in manufacturing industries. The paper shows the importance of encouraging decision-makers to cultivate and rely on relationship learning mechanisms with their main stakeholders and to acquire the necessary information and knowledge that might be valuable in the maturity of green innovations. This study proposes that relationship learning plays a moderating role in the relationship between absorptive capacity and green innovation performance

Corporate responsibility, supply chain partnership and performance: An empirical examination

This is the post-print version of the final paper published in International Journal of Production Economics. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2012 Elsevier B.V.Unlike corporate and business levels, there is little research examining corporate responsibility (CR) at the functional level of the firm including supply chain strategy. The results of a firm-level survey show that CR internal awareness, and monitoring CR performance are positively related to the supply chain partnership approach, however sharing CR best practices is negatively associated. Furthermore, the impact of CR on firm performance is mediated by the functional behaviour of supply chain partnership formation. Our study provides support for including CR awareness building and monitoring in the development of partnerships but cautions against imposing CR best practices on suppliers

Institutional Pressures and Organizational Characteristics: Implications for Environmental Strategy

A broad literature has emerged over the past decades demonstrating that firms' environmental strategies and practices are influenced by stakeholders and institutional pressures. Such findings are consistent with institutional sociology, which emphasizes the importance of regulatory, normative and cognitive factors in shaping firms' decisions to adopt specific organizational practices, above and beyond their technical efficiency. Similarly, institutional theory emphasizes legitimation processes and the tendency for institutionalized organizational structures and procedures to be taken for granted, regardless of their efficiency implications. However, the institutional perspective does not address the fundamental issue of business strategy necessary to explain the persistence of substantially different strategies among firms that are subjected to comparable levels of institutional pressures. In this chapter, we present current research arguing that such firms adopt heterogeneous sets of environmental management practices despite facing common institutional pressures because organizational characteristics lead managers to interpret these pressures differently.

Eco-innovation practices’ adoption in the automotive industry

Eco-innovation is a construct that is gaining increasing interest from academics and researchers since it is commonly considered in the literature as one of the strategies that allow manufacturing companies not only to significantly reduce the negative impacts on the environment but also the generation of pollutants. However, little is known about the adoption of eco-innovation practices in manufacturing companies, particularly in the automotive industry. Therefore, this research has as main objective to fill this gap in the literature and explore the interdependence between eco-innovation of products, processes and management. The study is conducted through a research framework consisting of 3 measurement scales, 14 items and 3 hypotheses and an extensive review of the literature. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to a sample of 460 companies in the automotive and auto parts industry in Mexico. Data were analyzed through Confirmatory Factor Analysis, Descriptive Statistics and Structural Equation Modelling. The results obtained show that product eco-innovation, process eco-innovation and management eco-innovation are good indicators for the adoption of eco-innovation practices for companies in the automotive and auto parts industry. The paper addresses a research gap in the academic literature in the eco-innovation field by providing evidence on the interdependence between eco-innovation of products, processes and management and the implementation of their practices in the automotive industry.N/