Green supply chain management (GSCM) practices are cross-organizational and closed-loop. They aim to reduce the ecological impact of the firm’s activity without sacrificing quality, cost, reliability, performance, or energy utilisation efficiency. This study presents empirical evidence to encourage firms to implement GSCM practices, which may enhance their competitive advantages. This study attempts to contribute to the growing research on GSCM practices—namely internal environmental management, green purchasing, eco-design and packaging, investment recovery, and cooperation with customers—and their effects on competitive advantages using a sample of 258 ISO 14001-certified manufacturing firms in Malaysia. A partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) analysis showed the direct effects of green purchasing, eco-design and packaging, investment recovery, and cooperation with customers directly on competitive advantages. However, internal environmental management did not relate to competitive advantages. Suggestions for future research are proposed. The study confirms the positive effects of GSCM practices on the competitive advantages of firms in the Malaysian manufacturing industry.

Malaysia is currently seeing significant environmental pollution caused by manufacturing and export activities and heavily affecting the economy, society, and environment. This issue calls for investigation on how environmental sustainability, through technological innovation, can be integrated into current production operations to create a closed-loop system, thereby enhancing social performance. Green supply chain management (GSCM) is gaining attention because of increasing environmental deterioration, such as overflowing landfills, depletion of raw materials, and pollution in general. The purpose of this study is to examine the mediating role of technological innovation on the relationship between GSCM practices and social performance in 258 manufacturing firms in Malaysia certified with ISO 14001. Survey data were analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). The results revealed that GSCM practices had a significant and positive effect on technological innovation and social performance. Moreover, technological innovation had a positive effect on social performance. Technological innovation also mediated between GSCM and social performance. Therefore, the present paper confirms the positive effect of GSCM on the technological innovation of manufacturing firms, which in turn improves their social performance.