Evaluating barriers to implementing green supply chain management: An example from an emerging economy

Abstract

This study proposes a fuzzy-based VIKOR (VIseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje) framework for evaluating barriers to implementing green supply chain management (GSCM) in the context of an emerging economy. The methodology uses a mix method approach combining literature review and opinions of some selected managers from the plastic industry of Bangladesh to identify four main-barriers and twenty-five sub-barriers relevant to GSCM implementation. Fuzzy-VIKOR approach was applied to aid in the analysis of the barriers in the plastic industry of Bangladesh. The findings of the study show the order/rank of intensity and severity of the main-barriers to implementing GSCM practices in the plastic industry of Bangladesh as follows: "inadequate knowledge and support", "insufficient technology and infrastructure", "financial constraints and unsupportive organizational", and "operational policies". The results also show the rankings of the subbarriers under each main barriers. This research contributes to the literature in a number of ways. First, it identifies multi-levels of barriers to GSCM implementation. Secondly, it identifies and proposes alternative action plans (strategies) to help mitigate and implement GSCM practices. Though this study has significant contributions, a number of limitations do exist. The barriers in this study were identified using the extant literature review and industrial managers' opinions. A more scientific approach and empirical validation is required, especially in the plastic manufacturing industry of Bangladesh to identify more new challenging barriers. However, this study can provide managers with a better understanding of the barriers to implementing GSCM practices and motivate the researchers to further extend the investigation on the insights for developing strategic plans for implementing GSCM practices in the plastic industry of Bangladesh.

An AHP Framework to Evaluate Barriers and Potential Tensions to Green Supply Chain Management in the Food and Beverage Industry

“…Manufacturing industries face many barriers while implementing GSCM, and it is not an easy task to eliminate all of them; however, if the dominant barrier is identified, it can be addressed (Soda et al, 2017). Identifying the barriers to GSCM implementation can lead to a solution that industrial decision makers can use to launch action plans to change TSCM to GSCM smoothly (Rahman et al, 2019). Hence, industries must identify the barriers that pose the biggest obstacles because identifying and assessing the impact of these barriers on green practices could help industries prioritize the necessary steps to eliminate or mitigate these obstacles (S. Balasubramanian & Shukla, 2017;Mathiyazhagan et al, 2016).…”

“…Thus, greening the supply chain is increasingly becoming a concern for many organisations as they are beginning to realise that environmental management is a key strategy that has the potential to have a lasting impact on organisational performance (Diabat & Govindan, 2011). The main objective of green initiatives is to help organisations reduce pollution and protect the environment (Rahman et al, 2019). In this regard, the term green supply chain management (GSCM) has become increasingly popular in the last few years as an area of research interest.…”

“…There are differences between developed and developing countries in levels of GSCM implementation as well as in information about green practices. Green supply chain initiatives are famous in developed countries (Chan et al, 2012;Rahman et al, 2019). However, developing countries more often struggle with the implementation of new strategies, especially with sustainable activities (Govindan et al, 2020).…”

“…Evaluation related to GSCM barriers is a multidimensional and multicriteria decision problem involving numerous and conflicting choices that require an appropriate tool to support the decision (Rahman et al, 2019;Wang et al, 2016). According to the literature, many multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) tools, such as DEMATEL, ANP, TOPSIS and the analytical hierarchy process (AHP), have been used to support the evaluation and ranking of barriers and alternatives (Govindan et al, 2014;Govindan et al, 2016;Jasneet Kaur et al, 2018;Sirisawat & Kiatcharoenpol, 2018).…”

A multidimensional decision with nested probabilistic linguistic term sets and its application in corporate investment

“…In addition, decision making methods have also developed based on some popular methods, such as TOPSIS (Hu et al, 2020), VIKOR (Joshi, 2020), and TODIM (Mahdiraji et al, 2020). In recent years, VIKOR or improved VIKOR methods have been widely used in some fields, such as innovation policies in banking sector (Dincer et al, 2020), green supply chain management (Rahman et al, 2020), renewable energy system schemes in tourist resorts (Zheng & Wang, 2020) and corporate sustainability (Tseng, 2017).…”