Linking green supply chain management practices and environmental performance in the manufacturing industry: a hybrid SEM-ANN approach

This research determines the influence of green supply chain management practices (GSCM) on environmental performance. It also investigates the moderating role of supply chain environmental cooperation on GSCM practices and environmental performance relationships. A total of 370 employees of several Bangladeshi manufacturing companies were conveniently chosen as respondents. To verify the data validity and reliability and to test the hypotheses, we used SmartPLS. Finally, we employed an artificial neural network (ANN) to examine the relationship. Green design and green manufacturing have significant positive impacts on environmental performance, while green procurement and green distribution do not. Moreover, environmental cooperation moderates the relationships of green design and green distribution with environmental performance. The moderating effect of supply chain environmental cooperation in the relationship between GSCM practices and environmental performance in the manufacturing industry adds knowledge to the existing literature by incorporating a hybrid model combining PLS-SEM and ANN. Our study adds to the current body of knowledge by delving into the literature on GSCM from the perspective of Bangladesh's industrial sector. This study fills a knowledge gap by shedding light on the interactions of GSCM and environmental performance. Indeed, this study represents a step forward from classic linear regression-based models to an ANN-based nonlinear model. It also demonstrates new contributions to the literature on green supply chain management and environmental performance.

The scientometric analysis and visualization of sustainable procurement

Sustainable procurement has emerged as a crucial strategy to address environmental and social challenges while promoting responsible sourcing and procurement practices. This research presents a comprehensive scientometric analysis and visualization of 1044 publications from 1997 to July 2023 through a co-author, co-word, and co-citation analysis on sustainable procurement from the Scopus core collection database using VOSviewer and Gephi software. Prominent research areas include green procurement, sustainable procurement, sustainability, procurement, and supply chain. Leading institutions are the University of Southern Denmark, European Business School (EBS) University, Germany and the University of Louvain, Belgium, with the United Kingdom, United States, and China as citation leaders. The Top sustainable procurement outlets are the Journal of Cleaner Production, the International Journal of Production Economics, the Journal of Business Ethics, Sustainability, and Supply Chain Management. By providing a holistic overview of the sustainable procurement research landscape, this study contributes to evidence-based decision-making and fosters a collaborative approach towards achieving a more sustainable and socially responsible world essential for facilitating sustainability efforts. The findings serve as a foundation for future research and policy development, facilitating knowledge exchange and driving positive change in procurement practices.

Role of ecolabeling in reducing ecotoxicology

Ecolabeling helps consumers to select environment friendly products, while meeting high demands on occupational health, safety, and usability. Ecolabeling undertakes cradle-to-grave approach which helps in minimizing the toxicological impacts at every stage of the product life cycle. The ecolabeling procedure calls for substitution or reduction of hazardous substances thereby reducing the toxicity caused due to these chemicals. China, Japan, Australia, European Union, and Nordic countries are leading in the race of awareness and implementation of ecolabeling schemes. In India, the ecolabeling scheme (Ecomark) was initiated in 1991. The Ecomark scheme lacked adoption of the green marketing principles and thus failed to create an impact. This study presents an overview of ecolabels in European Union, Nordic countries, Germany, China and India. Furthermore, it assesses the awareness of ecolabels among the retailers and traders of environment friendly products in India through a survey. The study highlights that the ecolabels are a success in most of the countries studied and are applied across a range of industrial sectors. The survey is administered to 80 retailers and traders of stores selling environment friendly products across different Indian cities. A correlation is established with the variables identified. The survey results indicate that although the retailers and traders of environment friendly products have low awareness of the ecolabels on environment friendly products, they are taking considerable efforts to promote and deliver environment friendly products to consumers. Large-scale awareness drives initiated by the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change permeating at grass root levels with the involvement of stakeholders could prove beneficial for promotion of the ecolabeling schemes.