Green Supply Chain Management Among Small and Medium Manufacturing Firms in East Africa: A Review of Practices and Antecedents for Sustainability

Purpose: As the business industry is increasingly becoming stringent due to rapid developments in manufacturing technologies, the initiatives among small and medium manufacturing firms to adopt lean and innovative cost reduction strategies is critical. Despite the initiative by governments and stakeholders, still the implementation of green supply chain management practices has been shambling due to conflicting business interests, absence of the study clear policy guidelines and commitment among manufacturing firms. Therefore, the study focused on analysing green supply chain management practices implemented by small and medium manufacturing firms whereby a systematic literature review was conducted to collect data from reputable databases including EBSCO, SCOPUS and Google Scholar. Design/Methodology/Approach: A nomothetic content analysis was used to analyse data for the purpose of advancing discussions on green supply chain management practices and related undertakings. Findings: The results indicate that a number of green procurement practices are implemented by manufacturing firms including green specification, collaboration, audits, content restrictions, product labelling, design and packaging. Similarly, the adopted green procurement practices seem to enhance environmental consciousness and social performance through re-use, recycle and refurbish of waste materials which in turn lower raw material costs, increase production efficiency and reduce environmental and occupational hazards. Practical Implications: The study concluded that the adoption of green supply chain management practices is instrumental to firms’ performance and achievement of sustainable development goals despite the small and medium manufacturing firms being constrained by financial resources. Social Implications: Thus, governments and stakeholders still have a role to play in creating a conducive environment to support small and medium firms as they can not stand alone due to limited operations, unpromising cash flows, and limited sources of finance. Originality/Value: An innovative aspect of the study is its examination of the antecedents that drive the adoption of green supply chain practices among small and medium manufacturing firms. This goes beyond mere documentation of practices and delves into the motivations, barriers, and catalysts that influence their decisions to embrace sustainability.