A Framework to Implement Green Supply Chain Management for Sustainable Development

Environmental sustainability is of utmost concern for almost every industry and government in the present scenario. This paper aims to suggest a framework for green supply chain management (GSCM) implementation in the dairy and agro industries in order to achieve sustainability and competitiveness. It has been revealed that GSCM is an emerging new and effective approach to improve productivity, efficiency and to achieve sustainability. The scope of the research work has been on the dairy and agro-industries of northern India and almost 92 dairy and 140 agro-industries have been examined for the purpose. The research methods employed are a survey through a detailed questionnaire, semi-structured interviews of senior officials, e.g., purchase managers, production managers, quality assurance managers, senior chemists as well as lead auditors of ISO 9000 and 14,001 system standards. A theoretical framework is derived from the literature to guide the research work. The intent of the framework is to have a systematic approach towards the implementation of green practices in an organization willing to adopt the GSCM approach. The outline of the framework is broadly divided into four phases, i.e., plan-do-check-act strategy. These four stages include all the green practices for effective implementation of green supply chain management. The framework provides the management a path to plan their green practices so as to achieve continuous improvement in environmental performance.