Green Supply Chain Management in China : Innovative Measures and the Moderating Role of Quick Response Technology

The last decade has witnessed a sharp rising trend in environmental awareness and protection in China. Green supply chain management (GSCM) has been regarded as an innovative and effective tool in China for reducing the negative effects that firms have on the environment. However, the extent to which GSCM pressures influence GSCM practices, and whether and how GSCM practices affect GSCM performance are topics that remain under-explored. Combining Institutional Theory, Resource-Based View (RBV) Theory, and the literature on GSCM, our study sheds light on the relationship among GSCM pressures, practices, and performance under the moderating effect of quick response (QR) technology. Using statistical analysis of the collected data and case studies from companies in China, we establish several results. First, among different GSCM pressures, market and export pressures have significant impacts on GSCM practices, whereas cost pressure has a positive effect on the ecology aspect of GSCM practices. Second, both internal and external improvement practices have significant impacts on environmental performance and negative economic performance, logistics practice significantly affects negative economic performance, and ecology practice has significantly impacted all kinds of performance. Third, QR technology suppresses the positive relationship between GSCM practices and environmental performance. Two real cases from Huawei (telecommunications technologies) and Beijing Benz Automotive (automobile manufacturing) are conducted to verify the findings and generate additional insights. The theoretical and practical implications of our findings are also discussed and suggestions are provided to help governments and companies establish effective and innovative GSCM policies