This research concerns the reverse logistics systems in ferrous scrap of 12 North American manufacturing plants. It examines the role of purchasing and other functions in the reverse logistics system, and assesses the contribution made by the various departments. Purchasing played a significant...

The bullwhip effect has long been recognized as a critical factor that amplifies demand variability as customer orders pass upstream through successive tiers of a supply chain. Like customer demand, environmental requirements also change significantly at times, and are passed along the supply...

Social issues in the supply chain are defined as product- or process-related aspects of operations that affect human safety, welfare and community development. Drawing from related literatures, basic constructs related to capabilities and risk are defined and used to underpin case research in...

Manufacturing's choice of environmental technologies is expected to be partly driven by the organizational context and receptivity to new ideas and innovation. More specifically, we hypothesize that the organizational learning and knowledge system of a manufacturing plant tends to favor the...

Environmental management has the potential to play a pivotal role in the financial performance of the firm. Many individuals suggest that profitability is hurt by the higher production costs of environmental management initiatives, while others cite anecdotal evidence of increased profitability....

The view that adopting an environmental perspective on operations can lead to improved operations is in itself not novel; phrases such as "lean is green" are increasingly commonplace. The implication is that any operational system that has minimized inefficiencies is also more environmentally...

Companies are being increasingly pressured to consider environmental concerns in their manufacturing activities and, more recently, with regard to their supply bases. Despite the broad range of literature that links performance to both green manufacturing capabilities such as pollution...