Green Knowledge Sharing,Stakeholder Pressure,Absorptive Capacity,and Green Innovation: Evidence from Chinese Manufacturing Firms

A central issue faced by many Chinese manufacturing firms is how to absorb and utilize green knowledge shared among supply chain members for superior green innovation. Invoking the indirect research stream of organizational learning theory, we develop a moderated mediation model in which absorptive capacity mediates the interactive effects of green knowledge sharing and stakeholder pressure on green innovation. Our hypotheses were tested using a sample of 247 Chinese manufacturing firms. The results from multiple regression and bootstrapping tests reveal that absorptive capacity fully mediates the link between green knowledge sharing and green innovation, and the mediation effect is positively contingent upon stakeholder pressure. These findings provide managerial implications for Chinese manufacturing firms, recommending that these firms effectively develop their absorptive capacities and closely monitor stakeholder pressure to realize the green innovation benefits of green knowledge sharing.     

Knowledge sharing in supply chain networks: Effects of collaborative innovation activities and capability on innovation performance

Building on knowledge management and innovation capability theories, this paper aims to reveal the mechanisms of collaborative innovation processes by investigating the complex relationships among critical factors influencing firm's innovation performance in supply chain networks. Using hierarchical Multiple Regression (MR) and Moderated Multiple Regression (MMR) methods, results from a survey of 236 firms in China indicated that there are significant positive relationships between collaborative innovation activities, knowledge sharing, collaborative innovation capability, and firm's innovation performance. Moreover, it is expected that knowledge sharing plays a partial mediating role in the relationships between collaborative innovation activities and firm's innovation performance. Collaborative innovation capability exhibited a moderating effect on collaborative innovation activities - innovation performance relationship. These results contribute to collaborative innovation process management by offering a nuanced conceptualization of the collaborative innovation - performance relationship in supply chain networks.     

The moderating role of relational bonding in green supply chain practices and performance

Previous research has paid attention to the effect of green supply chain practices on green innovation performance. However, little has been done to examine the substantive role of relational bonding in green supply chain management context. This study attempts to identify relational bonding as a potential moderator and examines the relationships between green supply chain practices, relational bonding, and green innovation performance. The results indicate that green supply chain practices and relational bonding are positively related to green innovation performance. Relational bonding moderates the relationship between green supply chain practices and green innovation performance. This study makes a contribution by integrating relationship marketing literature and green management literature. This study also provides practical implication for the essential role of relational bonding in green supply chain management.     

Green management,firm innovations,and environmental turbulence

The multifaceted nature of firm innovation has prevented researchers from fully explaining the relationship between firm innovation and green management. This study, building on the Schumpeterian theory of innovation, explores this relationship by examining three major types of firm innovation—strategic innovation, managerial innovation, and product innovation—and their respective relationships with green management, considering several dimensions of environmental turbulence as distinctive boundary conditions. We propose that both strategic innovation and managerial innovation facilitate green management, which in turn mediates these effects on new product performance. The results of a survey of 303 Chinese firms provide strong support for this mediating logic. Moreover, we find that market turbulence weakens the effect of strategic innovation on green management whereas technological turbulence strengthens such effect but the effect of managerial innovation on green management is not influenced by environmental turbulence. Our research contributes to the innovation as well as green management and sustainability literatures by offering a framework in which to analyze firm innovation and green management and by showing how firms pursue sustainability and prosperity under specific environmental conditions.     

Enhancing green product and process innovation: Towards an integrative framework of knowledge acquisition and environmental investment

Despite the increasing interest in green innovation literature, little is known on how and under what conditions firms' knowledge transfer activities affect green innovation. There is lack of research that on how particular organizational capabilities are seen more useful and how it influences on green innovation performance. To address this research gap, we examine a mediation model in which we explore whether a firm's knowledge acquisition capability and investment in environmental management mediate the impact of buyer-driven knowledge transfer activities on green product innovation and green process innovation. On the basis of an analysis of a sample of 239 manufacturing firms, we find that buyer-driven knowledge activities have a greater positive impact on green product innovation than green process innovation. Investment in environmental management fully mediates the relationship between buyer-driven knowledge transfer activities and green process innovation, and knowledge acquisition capability partially mediates the relationship between buyer-driven knowledge transfer activities and green product innovation. The current study provides evidence that internal competencies and the role of buyers in knowledge transfer are critical for explaining the green product innovation and green process innovation. Our results suggest that buyer involvement pushes firms to develop resource acquisition capability to enhance green product innovation. Our results also highlight the importance of investment in environmental management for overcoming the environmental challenges in the manufacturing firms.     

Reviewing interfirm relationship quality from a supply chain management perspective

With the overlap of the interfirm relationship quality and supply chain management research in mind, this paper reviewed 100 recent, scientific, English-language papers on interfirm relationship quality based on a categorisation schema derived from a conceptual framework of supply chain management. We aim to contribute to the existing supply chain management literature by providing an insight into the connections of supply chain performance with buyer–supplier relationship quality from the relationship quality scholars’ perspective. Through content analysis, frequency and contingency analysis, we evaluated how the three relationship quality dimensions—information, operational, and relational dimensions—and the three types of supply chain performance—financial and market, operational, and relational performance have been reflected in the current interfirm relationship quality papers and how the scholars have tended to link them to each other. The results reveal that relational dimension plays a key role in SC relationship management and influences performance significantly. Information dimension will affect performance indirectly through relational dimension. However, the impact of the operational dimension on performance varies. In addition, buyers’ and suppliers’ perspectives on the relational drivers of their financial performance may differ. Based on the findings, we suggest promising avenues for future investigation of supply chain relationship and performance.

     

The impact of supply chain quality management practices and knowledge transfer on organisational performance: an empirical investigation from China

In recent years, both quality management practices (QMP) and knowledge transfer (KT) have been studied extensively from inter-organisational and intra-organisational perspectives. However, to the best of our knowledge, the interaction between QMP and KT in a supply chain and their joint effects on organisational performance have not been addressed fully. The purpose of this paper is to provide insights for improving performance by mapping the relationship between supply chain quality management practices (SCQMP) and KT. A survey of 157 Chinese manufacturing firms is used to test a conceptual model that proposes relationship among SCQMP, KT and organisational performance (including operational performance and innovation performance). Structural equation modelling reveals that internal QMP have significantly positive effect on internal KT, while QMP at supply chain level have highly positive effect on cross-organisational KT. Furthermore, the results show that both internal KT and cross-organisational KT can promote operational and innovation performance, although the influence from internal KT is much more significant than cross-organisational KT for Chinese firms. The findings contribute to theory as well as practice by increasing understanding of how to improve the operational and innovation performance through enhancing SCQMP and KT.     

How to respond to competitors' green success for improving performance: The moderating role of organizational ambidexterity

With increasing environmental competitions between companies, there is a pressing need to explore how the environmental pressures from rivals influence focal firms' actions and the subsequent performance consequences. On the basis of social contagion theory and upper echelons theory, we examine whether firms respond to competitors' green success through green supplier integration, which further improves firm performance, and the moderating effect of organizational ambidexterity. The research explores hypothesized relationships adopting hierarchical regression analysis and bootstrapping method by collecting survey data from 206 Chinese manufacturers. Our findings suggest that competitors' green success positively influences green supplier integration. Green supplier integration mediates the impacts of competitors' green success on financial and environmental performance. In addition, the combined dimension of organizational ambidexterity plays a positive moderating role in the impacts of green supplier integration on financial and environmental performance. This study expands previous literature and managers' practices on green supply chain management.     

Environmental management and the “soft side” of organisations: Discovering the most relevant behavioural factors in green supply chains

Anchored in the resource‐based view theory, the objective of this research is to empirically analyse the behavioural factors affecting the green supply chain management (GCSM) performance in a fast‐growing emerging economy by taking an empirical data set of 101 responses from personnel in the mining sector. Behavioural factors in green supply chains are still a critical challenge—not yet a well‐explored academic subject—when the focus is on the mining industry of emerging economies like India; the lack of studies in this field could be a factor preventing the Indian mining industry becoming more green. In terms of methodology, original survey data were processed through AMOS 4.0, adopted for assessing the causal connection among the six constructs, that is, top management support, teamwork, workplace culture, resistance to change, green innovation, and green motivation. We further explore the input from the human side of GCSM by highlighting that top management support and green motivation are the most crucial behavioural factors that influence GCSM in the Indian mining sector. The study will be helpful for mining companies because it will enable them to identify the areas that require their attention for enhancing GCSM performance related to behavioural aspects.     

Use or nonuse? The role of possessed power and realized power on innovation

Power is a central element and salient research topic within supply chain management, and it is also regarded as a key attribute influencing innovation in the supply chain. However, there are still disputes about the consequences of power and whether it should be used. Given this, we examine the relationship between power and innovation, and attempt to explore how to use power to improve innovation performance. In order to better understand power and its influence, we distinguish between possessed and realized power. Using the panel data collected in the Chinese high-technology companies (2014–2018) and controlling for contingencies, we found that there are positive relationships between possessed power and exploitation, exploration, especially the collaborative innovation of them, and these relationships are negatively moderated by financial slack. Surprisingly, we find inverted U-shaped relationships between realized power and exploitative, explorative and collaborative innovation. That is, the excessive use of power begins to show diminishing innovation returns. These findings offer new insights into power and its use in supply chain relationships by distinguishing possessed and realized power, and enrich the literature on supply chain management and innovation.     

基于供应链管理的绿色施工

绿色施工是建筑业可持续发展的关键环节,是建筑企业提高竞争力的必然选择,但是绿色施工在我国的推行却遇到了很大的阻力。本文总结了我国绿色施工推行过程中所存在的问题,从管理层面上剖析了阻碍绿色施工推行的瓶颈,将供应链思想引入到设计和施工过程中,强调绿色施工不仅是生产环节与技术层面的问题,而是一个涉及从资源获取到最终产品交付使用全过程的系统问题,即建筑供应链问题,指出了供应链与绿色施工的联系,深入分析了供应链管理思想对推行绿色施工的重要作用。     

The role of innovation in the implementation of green supply chain management practices

How organizational green practices become routinely embedded in supply chains remains underexplored in the literature. Based on the practice‐based view and normalization process theory, this study adopts a novel perspective on green supply chain management (GSCM) practices implementation and suggests that innovation is a crucial mechanism in such process. Specifically, we theorize and test the mediating effect of product and process innovation on the relationship between GSCM practices and sustainability performance. Survey data from 173 manufacturing firms were used to test the model hypotheses. Our findings show that product and process innovation mediate the relationship between GSCM practices and sustainability performance. The findings also suggest that the relevance of different innovation mechanisms depends on the stage of the operational lifecycle within which the practices are implemented. Our study provides insights for managers and scholars seeking to define innovation strategies to ensure the successful implementation of GSCM practices.     

Integrating sustainable development in the supply chain: The case of life cycle assessment in oil and gas and agricultural biotechnology

It is widely accepted that firms play an important stewardship role in addressing sustainable development concerns. A key challenge in this role is to balance the often conflicting pressures created by sustainable development—firm-level economic performance versus environmental degradation and social disruption. Drawing on complexity theory, risk management, stakeholder theory and the innovation dynamics literature, we discuss the problems of integrating sustainable development concerns in the supply chain, specifically the applicability of life cycle assessment (LCA). Many authors have emphasized the importance of the “cradle to grave” approach of LCA in optimizing closed-loop supply chains, improving product design and stewardship. Based on two case studies (an agricultural biotechnology and an oil and gas company) with supporting data collected from key stakeholders, we argue that sustainable development pressures have increased complexities and presented ambiguous challenges that many current environmental management techniques cannot adequately address. We provide a framework that addresses these deficiencies and discuss implications for practitioners and management theory.     

Green Innovation,Managerial Concern and Firm Performance: An Empirical Study

Extant literature, while often suggesting a positive link between green innovation and firm performance, is inconclusive. Moreover, the possibly moderating role of management has not been sufficiently considered. Using a unique dataset sampling 188 manufacturing firms in China, we examine how managerial concern (for green issues) moderates the relationship between green innovation and firm performance. We find that green process innovation and green product innovation both significantly (positively) predict firm performance, when not considering managerial concern for the environment. Once managerial concern is included, we observe that it compounds the positive effect of green process innovation on firm performance – but not product innovation, which no longer explains significant unique variance in firm performance. The findings hold various implications for future research and business policy. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

绿色供应链绩效评价研究进展

为获得良好的经济绩效与环境绩效,越来越多的供应链核心企业开始实施绿色供应链管理。绿色供应链绩效评价是评判供应链企业相关管理水平和指导企业开展相关工作的重要手段。文章从评价指标体系和评价方法两个方面对国内外绿色供应链绩效评价的相关研究进行了论述。     

An empirical analysis of green supply chain management in the German automotive industry

The purpose of this paper is the empirical investigation of the status quo of green supply chain management in the German automotive industry from a practitioner's point of view. Several aspects of green supply chain management, such as the point of time of implementation, the driving forces, the relevance of intended goals and their particular realization and the adoption of eco‐programs with suppliers and customers as well as internal and external barriers are analyzed. Furthermore, the link to different performance criteria is tested by inductive statistics in order to show the potential of green supply chain management for competitiveness. For this study, managers from the automotive supply industry in Germany were asked about their estimations in this regard. The main conclusion is that managers express the need for green supply chain management on the one hand but also see corresponding problems in terms of required resources on the other hand. Furthermore, the analyses show that green supply chain management leads to higher performance in terms of several performance criteria. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.     

Green innovation to respond to environmental regulation: How external knowledge adoption and green absorptive capacity matter?

Although environmental regulations have been considered as important forces of conducting green innovation, how and under what conditions they affect green innovation are still unclear. Drawing from institutional theory, this study used survey data from 237 manufacturing firms in China to investigate how two dimensions of environmental regulations (i.e., command and control regulation and market‐based regulation) affect green product innovation and green process innovation. Further, this article examined the mediating role of external knowledge adoption and the moderating role of green absorptive capacity. Our results indicate that both command and control regulation and market‐based regulation have positive influences on external knowledge adoption. External knowledge adoption fully mediates these positive relationships. In addition, green absorptive capacity only strengthens the positive impact of market‐based regulation on external knowledge adoption. Our study contributes to institutional theory and green innovation literature.     

Exploring the effect of buyer engagement on green product innovation: Empirical evidence from manufacturers

In this study, we are interested in how export firms organize knowledge management and increase product innovation performance. Prior studies have concluded that knowledge transfer from external actors leads to operational performance outcomes; others have questioned the positive influence of buyer-driven knowledge transfer activities on innovation performance. Drawing on absorptive capacity, we aim to offer a better understanding, how export firms as recipients of knowledge resources, organize their internal capabilities in order to realize firm-level product innovation. This empirical study examines the interplay of buyer-driven knowledge activities, resource acquisition and combining, and product innovation outcomes in the context of Pakistani export firms. Drawing on survey data from 239 export-manufacturing firms, we test hypotheses using structural equation modeling. Our findings show that buyer-driven knowledge transfer activities play a crucial role in enhancing export firms in absorbing and combining resources that lead to product innovation. The pragmatic suggestion of the research suggests that managers look closely at developing a culture of involvement with their buyers that promotes the development of knowledge resources. The results of this study have research, policy, and managerial implications.     

The role of intermediaries in establishing a sustainable supply chain

In sustainable supply chain management, buyers may use intermediaries to bridge exchanges with suppliers when knowledge of suitable sustainability practices is weak and in need of facilitation. Understanding how supply chain intermediaries perform this role and what happens when intermediation is no longer needed is important in establishing more sustainable supply chains. Two supply chain intermediaries have been investigated with the resulting case study evidence analysed using the Gioia methodology. The findings suggest supply chain intermediaries add value to the buyer-supplier exchange by facilitating sustainability-related information transfer, knowledge development, risk management and improved capabilities. For example, specific practices such as corrective action reports, often managed by the intermediary, underpin the development of a sustainable supply chain. When the intermediary is no longer needed, they become disintermediated from the specific buyer-supplier exchange but may be re-employed in a new triadic relationship in the future with previous parties. This provides positive spill-over effects through intermediation–disintermediation–post-intermediation cycles for both the buyer and supplier populations and for broader society. Overall, the findings highlight the value of the transient position of supply chain intermediaries in establishing sustainable supply chains and the intended consequences of their involvement.     

A contingency-configurational view of purchasing operations: The mediating role between supplier relationship and firm performance

The literature has considered purchasing and supply management activities from a strategic perspective, but the tactical role of purchasing operations has yet to be explored. Purchasing operations represent the internal modus operandi for transactions with suppliers, comprising three main activities – purchasing transactions, purchasing document management, and purchasing assessment – and supportive activities like purchasing knowledge management. Following the contingency theory, we hypothesize that these internal activities mediate between external supplier relationship management and firm performance (financial, customer and delivery performance). Complementarily, we adopt the configurational theory to hypothesize that this link between external and internal activities can be combined to increase firm performance. To test this contingency-configurational view of purchasing operations, we conducted a quantitative survey with 234 companies. The regression results of the contingency analysis show that purchasing operations activities have a full mediation role in most relationships between supplier relationship management and firm performance, while knowledge management positively moderates the association between purchasing assessment and customer performance. Moreover, the cluster analysis for the configurational analysis shows that supplier relationship management and purchasing operations follow maturity levels of joint implementation of internal and external activities. Our findings shed light on the purchasing operations by defining the activities representing this concept and showing their role in supply management. We also contribute to practice by proposing an integrative system that helps managers organize the firm's purchasing and supply management activities.