Green Supply Chain Management (GrSCM), which integrates environmental thinking right from conceptualization and management of production, distribution and consumption to end-of-life management of the product, has become a growing concern for Indian industries. One of the most polluting industries, the Information Technology (IT) is generating alarming magnitude of e-waste which involves social and environmental hazards. This research paper uses the case study approach to explore the green initiatives followed by the three major Indian IT companies to manage their supply chain. The study summarizes the steps taken by these companies with respect to green manufacturing, green procurement, green packaging, recycling and e-waste management, that have helped them to make their supply chains more costefficient as well as environment-friendly. These green initiatives by the companies also distinguish them from their competitors and help them to improve their brand image. The paper also identifies some of the major challenges to the effective implementation of rules by the government and desired outcome of the green initiatives.

Increased market competition, technological advancements, customer requirements and environmental concerns have led the organizations to review and integrate their business activities right from strategic planning to procurement, product development, manufacturing, marketing and logistics. In today’s business environment, companies not only compete on manufacturer to manufacturer basis, but also on supply chain to supply chain basis. Rather, the true competitive battle occurs between one supply chain and another (Cousins and Spekman, 2003). Organizations started realizing the importance of supply chain for competitive advantage. Business executives and managers recognize that the ultimate success of any enterprise is no longer built around a firm’s capability and capacity, but on a supply chain’s capability and capacity (Chow et al., 2008). One of the reasons for the increased interest in Supply Chain Management (SCM) is that the organizations progressively find themselves reliant on having effective supply chains, or networks, to successfully compete in the global market economy (Lambert, 2008). Another reason for the increased interest is the potential benefits of SCM, which include improvement in returns on investments and returns on assets (Naslund and Williamson, 2010). Ultimately, the goal of SCM is to achieve greater profitability by adding value and creating efficiencies, thereby increasing customer satisfaction (Stock and Boyer, 2009). Ideally, any improvement in the SCM will translate into benefits for all supply chain members.

The concept of SCM addresses the issues relating to efficiency and effectiveness of the entire chain of the business entities with least concern to environmental issues. Now when environmental sustainability has become an important national and global concern, governments have started framing rules and business firms have started making their supply chains greener by introducing sustainability strategies throughout their organizations and supplier relationship. Green Supply Chain Management (GrSCM) seeks to integrate environmental thinking into SCM, including product design, material sourcing and selection, manufacturing process, delivery of the final product to the consumers as well as end-of-life management of the product after its useful life (Srivastava, 2007).

Operations Management Journal, Green Supply Chain Management (GrSCM), Information Technology (IT), Supply Chain
Management (SCM), Green Procurement (GP), Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP).