Organizations, today, have to tackle new challenges like financial crises, lack of
resources, climate change, environmental impact on operations, customer awareness
for environment-friendly products, etc. In early environmental management frameworks,
operating managers were involved only superficially. Separate organizational units
had responsibility for excellence in product development, process design operations,
logistics, marketing, regulatory compliance and waste management. Because of the
quality revolution of the 1980s and supply chain revolution of the 1990s, it has become
important to implement the best practices for integration of environmental management
with ongoing operations (Srivastava, 2007).
Supply Chain Management (SCM) is the strategy that helps organizations to move,
store, convert and deliver the products in effective and efficient manner. It is a very
old concept that was initiated in 1975. In the 1990s, a new concept called Environmental/
Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) emerged. GSCM consists of the purchasing
function’s involvement in activities that include reduction, recycling, reuse and the
substitution of materials (Narasimhan and Carter, 1998). It is a closed loop supply
chain with the minimal utilization of resources and is environment-friendly.
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