Analysis of barriers in implementing green supply chain management in plastic industry

Abstract

Researchers and practitioners have given much importance to green supply chain management (GSCM), an interdisciplinary field, as a proactive approach to accelerate awareness and mitigate environmental impacts. Understanding and application of various sustainability practices into traditional supply chain management and relating them to environmental issues and performance have been heavily scrutinized in the last couple of years. Ecological sustainability initiatives are gaining popularity as a result of increasing environmental problems, competitive advantages, legislative bindings, international pressures, financial benefits and societal issues. Due to the increased pressures from various advocacy groups and governments for firms to mitigate environment impacts from their supply chains, companies have started incorporating green initiatives into their supply chains. Yet, there are some difficulties faced by some companies especially those in the plastic industry of Bangladesh to implement GSCM. This study therefore attempted to examine the barriers to implementing GSCM in the plastic industry of Bangladesh. The study used a combination of literature review and opinions of some selected managers from the plastic industry of Bangladesh to identify four main-barriers and twenty-five sub-barriers relevant to GSCM implementation, and proposed four alternative action plans to help mitigate these barriers.Fuzzy-VIKOR approach was applied to aid in the evaluation of the barriers and action plans in the plastic industry of Bangladesh. The findings of the study shows that, the order/rank of intensity and severity of the main-barriers to implementing GSCM initiatives in the plastic industry of Bangladesh are as follows: “inadequate knowledge and support”, “insufficient technology and infrastructure”, “financial constraints” and “unsupportive organizational and operational policies”. The results also show the rankings of the sub-barriers under each mainbarrier and that of the four alternative action plans for the smooth implementation of GSCM practices. This study can provide managers with a better understanding of the barriers to implementing GSCM practices and insights for developing strategies for implementing GSCM practices in the plastic industry of Bangladesh.