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Buyer-led environmental supplier development: Can suppliers really help it?

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  • Saghiri, Soroosh Sam
  • Mirzabeiki, Vahid

Abstract

The importance of supplier development programs to enhance supply chain environmental capabilities has often been posited. However, the literature is limited in identifying and explaining the factors that may influence or mediate the effectiveness of such programs. This paper examines the role of environmental supplier development programs led by the buying organization on supplier environmental practices, while testing the mediating effects of the supplier in the forms of resource allocation and collaboration with the buyer. The relationships are tested based on survey data from 267 supplier organizations in the UK using Partial Least Squares (PLS). The results indicate that supplier development in the form of setting requirements and audits has a wide, positive impact on all supplier environmental activities, while environmental supplier development in the form of direct projects only affects supplier environmental activities in logistics and transport. The results for the mediation effects tested are varied: while supplier collaboration is important to enhance the supplier logistics and transport activities, supplier resource allocation proves to be mediating the impact of environmental supplier development on the supplier energy efficiency and logistics and transport activities. The research sheds new light on the effectiveness of supplier development and environmental programs. The findings indicate that buying organizations should make explicit reference to the way they define supplier collaboration and resource allocation for their environmental plans and environmental supplier development programs to be effective.

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  • Saghiri, Soroosh Sam & Mirzabeiki, Vahid, 2021. "Buyer-led environmental supplier development: Can suppliers really help it?," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 233(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:proeco:v:233:y:2021:i:c:s0925527320303194
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpe.2020.107969
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    2. Maciej Urbaniak & Blanka Tundys & Magdalena Ankiel, 2021. "Expectations of Production Companies Operating in Poland towards Suppliers with Regards to Implementation of the Sustainability Concept," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-15, August.
    3. Xiaoyun Li & Suicheng Li & Weisong Zhang & Jianqi Qiao, 2024. "How to Obtain a Sustainably Preferential Supplier Resource Allocation? A Model Based on the S-O-R Framework from a Supplier’s Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-25, July.
    4. Ismail Abdi Changalima & Ismail Juma Ismail & Alban Dismas Mchopa, 2021. "A review of the forms, rationale, and challenges of supplier development in public procurement: lessons for public buyers in Tanzania," Future Business Journal, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 1-10, December.
    5. Zhou, Rui & Bhuiyan, Tanveer Hossain & Medal, Hugh R. & Sherwin, Michael D. & Yang, Dong, 2022. "A stochastic programming model with endogenous uncertainty for selecting supplier development programs to proactively mitigate supplier risk," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).

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