Sustainable Supply Chain Management Practices: Selective Case Studies from Indian Hospitality Industry

[Abstract] Modem globalized world is moving towards greater environmental concern and awareness. The anti - environmental policies followed in the early stages of industrialization are no longer a viable option. It is becoming imperative that environment and industrialization must go hand in hand to achieve sustainable development. Nowadays organizations' sole aim no longer can be just improvement of its performance but its policies must be environment friendly as well. Hence, the notion of Green Supply Chain Management (GSCM) has received increasing attention and acceptance from various quarters. As the public becomes more aware of environmental issues and the need to prevent global warming, consumers do ask questions about environmental impact of the products they are purchasing. Companies should anticipate questions being raised about how green their manufacturing processes and supply chains are, their carbon footprint and how they recycle. Further organizations need to be responsive towards the demands of various stakeholders of the society and need to install systems and processes which maximize environment conservation and minimize negative environmental impact of these processes.The objective of this paper is to present conceptual clarity about GSCM as well as highlighting various efforts taken by Indian hospitality industry to green their supply chain. The paper adopts case study approach based on the conceptual framework green supply chain management as proposed by Hervani, Helms, and Sarkis, (2005), i. e. green procurement, green design, green manufacturing, green operations and reverse logistics and waste management. [keywords] Green supply chain management, Indian hospitality industry, green procurement, green design, green manufacturing, green operations, reverse logistics, waste managementIntroductionSupply chain management has traditionally been viewed as a process wherein raw materials are converted into finished products and then delivered to the consumer. However, in the past few decades, the waste and emissions caused by the supply chain have become one of the main sources of serious environmental problems, such as global warming and acid rains. Hence, the need of environmental sustainability has been increasingly gaining ground among the prevalent business practices. In light of the above developments, "Green Supply Chain Management" (GSCM) has managed to capture the increasing interest among researchers and practitioners of operations and Supply Chain Management. GSCM covers all phases of a product's life cycle from the design, production, and distribution phases to the use of products by the end users, and its disposal at the end of product's life cycle (Borade & Bansod, 2007). GSCM is integrating environmental thinking into supply chain management (SCM) (Gilbert, 2000). So, basically, the following may be said:GSCM = Green purchasing + Green manufacturing/materials management + Green Distribution / marketing + Reverse logistics.In recent years, more and more customers are becoming conscious of green practices opted into by organizations in India. So, organizations need to focus on the utilization of energy and resources for making environmentally sound supply chains. The paper aims to identify the prevalent GSCM business practices by citing examples from organizations underlining the tangible and intangible benefits of GSCM, as well as identifying the direct and indirect costs associated with GSCM. The GSCM practices can be classified as environmental management practices within the organization; GSCM practices relating to suppliers and customers, environmentally conscious products and process design. These may include practices viz. commitment of GSCM from senior and middlelevel managers, environmental compliance, and auditing programs, ISO 14000 certification, cooperation with suppliers for environmental objectives, supplier's ISO 14000 certification, company-wide environmental audits, environmental management for suppliers' internal management, training to build supplier environmental management capacity, cooperation with customers for eco-design and cleaner production, environmentally friendly raw materials, design of products for reduced consumption of materials and energy, design of products for reuse, recycle, recovery of material, and component parts and optimization of processes to reduce solid/liquid waste and emission. …