Green Supply Chain Practices and Operational Performance of Personal Care Manufacturing Firms in Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract

A green strategy provides prudent business processes. Successful green supply chain will feature cross functional collaboration, emphasize innovation, and stay tune to the strategic focus of supply chain and enterprise as a whole. Such a framework emphasizes network redesign, packaging changes, and business collaboration that promote a smaller carbon footprint and generates cost saving. The most strategic way is also the most fundamental - improves supply chain visibility and tactical knowledge, to help close the gap between the time you learn about something with significant impact and when you can actually do something about it. If industry is seen as a complex web of buying, making, selling and delivering, then the opportunities for environmental considerations when brought into play in supply chain management could not only provide sustainable environmental measures but also be beneficial to both organisations and individual consumers. Environmental regulations are also changing the way supply chains are designed and managed. The problem is that the sheer number of regulations, other influences such as changing consumer sentiment, and the complexity of global trade, makes it difficult for companies to decide exactly how they should respond to these pressures. Not surprisingly, there are instances in recent history where the performance of manufacturing businesses was drastically affected due to negligence in environment and safety standards. The environment and safety are not just social or political issues; they are vital ingredients contributing to the performance of an organisation. These rising environmental pressures and social expectations can be turned to commercial advantage if a strategic approach is taken to develop a "green" supply chain. The strategic approach of green supply chain involves complex longer term considerations involving not just industry but sustainable environment protection. A supply chain can be complex, with environmental issues occurring at the second and third-tier supplier levels. Green supply chain concepts manage environmental impacts where they occur, ideally before they occur.