Resources, Energy, and Development
Year : 2004, Volume : 1, Issue : 1and2
First page : ( 43) Last page : ( 54)
Print ISSN : 0973-0516.

ISO 14000 with green purchasing: a future scenario

Chen Chung-Chiang

Institute of Environmental Management, Nan Hua University, 32 Chung Keng Li, Dalin Chiayi 622, Taiwan ccchen@mail.nhu.edu.tw

Abstract

The ISO 14000 standard series serves a key role in guiding manufacturers to continuously improve on environmental aspects to meet the goals of sustainability. More and more firms are now implementing ISO 14000 for business environmental management. In contrast, ‘green purchasing’ is still diminutive with many firms not taking it up, despite researchers emphasizing that it may affect business performance and green productivity across the supply chain. A firm needs to integrate a number of other organizations to make up a particular supply chain or network that aims at enhancing environmental performance in addition to the traditional focus on cost reduction, assurance of product quality, rapid delivery time, and other factors. However, very few firms (in both manufacturing and service industries), even though certified with ISO 14000, voluntarily engage in green purchasing.

The purpose of this study is to analyse the effects of buyer-supplier relationship types on performance. It addresses the importance of the integration between ISO 14000 and green purchasing to form an integrating system that can encourage all the firms in the supply chains to redesign products and re-innovate processes for continuous improvements towards green productivity.

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