An analysis of private versus public sector responses to the environmental challenges of the supply chain
| Published date | 01 April 2002 |
| Pages | 93-105 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/JOPP-02-01-2002-B004 |
| Date | 01 April 2002 |
| Author | Steve New,Ken Green,Barbara Morton |
| Subject Matter | Public policy & environmental management,Politics,Public adminstration & management,Government,Economics,Public Finance/economics,Texation/public revenue |
JOURNAL OF PUBLIC PROCUREMENT, VOLUME 2, ISSUE 1, 93-105 2002
AN ANALYSIS OF PRIVATE VERSUS PUBLIC SECTOR
RESPONSES TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGES OF
THE SUPPLY CHAIN
Steve New, Ken Green and Barbara Morton*
ABSTRACT. This paper examines differences and similarities between private
and public sectors regarding green supply: the incorporation of environmental
considerations into procurement and supply chain relationships. While there are
considerable differences between the sectors, there are two key areas of similarity.
Firstly, responses in both sectors are heavily influenced by organisational structure
and patterns of decision-making and information flow. Secondly, the success of
green supply initiatives appears to be heavily dependent on organisation’s ability
to align activity with dominant corporate objectives.
INTRODUCTION: THE ENVIRONMENTAL CHALLENGE
Environmental issues are becoming an important element of the task of
management, and there are good reasons to believe that this new
development is likely to be more than a passing trend. Relevant work is
emerging from a number of sub-disciplines: once considered a subset of
health and safety, the environment is now seen as pertinent to work in
distribution logistics, product and process design, operations strategy and
(as discussed below) procurement and supply chain management.
Recently, a major stimulus to this work has been the seminal contribution
of Porter and van der Linde (1995a, 1995b), who have argued that
environmental constraints on businesses need not be regarded as a
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* Steve New, Ph.D., teaches at the Saïd Business School and Hertford College,
University of Oxford, UK. His teaching and research interests are in supply chain
and operations management. Ken Green, Ph.D., and Barbara Morton, are
Professor and Research Fellow, respectively, at the Manchester School of
Management, UMIST, Manchester, UK. Dr. Green’s research and teaching
interests are in the management of environmental innovation. Ms. Morton’s work
relates to various aspects of environmental management and green supply.
Copyright © 2002 by PrAcademics Press
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