Greener supplier selection: state of the art and some empirical evidence

Abstract

In recent years, an increasing environmental awareness has favoured the emergence of the new green supply chain paradigm; thus, also in the supplier selection problem, green criteria were incorporated. The aim of this paper is twofold. First, a careful scrutiny of the papers appearing in international scientific journals in recent years on the greener supplier selection problem is provided, highlighting utilised methodologies and current issues; second, a verification of the penetration of environmental and green criteria for the supplier selection in corporate practice is performed, using a questionnaire survey targeting the top 100 manufacturing companies operating in South Yorkshire (UK) and two in-depth interviews at large MNE firms operating in complex industries. Results show that, while interest in the literature is growing, there is little empirical evidence of the transfer of these applications into the real world, highlighting a persistent dichotomy between theory and practice. The reasons for this dichotomy are also investigated.

Keywords:

• green supply chain
• supplier selection

Acknowledgements

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided to this research by the Centre for Low Carbon Futures (CLCF), York, UK through the networks of Sheffield, Hull, York, and Leeds Universities. We also thank the anonymous referees and the editor-in-chief for the valuable comments that helped us in improving the quality of our paper.