Lean management and supply management: their role in green practices and performance

Organizations are faced with increasing pressure to engage in sustainable development and to integrate environmental and social dimensions into their traditional performance metrics. Prior research suggests that lean management and supply management are potentially important determinants of environmental performance and can be seen as capabilities that ease the adoption of environmental practices. To help understand the roles of lean and supply management in regards to improving the firm's environmental performance, a conceptual model proposes that the magnitude of environmental practices mediates the relationship between lean and supply management with environmental performance. To test the model, plant-level survey data from a sample of Canadian manufacturing plants is used. The results indicate that supply management and lean activities provide means by which resources are invested in environmental practices. The empirical analysis also confirms that the impact of lean management, and to a lesser extent supply management, on environmental performance is mediated by environmental practices. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.