Sustainable Supply Chains: Evidence from Small and Medium-Sized Manufacturers

Jun- Der Leu, Larry Jung-Hsing Lee, Yi-Wei Huang and Chia-Chi Huang
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Jun- Der Leu: Department of Business Administration, National Central University, No. 300, Zhongda Rd., Zhongli District, Taoyuan City 320317, Taiwan
Larry Jung-Hsing Lee: Department of Business Administration, National Central University, No. 300, Zhongda Rd., Zhongli District, Taoyuan City 320317, Taiwan
Yi-Wei Huang: Department of Business Administration, National Central University, No. 300, Zhongda Rd., Zhongli District, Taoyuan City 320317, Taiwan
Chia-Chi Huang: Department of Business Administration, National Central University, No. 300, Zhongda Rd., Zhongli District, Taoyuan City 320317, Taiwan

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 16, 1-22

Abstract: As a result of the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, numerous countries have become highly interested in sustainability. Manufacturers have been triggered to develop sustainable supply chain strategies in consideration of their value-added processes and stakeholders. This study was conducted, in the context of small- and medium-sized enterprises in the Taiwanese manufacturing industry, in order to examine the relationship between sustainability and business performance from the perspective of the supply chain aspects of business cooperation, operation integration, and enterprise commitment. A total of 290 companies were surveyed and structural equation modeling was applied to analyze the figures from the samples. The results reveal that the implementation of sustainable practices in the context of enterprise commitments, supply chain cooperation, and operation integration has a positive impact on sustainability and business performance. Furthermore, in high-value manufacturing, supply chain cooperation significantly affects sustainable business performance through internal operation integration. These results may serve as a reference for the realization of supply chain sustainability in small- and medium-sized enterprises.

Keywords: small- and medium-sized enterprise; supply chains; fit; structural equation modeling; sustainable supply chain; sustainable development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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