The role of customer integration in extended producer responsibility: A study of Chinese export manufacturers

Kee-hung Lai, Christina W.Y. Wong and Y.H. Venus Lun

International Journal of Production Economics, 2014, vol. 147, issue PB, 284-293

Abstract: Extended producer responsibility (EPR) is increasingly emphasized by manufacturing enterprises to improve eco-efficiency and to satisfy the growing environmental requirements expected in the market. This trend is salient for export-oriented manufacturers mandated to comply with environmental regulatory requirements before entry is granted for their products in the requisite overseas countries. Drawing on the contingency theory, we examine the EPR practices undertaken by export-oriented manufacturers and the market and financial performance outcomes when such practices are characterized with low and high levels of customer integration in their implementation. Survey data collected from 134 manufacturing exporters in China show positive association of EPR practices with the performance outcomes. Using split group analysis, we found performance differences between the high and low manufacturer groups in customer integration for their EPR practices implementation. Particularly, the high customer integration group achieves better market performance whereas the low group weak in customer integration reap greater financial benefits. Managers need to understand the role of customer integration and the financial and market performance implications of implementing EPR practices to align with their performance goals and to build their supply chain system capabilities in the age of global complexity.

Keywords: Environmental Management; Manufacturing; China; Empirical; Export (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925527313003800
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:proeco:v:147:y:2014:i:pb:p:284-293

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpe.2013.06.028

Access Statistics for this article

International Journal of Production Economics is currently edited by Stefan Minner

More articles in International Journal of Production Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().