Green Supply Chain Management, Business Performance, and Future Challenges: Evidence from Emerging Industrial Sector

This research explores the relationships between green supply chain management (GSCM), lean management (LM), corporate social responsibility (CSR), and business performance (BP) in the industrial sector of Saudi Arabia. The project is implemented within the Vision 2030 framework, which aspires to green the Saudi economy by transitioning it from reliance on hydrocarbons to a diversified, sustainable economy. A quantitative approach was implemented, which involved the application of the structural equation modeling analysis for the survey data from 345 managers in the industrial sector in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Region. The results revealed that GSCM directly makes a significant contribution to LM, CSR, and BP. Also, the study found that LM was the positive factor that mediated the relationship between GSCM and BP. Nevertheless, no such associations were found between CSR and BP, nor was there an indirect effect of CSR as the mediator variable. The research underscores the supreme role lean management plays in translating environmentally friendly supply chain practices into better business performance. It reveals that industrial companies wishing to gain the advantages of narrowing their supply chain by using green practices should also simultaneously implement a lean management system to improve efficiency.