The role of importance and urgency in prioritising Green Supply Chain Practices (GSCPs)

Although companies often proclaim that Green Supply Chain Practices (GSCPs) are essential to their strategy, it is easy to put initiatives on hold and postpone action. Therefore, a better understanding of the prioritisation process is needed from both a theoretical and practical perspective. The purpose of this study is to provide insight into how GSCP implementations are prioritised in operations management. Utilising the urgency and importance matrices, we collected multiple case studies based on information from 50 GSCPs. For each case, we conducted qualitative interviews with some quantified measurement checks. The results show that urgency, in addition to importance, is a critical antecedent for GSCP implementation. The research also shows that different sets of motivators work differently to pursue GSCPs, particularly in terms of urgency. This paper provides both managers and policy makers with a unique perspective on the prioritisation of GSCPs across a range of operations management strategies.