Impact of lean practices on organizational sustainability through green supply chain management - an empirical investigation

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to uncover the significance of green supply chain management (GSCM) to study the impact lean practices, namely, Kaizen and innovation management practices on organizational sustainability. Design/methodology/approach The subject of green supply chains attracts a growing interest in academic and professional literature since 1990. Questionnaire survey and structured interviews (set of questions) among the industrial professionals and academicians of northern India region have been performed to ascertain the significance of GSCM toward organizational sustainability. Structural equation modeling, Cronbach's alpha,z-test, correlation andt-test have been used to ascertain the significance of lean practices toward sustaining organization by taking the mediating effect of GSCM. Findings The results signify the negative potential of combined Kaizen, innovation management and government policies on environmental thinking through supply chain. The innovation management strategies and Kaizen individually has positive influence on environment supply chain but government policies should be improved to improve the positive impact on environmental thinking through supply chain by decreasing pollution. Economic performance, environmental performance and competitive performance are significantly improved by implementing Kaizen and innovation management through GSCM. Research limitations/implications The research is limited to northern India. Moreover, selection of industry and academic organizations has been done on convenient sampling technique. Originality/value The paper demonstrates the application of lean techniques, namely, Kaizen and innovation management practices, showing how it can bring real breakthroughs in organizational sustainability through GSCM.