Developing performance management systems for the green supply chain

As ‘green’ issues continue to become a global concern in the manufacturing supply chain, developing appropriate performance measurement systems for specific supply chains is imperative. Various green supply chain management strategies have been proposed in different contexts. On the other hand, a number of performance management systems (PMS) have been proposed. However, given the variations in the contexts of the available green strategies and the performance measurement approaches, selecting or developing suitable performance measures and the ensuing PMS under a given supply chain context is not trivial. The purpose of this study is to develop a structured taxonomic approach to developing PMS under various green supply chain conditions, contexts, and business objectives. Therefore, we (i) explore extant empirical studies on green supply chain activities and environmental management, (ii) develop a taxonomy of green supply chain strategies, (iii) derive a structured approach to developing green performance management systems, and (iv) provide a taxonomic performance measurement framework consisting of environmental, economic, and social performance metrics. Unlike past studies, the taxonomic framework forms a practical platform to assist decision makers when developing a suitable set of performance measures and the ultimate PMS while considering the particular context of specific green strategies under which the PMS is supposed to operate. © 2014, Mutingi et al.; licensee Springer.