“Environmental Collaboration with Suppliers and Customers: Implications for Supply Chain Cost and Competitive Performance”

Environmental Collaboration, Green Supply Chain Management, Supply Chain Cost, Competitive Performance

The paper focuses on understanding the relationship between environmental alliance with suppliers and customers as it affects supply chain cost and competitive performance under the umbrella of Resource Dependence Theory (RDT). Using the research data on 186 Indian manufacturing MSMEs, the research study utilizes Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) to evaluate the anticipated relationship. The results indicate that environmental cooperation with the suppliers as well as customers would greatly minimize the supply chain expenses and increase in the performance competitiveness. Also, the supply chain cost is identified to mediate the correlation between the environmental collaboration and the competitive performance in a mixed way, which means that the cost efficiency is a major mechanism by which sustainability initiatives are converted into strategic advantage. The research will add value to the literature by incorporating an upstream and downstream collaboration into a single RDT framework and illuminating the two-fold operational and strategic strengths of environmental collaboration. The findings have important implications to managers and policy makers who would want to ensure that they have a sustainable and competitive supply chain.