Environmental supplier evaluation - major factor in greening the supply chain : A case study of Kinnarps

Environmental concerns challenge the current business world by questioning the way companies operate and impact the environment and by raising the awareness over the need of radical changes. The process of greening the supply chain involves greening all chain components and it contests the obsolete idea of simple reverse logistics. Suppliers’ evaluation constitutes one of the primary steps in setting the platform for greening the supply chain. Kinnarps AB is a Swedish leading company which owns a thick portfolio of suppliers. Their environmental evaluation is considered to be decisive in greening the entire supply chain. The purpose of this research aims to take a more profound insight into Kinnarps process of supplier environmental evaluation by comparing Kinnarps environmental expectations with suppliers’ environmental attitude. The thesis was analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methods. The qualitative method helped authors to go deeper into understanding and analyzing the development and present environmental situation at Kinnarps. Quantitative method was applied to compare the attitude towards environment thinking of both suppliers and buyer. Based on the theoretical framework a survey was designed to accomplish the purpose. The study found that Kinnarps stands for a value seeking environmental approach for its extended supply chain, while procurement function aims for a pro-active purchasing strategy. The cost is the filter criteria for evaluating suppliers, followed by quality which comprises environmental concerns as prohibition or reduction of harmful substances, durability, recyclability, re-usability, etc. Kinnarps does not have a distinct environmental evaluation but it obliges suppliers to its environmental policy. The environmental collaboration is strong and long-term aim, thus, environmental monitoring lowers its importance. Further findings of the research revealed that most of the suppliers pay a very high importance to their green image on the market, in contrast with what Kinnarps expect (not so high).Kinnarps suppliers were clustered in three different groups according to their environmental attitude: suppliers with a very high environmental attitude, suppliers with a high environmental attitude and suppliers with a moderate environmental attitude The originality of this thesis consists in exploring a new area of study within green procurement field through a new theoretical framework called “Environmental Pyramid”. First, it attempts to compare Kinnarps expectations with suppliers’ environmental attitude and second, it classifies the suppliers based on their environmental attitude