Greening the business environment

The emerging environmental issues have driven manufacturers to start applying green supply chain management (GSCM) concept and practices.GSCM has been considered as a management tool to enhance the environmental sustainability and performance of manufacturing firms.However, there are still limited studies to investigate GSCM practices and its implementation especially in developing countries such as Malaysia.Since green issues are new and still developing in Malaysia, constant study is needed to fully understand and update information regarding this area.Therefore, this conceptual paper provides an insight on the definition and implementation of GSCM as well as to illustrate the current state of GSCM adoption in Malaysia.This paper is expected to present a thorough review on the three main practices of GSCM namely eco-design, green purchasing and reverse logistics.Ecodesign mainly aims to decrease the product’s environmental effect; while green purchasing is inevitably important to minimize the environmental effect of purchased materials; and reverse logistic concentrates on the logistic and inventory activities.It is hoped that this conceptual paper would be beneficial in helping manufacturing firms in Malaysia to identify effective approach towards successful green supply chain practices