Corporate Sustainability And Green Supply Chain Management

Corporate sustainability is a vital part of corporate social responsibility (CSR) which means a business approach that creates long-term shareholder value by embracing opportunities and managing risks deriving from economic, environmental and social developments. Since its origin in the early 1920's, corporate responsibility issues have attained prominence in political and business debate. This is mainly in response to corporate scandals but also due to the realization that development centered only on economic growth paradigms is unsustainable and therefore there is a need for a more pro-active role by states, companies and communities in a development process aimed at balancing economic growth with environmental sustainability and social cohesion. After nearly half century's evolution, by the 1970's and 80's, it has been widely accepted that corporations should undertake its environmental responsibilities.Corporate sustainability refers to a new vision for the world based on a global partnership for sustainable development. After 1960's, the environment deteriorates, social conflict is more and more, the older theory that a corporation only takes responsibility for stockholders and effectively produces product and service becomes not accepted. The ever-increasing loud voice for the corporate sustainability has pushed the issue into a movement, which is backed by UN initiatives such as the Global Compact and the Millennium Goals, that have defined the goal and principles for responsible corporate behavior in various areas. Aided by international organizations and NGOs, corporate sustainability achieved rapid development in the past decade especially in the field of globalization and standardization.China was involved into the worldwide corporate responsibility movement in 1990's with the active promotion of multinationals. Since China central government regards sustainable development as one of the country's most important strategies, corporate sustainability attained ever special attention in China. However, its development is still at the beginning phase in China and there are a lot of challenges both in country and aboard. How to motivate corporations to proactively take their environment responsibilities becomes a key issue for the country at the stage.By reviewing the evolution of CSR movement in western countries, it can be found that key driving forces include investor and consumer demands and governmental and public pressure. Particularly important is the support from the society and the citizens. Lacking of citizenship consciousness, Chinese government at this stage will have to take the responsibility to push forward the development of corporate sustainability, which may include the legislation and propaganda work so as to increase public awareness on sustainability. Due to the external effect of environment issues, government administration of corporate sustainability may encounter lots of difficulties. For the purpose of avoiding malfunction, government has to find more effective ways while intervention market behavior. The global supply chain, which used to have great impact on China CSR development, will keep providing meaningful reference for corporate sustainability development.Nowadays, global retailers including War-mart are launching green supply chain management program. In their programs, green purchase, green production and green consumption are far more encouraged, while vendors who ignore environmental responsibility may loose business opportunities. Through supply chain management, consciousness of sustainability for both customers and suppliers can be greatly enhanced. This provides a brand-new perspective for the government, which is to rely on the supply chain to push forward sustainability work. Mechanism design may include spreading the environmental responsibility throughout the supply chain and to create incentives for market participants. In this way, the corporations would be motivated to take their responsibilities for the society and envisage the challenges, cultivate a win-win situation for both corporations and society, thus improve the global competitiveness and ensure sustainable development.