Green Manufacturing Practices and Performance among SMEs: Evidence from a Developing Nation

Due to the rise in environmental awareness, green technologies and practices have become the conscientious imperative expected from all manufacturing industries. Consequently, environmental initiatives are becoming an essential part of the strategic planning in organizations, including the small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Thus, the objectives of this study were to determine the extent of implementation in green manufacturing practices among the SMEs as well as to examine the relationship between those practices and manufacturing performance. Data was collected via a survey from 544 SMEs across all types of industries located throughout Malaysia. Results of the analysis showed that there is an encouraging level of implementation in green practices among the SMEs, with the optimization of processes to reduce solid waste being the top practice. The results also revealed that green practices within the inbound and production phase of the manufacturing lifecycle significantly affected manufacturing performance but not practices within the outbound phase. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-3886-0.ch050