By Chinthaka Perera - BSC Eng, MBA. 
Deputy General Manager of Manufacturing Operations, 

 

The time has come when we can no longer disregard the benefits of green practices in supply chain management that have a major impact on our environment. Green practices are vitality and earth-productive, providing economic, ecological, and social advantages over the entire store network condition while securing and enhancing the necessities of future eras. 

 

Creating Green practices in packaging starts with proper packaging selection. The phase of packaging affects a wide range of environmental factors as well as other factors such as security, biological degradation, and energy consumption. Green practices in packaging also should be environmentally efficient and economically viable to gain a competitive advantage. Green practices in packaging are an evolving term in Sri Lanka that encompasses both the general concept of environmentally conscious supply and material management, as well as manipulating the competitive advantage through cost leadership and differentiation. Though many green practices have been developed by the organization, an assessment of green practices in the Apparel industry of Sri Lanka has not been made yet. Thus, the research aims to provide an assessment of green practices related to the supply chain for commercial purposes.  

 

Based on a quantitative research approach I hope to identify the areas critically affecting the green practices in packaging related to the Apparel Industry of Sri Lanka. For the study purpose due to the limitation to access the information sources, my data gathering was limited to ABC PVT Ltd.

 

The research problem of the proposal was “What is the relationship between green practices in packaging and competitive advantage Apparel Industry of Sri Lanka?” 

 

Finally, I hope to develop a model to assess the impact of green practices in packaging related to the Apparel industry.  

 

Green distribution is a pertinent and well-timed problem in production economics. it's also a difficulty of unique relevance to the fashion and apparel industries (F&AI). During the last decade, whilst many new management strategies and standards have been brought to deal with the social, economic, and environmental issues related to the production and distribution of style and clothing merchandise, new and important demanding situations have emerged. 

 

In the meantime, today, clothing and textiles speak to around seven for each penny of world prices. More than a fourth of the world's generation of clothing and textiles is in China, which has a quickly developing clothing interior market and the biggest offer of world exchange. Western nations are as yet vital exporters of apparel and materials, especially Germany and Italy in clothing and the USA in textiles. To begin with, purchasers are demonstrating expanding worry for nature, and they will pay premium costs for eco-design and clothing items. This pattern has imperative ramifications for the assembling and dissemination of homes in the F&AI. It is probably going to cause changes in the F&AI's business attitude and targets in conveyance administration. Second, the circulation of customary mold and clothing items is infamous for producing high volumes of waste and scraps, discharging pollutants, for example, dyeing chemicals and toxic gases, involving excessive packaging, and employing energy-inefficient manufacturing and distribution methods. 

 

Under the Green Distribution, Green Packaging plays a major role in the supply chain environment. Further, plastic and other non-biodegradable materials usage hinder the sustainable stance of the organization. Green practices are sustainable distribution practices. Because of not utilizing biodegradable materials and procedures, natural contamination is inalienably ascribed to the assembling and dispersion procedures of F&AI. With a specific end goal to accomplish ecological supportability, new measures must be proposed to address these issues. Rather than utilizing non-biodegradable materials to transport materials, organizations can execute supportable circulation hones by utilizing elective biodegradable materials, for example, plain packaging, institutionalized packaging, and folded boxes. eBusinesses can also implement new operations, such as building distribution centers that practice only green packaging techniques for their merchants. 

 

In a completely globalized showcase, the opposition is savage and diverse to what has been experienced so far by every one of the players in worldwide textile advertising. The apparel provider's market is currently being supplanted by a purchaser's market where the customer requests items as indicated by their inclination. Conventional request qualifying factors value, quality, and on-time conveyance are just section capabilities to enter the worldwide market, whereas request winning criteria, for now, are imaginativeness, plan, fast reaction, and adaptability. Today, with the worldwide retreat customers approach more an incentive for less cash. Along these lines building the upper hand to fulfil new customer requests is basic in the new market. Being the biggest supporter of the Sri Lankan economy for the most recent couple of decades, the Sri Lankan apparel industry ought to develop its upper hand keeping in mind the end goal to be feasible in the worldwide clothing market. 

According to Porter's point of view, there are two approaches to acquiring a competitive advantage. The first one is cost advantage. Globally traditional low labour cost advantage is now moved to other countries such as Vietnam and Bangladesh. When compared with domestic competitors labor availability, raw material prices, and wages in the markets are very similar to all industry players in Sri Lanka. Considering those factors cost advantage is no longer valid for gaining a competitive advantage in the domestic market.

 

Differentiation allows suppliers to offer different quality products than their competitors. Inherently in the apparel industry product differentiation is critical from the supplier's point of view. Product features and quality totally depend on the customer who places the order to the manufacturer. With relation to that factor, apparel manufacturers need to focus their attention on other differentiation factors in order to survive in the global as well as local market. Keeping in mind the end goal to do that they should pack themselves in various Differentiation factors which they are sufficiently competent in giving, for example, ethical factors, quick response, innovative designs, etc.  

 

 

 

Primary Objectives

Critically evaluate the relationship between Green Practices in Packaging and the competitive advantage of an organization with reference to ABC Pvt Ltd Sri Lanka. 

 

Secondary Objectives

 

1. Identify various Green Packaging Techniques practiced for each category of Green Packaging that are used in ABC Pvt Ltd Sri Lanka relating to the ‘Apparel Industry’ in the Sri Lankan context.

2. Identify the aspects and sub-aspects of Green Practices that are critically applicable to Sri Lanka.

3. Recognize the Green Practices, applicable to Sri Lanka. 

4. Evaluate systematically the order of the impact of green practices.  

5. Identify the relationship between Green Packaging aspects and competitive advantage which is derived from Cost Leadership and Differentiation.   

 

 Significance of the study

The purpose of this study is quite relevant to the apparel industry in the Sri Lankan context. Accordingly, we can utilize the outcome of this project for the betterment of Sri Lanka’s best practices in green packaging. Here, the organization can recognize the relevant practices that affect their competitive advantage negatively, and positively. And, it is quite important in order to implement such practices and stop practicing if there is a negative impact of those practices. And, other researchers can use this for their research on their upstream supply chain research. Not only in the apparel industry in Sri Lanka, but also other grooming industries like automobile, and tourism can make use of this study.  

 

 

The population was restricted to a single company, ABC Pvt Ltd Sri Lanka, which ranks among the top three highest revenue-generating apparel companies in Sri Lanka, this assumption was taken into consideration due to limited access to data sources.  

 

According to the study it is mainly considered what types of packaging dimensions lead to managerial employee individual productivity. The below figure shows the conceptual framework of this study. 

 

 

The overall study has taken place to identify the relationship between green practice of packaging and competitive advantage and to identify the packaging practices that have the most significant influence on competitive advantage to the Apparel industry in Sri Lanka. By referring to the previous studies and the other sources of literature, five variables were selected as independent variables that cost leadership as well as differentiation. Under the independent variables standardized packaging quality, reducing packing materials, reusing and recycling materials, biodegradable materials, and improvements in the packing methods were identified. The conceptual framework and the hypotheses were established based on the above identified variables and data was collected to test the validity of stated hypotheses.  

 

The study was conducted to explore these factors and secondary data collection, and primary data collection was done in order to get data to be explored. The primary data was collected via a questionnaire and the sample was selected within ABC Pvt Ltd. The sample was limited to 102 respondents and the respondent selection was done based on the convenience of the data collector.  

 

The collected data was analyzed and interpreted by using the SPSS software. Firstly, the descriptive analysis of the data was done by using frequency tables, and average analysis. Then the gathered data was deeply analyzed and the relationships between the independent and dependent variables were explored. The stated hypotheses were tested by using the statistical tool of correlation and regression analysis.  

 Conclusion of the study

Whilst the phrase and term Green Concept has gained popular momentum over the last ten years, its emergence dates back many decades. The Green Concept development is to enable all people throughout the world to satisfy their basic needs and enjoy better quality products without compromising the quality of the environment of the present and future generations. Thus, talking about the quality of the environment plays a major role in associating with almost everyone’s lives and the corporate world as well. Packaging practices of organizations are thus one of the major pollutants due to their profound impact on the environment. At the same time, green practices in packaging are considered to be presenting a difficult challenge in the field of sustainability. Therefore, the Green Concept in supply chain management and evolved practices around it came into existence and it has now been gaining momentum rapidly across the world. Out of all practices in the supply chain green practices, green practices in packaging take significant importance to cater to a sustainable competitive advantage.

There are several functions or elements in packaging such as Primary Packaging, Secondary Packaging, Shipping Packaging, and Labeling. Accordingly, the practices are different from one element to another.  

 

According to the data analysis Standardized Packaging is recognized as the most influential factor in the Competitive Advantage with a beta coefficient of 0.915. That means the practices relating to standardized packaging called Homogeneous packaging, Plain packaging, and Standardized size, and the shape of the packaging practices significantly influence the competitive advantage.  

Furthermore, there is a significant impact of Recycling & Reusing Packaging Materials on Competitive Advantage at a 5% level of significance. 

 

On the other hand, the data in the coefficients table indicate that the Reducing Packaging Materials is not statistically significant where p-value (0.110) > alpha value (0.05). Also, the coefficient of Biodegradable Packaging of the model is not statistically significant at a 5% level of significance. So, it also does not significantly influence the competitive advantage. Furthermore, there is no significant impact of Technological Improvements in the Process on Competitive Advantage at a 5% level of significance.  

 

But, if an organization wants to succeed with a competitive advantage, the organization should practice the mix of highest significant green packaging practices towards competitive advantage.  

According to the data which are indicated by the above tabulation, we can make a list of practices that make a high impact or influence on the company’s competitive advantage. It is statistically proved that the following practices make a direct impact which can be commercial or professional procedures that are accepted or prescribed as being correct or most effective.

 

i. Standard Size Packaging.

ii. Reduce the cost of packaging by using “uniform color in packaging within different brands.

iii. Plain Packaging. 

iv. Recycling Waste. 

v. Corrugated fiberboard used in shipping packaging.  

 

 Recommendations

The final outcome of this research study is the realization of the relationship between green practices in packaging and the competitive advantage with reference to the Apparel industry of Sri Lanka, which provides a better structure for anyone who wants to assess the green practices in their organization. Since the study was developed by providing clear steps to achieve a vivid and broad picture of the organization’s green practices, it is easy to identify the most influential green practices of the organization.  

Moving towards the selected domain, green packaging practices, this study will allow the production. 

 

Even though the concept of green concept is very popular in the country, there is no local standardization developed to distinguish and benchmark a green packaging procedure. Thus, academic researchers are exposed to several potential research studies regarding the subject. 

This research was only limited to providing a relationship between green practices in packaging and competitive advantage in reference to the Apparel Industry of Sri Lanka. Therefore, the following suggestions are offered to the academic researchers to carry out further research. 

▪ Identify the measurable indicators for the aspects that could not have quantifiable indicators for the critical aspects identified regarding Green Practices in packaging in the Sri Lankan context.  

▪ Identify the magnitude range for those critical aspects including upper and lower limits. 

▪ Carry out a feasibility study on converting existing packaging practices into green practices. Develop a guideline for converting existing packaging practices into green practices.   

 

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