Green procurement effects on economic performance of an evaluation of the implementation of Bakery Sector in Ireland

        Green procurement has widely been considered to improve a firm’s economic performance despite the misconception that it is expensive to implement. According to Smith (2008), the reliable and stable relationships created through contract negotiations when practicing green procurement are necessary for creating stable relationships between the firm and suppliers as well as other contractors. Smith adds that this especially the case for co-efficiency or mutually beneficial waste management (Smith, 2008). The study of Beer and Lemmer (2011) found that when quality and sustainability features of production and logistics feature in contracts and specifications, it sets the guidelines for operations and expectations for both the firms and contractors.

        Hence, it is difficult to ignore the contract requirements that ensure sustainable business practices and this is necessary for the supply chain process. Sarhaye and Marendi (2017) note that the costs, benefits and opportunities for firms are influenced by the supply chain model and the degree of interdependence along the value chain. If the supply chain model can be dissected and analysed, improvement will rely on eradicating redundant transactions along the chain or integrating a supply chain model that leads to increased value to each operation across the supply chain (Sarhaye and Marendi, 2017).

        Pembere (2016) argues that green procurement activities are applicable to all firms despite the size of the firm and sector. This is critical insight for most companies due to the general assumption that since green procurement is expensive then it can only be applied in large and established enterprises. For instance, green procurement is mostly applied in the public sector in Ireland and this may reinforce the ‘expensive to use’ narrative and misconception. But according to Pembere (2016), green purchasing may be as simple as purchasing alternative sources of energy or recycled packaging materials or establishing environmental requirements for suppliers and contractors. Bag (2017) argues that green products and services use fewer resources and are usually designed to last longer as well as lessen their impact on the environment. Bag further notes that this is what leads to sustainable business operations in the long-term.

        Smith (2017) posits that green products and services have few impacts on human health and usually apply stringent safety standards compared to traditional counterparts. However, Gormly (2014) notes that green products and services have been criticised for their low quality because they are re-used, little evaluation of their quality is done when recycling and their usability is limited. He, nonetheless, notes that the quality of recycled materials will typically depend on the company recycling them as some companies produce high-quality and others low-quality materials (Gormly, 2014). Pembere (2016) notes that environmental-friendly products and services may have a higher upfront cost, they save money in the long-run over the life-cycle of the product or service. This she adds can have economic benefits for the firm by decreasing disposal costs, protecting the environment, and enhancing the firm’s reputation and image. Gormly (2014) study found that two main barriers to the effective execution of green procurement were cost and revenue.              

Sectors implementing green procurement in Ireland

        Most studies and websites show that the public sector of Ireland employs green procurement in its operations. Butler and Keaveney (2014) study analysing the drivers and barriers of green procurement in the public and private sector of Ireland found that green procurement is widely used in the public sector because of legislative directives and government requirements. As environment policies linked to businesses continue to be formulated, the government is setting the standards in its own procurement procedures. The study also found that the public sector has regulatory guidelines that ensure and monitor the use of green procurement that is lacking in the private sector (Butler and Keaveney, 2014). The study by Beer and Lemmer (2011), however, found that state procurement can influence the production and consumption trends while simultaneously generating considerable demand for environment-friendly products and services.

        Consequently, the heightened demand will increase the markets for green products and services. While this is the general assumption, the influence of the public sector green procurement practice is yet to be seen on the private sector. Thus, it is critical that the public sector of Ireland play and commendable role in preen procurement by executing its purchasing power.  According to EPA (2014), public authorities employ the the green public procurement (GPP) model when sourcing products, services and works when intending to reduce environmental impact. The GPP model considers environmental and social criteria in all phases of procurement process, hence, supporting the widespread use of environmental technologies and the development of green products and services through solutions and approaches that have minimal impact on the environment through their life-cycle (EPA, 2014).

        The construction sector is estimated to account for approximately 45% of all energy use and 35% of carbon dioxide emission within Europe, while the sector itself constitutes about 11% of Europe’s GDP (Smith, 2008). The construction sector ofIreland accounts for 12% of the GNP of Ireland and majority of the constructions are run by the state (Butler & Keaveney, 2014). Besides the textile and food sectors, the government of Ireland applies GPP in the construction sector when seeking construction materials and contractors; thus, adherence to environmental regulations, practices and possession of environmental certifications dictates which firms the government selects (Butler & Keaveney, 2014).

        Thus, sustainable construction practices as spearheaded by the government is intended to attain a balance between the economic, social and environmental facet s of construction so that the costs and benefits, assessed along the three dimensions, are maximised. This is usually attained in all stages of the construction life-cycle, which begins from planning, construction, renovations, repair and maintenance ((Butler & Keaveney, 2014)). Hence, environmental criteria should be incorporated in the construction agreement at a certain point. The Government of Ireland applies the environmental criteria at various level of the construction process such as tender documents, technical specifications, selection criteria, and contract performance clauses (Butler & Keaveney, 2014). Thus, GPP is one of the tools that the public sector uses to attain sustainable construction within the construction sector. This is necessary because as Butler & Keaveney (2014) note, the operational costs of state-owned builsings are a considerable drain on pulbic finances and so it is vital to improve the procurement process that leads to cost reduction while ensuring enviornmental conservation thrughout the construction project and afterwards.

        The concept of GPP is also applies to the procurement of furniture by the Government of Ireland. Since 2003,the Office of Public Works  has partnered with the private sector to increase the sustainability of its furniture for state offices (Smith, 2008). The  request for proposal and tenderig process has typically included the liklehood of extra points for suppliers who showcase that their products and services are enviornmentally-friendly (Smith, 2008). For instance, the criteria used by the Office of Public Works when selecting contactors are included in the award criteria, job specifications and contract performance clauses. The outcome of this practice has been that the costs of the furnture procurement unit has reduced and contractors have saved money by improving their enviormental portfolio and operations – activities that have in turn been passed to purchasers (Smith, 2008).

        The many retailers have different interpretations of “local” (Heron and Oglethorpe, 2009); for example, supermarket chain, Waitrose, currently operate a strict definition via its “locally produced” range, which requires the relevant producers to be located within a 30 mile radius of a store (Waitrose, 2010). Research conducted in the UK, found that the majority of consumers expected “local food” to come either from their county or to be produced within 30 miles of where they lived or bought (Morgan, 2008). In the US, a term “the 100 mile diet” has been introduced meaning that Restaurants specializing in local food should serve food sourced from no more than 100 miles away (Roosevelt, 2006).

Green procurement impact on economic sustainability

        Coughlan (2015) study that partly explores the use of green procurement for sustainability purposes found that it leads to sustainable practices in the long-run. However, some studies discount any sustainable outcome rising from green purchasing. Gormly (2014) study found that some respondents consider no investment case for sustainable sourcing instead arguing that it is expensive and adds to the cost of operation. The study by Smith (2008) also notes some sections refuting the sustainability of green procurement in the long-run especially for manufacturers and retailers who rely on multiple supply chains.

        The researcher found that while customer value is established by safety, quality and efficiency of the products and services provided, the argument that consumer interest in process quality is crucial for the purchasing process is unfounded and inadequate to justify the hefty supply chain cost and decreased flexibility innate in smaller and more sustainable supply chain (Smith, 2008).

        Yet, there are studies that show that consumers and firms are conscious about the use of sustainable procurement and supply chain practices that lower costs that ultimately lead to reduced prices for consumers. Bag (2017) argues that the traditional baseline and higher-level quality as well as the extended product quality drawn from sustainability are deemed and valued differently by firms. The study findings also show that superior standards intensify the competition and used to establish consumer value by supporting claims for superior good and services (Bag, 2017).

        Even though this is typically the case, Gormly (2014) notes that when it comes to sustainability, the idea of baseline sustainability standard is impractical to some extent because sustainability is an open-ended agenda entailing substitutions with a range of conflicting priorities. In addition, there is a need to adhere to the domestic laws and global norms for social and environmental performance has become the in reality, the norm for most product assurance designs (Gormly, 2014). Such designs typically combine the lowest standards for quality, safety, social and environmental performance.Zalwango (2013) found that since social and environmental performance in the supply chain can be recognized as quality attributes the major anticipation is that most successful niche goods and services derived from a more sustainable supply chain combine high quality with a high level of sustainability as approved by reliable agencies.

        Yet, there are quarters that deem the use of sustainability as a marketing proposition for a firm as misleading and fabricated due to the range of activities involved in attain sustainable businesses. The study by Gormly (2014) found that marketing experts argue that the sheer intricacy of the sustainability concept, which entails a range of social and environmental concerns, trade-offs, timelines and precedence makes marketing the products and services produced using a sustainable supply chain challenging. The same study found that few companies address the environmental, economic and social concerns with sustainable supply chain and green procurement outside the transport, construction, textile, manufacturing and retailing sectors (Gormly, 2014).

        The idea that sustainable brings bout loyal customers has been explored suggesting that sustainability leads to financial sustainability through increased sales and profits. According to Coughlan (2015), individuals are motivated to do what is right and hence, consumers who feel the need to so make purchasing decisions based on different considerations such as personal habits, belief and value system, quality, value for money, and the approval of those who surround them. The researcher adds that since most consumers are becoming environment-conscious due to technologies such as the internet and social media network where information is shared in real time, consumers are likely to be influenced to what is right when purchasing, that is, seeking products and services that have been manufactured through green procurement and a sustainable supply chain. 

        Many other research evaluation by Walker ( 2012)stated others sustainable resources procurement. According to these procurements that also been done in the various other part of countries that includes Belgium and France. Netherland also played a big role which is able to appear to make greater reference to EMAS (Environmental System European standards) as compared to the other produced in the United Kingdom. The surveys for safest ICE results showed that non-UK partners have much tendency to use the various EU resources on the sustainable procurements more speedily that organization required for UK. These developments are more sustainable for the EU funded resources as the main source of critical information on the specific sustainable development. Therefore the United Kingdom have separated many types of national initiatives. These initiatives are able to produced the national standards on the development which are termed as the sustainable developments.

         Hence, there exhibit a lot of guidance for improving the sustainable procurements in the designing projects. These projects will helpful in various aspects in the creativity for the other parts of designs as well. So there is need of evaluation for the safety and other determinants for the proper developments. Not only this but, there is addition of the information on procuring sustainable services could be clearer as for the many other larger organization. These major organization includes many local authorities. These frequency and costs in order to buy services. These services far outweighs as compared toproducts.

        Much work has been accomplished by Adam(2009) in the UK public sector for the sustainable procurements and aim to investigate it in the proper way. In here the analysis for the quantitative and qualitative measurements were cooperated in the UK sector. These qualitative and quantitative analysis revealed that there exhibit the significant variation in the public sector agencies in the nature of sustainable procurement practices. These practices involves to degrade the harmful categories across every sector of United Kingdom. For this approach local authorities strongly emphasized on the several links in the on buying from the local and many others small suppliers with the relation of many other sectors.

        Because of these conditions problems of health relatively more lower in the many of these categories. While the other approaches deals with the education as well that appeared to have something drastically happen and emphasized on the environmental aspects of sustainable procurements. Whereas other point to be linked with these regard to the cost that was founded to be the leading barrier to sustainable procurements. And thus top management supported to leading facilitators as well. Thus much data has been collected to survey through all the sectors of UK and in return essential co-operative studies gave the details about the management and sustainable development of UK. These developments are established by mapping the frameworks. Therefore, researchers provided first survey to the sustainable development and practiced across the UK public sector.it also provided a broad perspective about the conceptual framework of influence upon the propensity to engage in the sustainable development and procurements practices.

        Mazur (2012) worked on the environmental conditions for the green procurement. Maim aim was to report environmental and many other types of authorized countries mainly to promote the green business practices. These studies proved to be much helpful among the small to the medium- sized Enterprise (SMEs). Analysis were performed in various ways for the establishment of environmental regularities requirements for facilities with the addition of lowest risk for the environment.

        These aspects covered most of the important parts regarding the manufacturing of the different strategies. Thus examination was performed by making up the proper designing and applying proper information. Other ways were handled by the marketing based tool in order to promote the compliance with the help of such requirements and also the adoption of cleaner technologies. These designing were also performed to implement good environmental management practices. The report suggested many other ways to suggest for the increasing effectiveness of promotions tools with respect to the SME community so called as small and medium sized enterprise.

         It also addressed the roles of environmental authorities, business organization and many other financial authorities or institutions. These addressing belonged to the greening of small business as well. Therefore much other data was operated and detail were reviewed about many other countries including putting forward experience of France, Korea and Netherland. And thus drawing examples from many other countries like United Kingdom and Ireland. In further details they followed the essential data from the small business in which environmental advices and guidance were taken from the multitude sources. These resources included regulatory agencies, local authorities, special business sectors, supportive organizations and trade or professional associations.The main challenge is to establish the financial incentives that was particularly offered by the primarily public financial institutions. These are needed to engage the private banks and inssurance companies for encouraging very good environmental performance of small business.

        In the recent years, innovative work proceeded by Chiodi (2013) who mainly focussed on the ambitious target of the Ireland for 2020. This target was followed to give the details about the reduction of the greenhouse gases emission by the 20%. These reduction considered below 2005 level for various sectors but not covered by the ETS. As the Ireland exhibit the most interesting case study therefore due to the role of agriculture that actually represents the 29% GHG (Greenhouse gases) emission of Ireland.  This is ten percent less as compared for the EU. The analysis was performed under the well-organized state of IRISH TIMESmodel. In which a bottom-up system of energy tool for modelling with detailed characterization of energy system of Ireland was given. In this critical analysis important scenario was provided and pathways was made to meet the non-ETS target at very least cost.

        Therefore many impacts were also considered in terms of different choices for technology choices and many higher abatement costs. These costs arised from the higher targets for important energy system in order to compensate for growth in agriculture side by side with low mitigation potential in the sector. Many results were pointes with in the Ireland to reconsider the Ireland’s renewable energy focus. It was concluded there is need for increase effort in renewable transport or renewable heat particularly which in turn put forward many other results that pointed towards the significant electrification of residential heating with also main results to be pointed high marginal abatement cost. These challenges of analysis carried out the EU level to establish non ETS target of Ireland.

        Many other researchers and Glynn (2014)leaded perspective work and gave the details for the Ireland. And work more procurements FOR Ireland to develop the green business. It stated about the many crucial points in which it has been discussed about the imports that cost about 88% of its energy requirements. As oil makes up 59% of total final energy consumption (TFC). Important dependency and low fuel diversity and volatile prices has left Ireland much vulnerable in the terms of energy security and most of the important purpose it has been going down therefore there is essential approach to report about the vulnerabilities of Ireland. For this work models of energy security scenarios for the Ireland by using long term approach in the macroeconomics forecast by 2050. This sensitive data has been specifically given the Irish TIMES energy model system in which the better production of oil system and many other types of price scenario from the International Monetary Funding within the Irish.

        Therefore much data has been collected from the various Irish sectors that vividly gave data about the differentperspectives. These analysis focused on the inauguration of at least cost optimum energy systems for Ireland under scenarios oil supply. These are also subsequently sustainable long term price shocks to oil and gas imports in the proper manner. The results showed many different points about the gases that were becoming dominant fuel sources for Ireland at the rate of 45% total final energy consumption in 2020 that are quiet nearer supplanting the of formation reference projections. There is need to show for the modelling of high oil or gas prices scenarios that showed an additional annual cost in comparison to reference in order to choose the development of least cost energy system. Many types of investment and ramification for energy security are discussed.

        According to Khan (2018) and many other important phenomena given by the researchers who provided the features about the sustainable green supply chains that refers to the idea of integrating sustainable process of environmental processes into the traditional supplying chain. This major feature included the processes such as supplier selections and purchasing the important materials and product management for green procurement, distributions and end of life management. Therefore instead of mitigating harmful impacts of business and supply6 chain operation. The green supply chain involved in the addition of valuesin the creation through many operations of whole chain.This green supply chain makes the key sustainable development strategy able to understand. It emphasized about the green practices that can be adopted in the firms to mitigate environmental degradation across many develop countries and therefore increase the economic and operational performance of the firms. This is the best way to deal with all supply chain in order to meet the requirements for the green procurements. These dealings are made compulsory by the proper designing of model for green supply chain.

        Many other scientist and Dania (2016) also put forward about the concept of sustainable development and green supply chain management in most appropriate ways. These environmental principles gave the entire set of activities across the whole cycle. This cycle completes with help of proper designing, procurements, assembly and manufacturing. Furthermore packaging or logistic features are also taken into account for the proper establishment of green procurement and proper building of other resources. The third step is the integration of environmental supplies chain management that includes ecological designs of products. Therefore purchasing green materials and components in the form of reengineering of manufacturing step towards eco-friendly as logistics in the reverse ways in the form that management of the product is take into account and after which it could be useful for life. The integrating consideration for the environment after firms included reduction and controlling of harmful impacts of supply chain in the management processes.

        Moreover the adoption of ecological designing and sourcing green material and chemicals are also studied that actually provide the training to employees under the ethical leaderships. As the various analysis gave the important point of view that green supply chain is relatively not that old idea, it is precisely innovative feature that has gained much popularity in the improvement of environmental performances in the green procurement initiation and detailed details about it. There are so many important criteria in the evaluation of green supply management that practiced for the sustainability of environment. These sustainability includes ethical leadership or internal management, customer management or supplier management also play important role in improving the competition.

        Therefore it has been presented that with the help of numerous green practices adoptioncompanies are able to run their business with better environmental growth by improving its productivity as well. Therefore with much more concerns on the environmental protection or procurement professional in the various countries. It has been motivated to reconsider the existing sourcing of purchasing strategy not only this but the impacts on the environmental systems are also sustained. Therefore the green management also provided the supplementary sources of critical information about the perspective views in details. These further enhanced the business and environmental objectives. It also help a firm image to be taken over that increase the efficiency and environmental compliance for cost savings and strategies for achieving commitments or reduction of the other emissions as well. These emission are carbon emission as compared to greenhouse gases emission across the world.

        Put forward a detailed conceptby Mansi(2012) about the spiritually and sustainable procurement literature by addressing the investigation that has been done by relationship between the sustainable and spiritually well determined procurement within the Australia. Much work has been done.The most important sector was under taken as education sector. And after that investigation of demographic profile was also studied with the relationship of both that is sustainability and spiritual development. In this type of phenomena that is holding the prevailing momentum however, its existence with in the Australia higher education sectors that is critically unnoticed, therefore many studies depicted the procurement studies that are predominantly studied in the Europe which were mostly patchy and inconsistent with in the Australian context.  Hence to date, the studies for the procurement and non-existent studies were able to be performed in the Australian higher Education sectors. The concept about that sustainabilities and spiritually operative needs were still in the infancy.Thus particular concept is emerging in the multidisciplinary level. So by addressing the relationship between the spiritually and sustained development or procurement in the Australian sector of higher Education, many pre-test  or pilot studies and finally the main studies are performed with response rate of 44.50%. the survey utilized highly recognized and highly reputed scale which was considered as the humanity spiritually scale and purchasing social responsibilities scale that quantified the procurement behaviour of population frame. Many other analysis using different test such as t-test, ANOVA to investigate the research which guided framework of Spill-over theory.

        Thus (P., 2012) gave theory abouteducation sector of Australia showed the empirical studies and built platforms for future research as well. Finding the significant implications for the modern organisations there is need to be considered a tool that facilitate the sustainable development and ethical behaviour within the working place. That finally resolve for the relative new values and further under research phenomena.Many other studies were also performed for retaining the green procurements in Ireland. This report presented the results for environmental radioactivity that is carried out bv the Radiological Protection Institute of Ireland during 2010 and 2011. The main purpose of these studies was to work for the reduction in the environmental radio activities by monitoring the levels of radioactivity in the country.The relevant data was collected from the different parts of the countries by giving different monitoring reports. These reports and monitoring showed that in Irish environment these artificial radioactive rays are detectable they were considered as low and doesnot possess significant risk to human health. These radioactive isotopes amount were consistent with Fukushima nuclear accidents that were detected in the air.

         The radioactive rays were examined in the various parts of different sectors that were just showing in the differentstuff. The elevation in 2011 attributed to the variation in sampling protocols and many other analytical methods. Generally, level of artificial radioactivity remained fairly constant and were not so much changed in the Irish environment that were consistent to other levels at broader way as well. It must be noted that levels of radioactive contamination was found to be more in the marine environment. These conditions somehow did not warrant any modification or significant variation in the Ireland for the people.but point to be noted that consumption of seafood or any other use of amenities of marine environment are very crucial discussion and much work has to be reported in order to cover that. Many reports are presented for providing proper safety methods for protection from the radioactive materials.

        Studies ofWilson(2013) gave perspective view of republic of Ireland and followed the concept of the peatlands cover which was estimated about 20% of the land that covers that specific area. This all thing was preferably utilised over the countries for centuries in order to producethe energy and agricultural production. Moreover, other forms of production regarding forestry and horticulture were also included in these perspective point of views. Current studies have estimated the critical status about the Ireland that a very low proportion of the peat land has been left in its original or natural conditions. And other portion which was left either moderately fine or completely damaged by the other forms. Therefore in order to protect these areas in the Ireland there is review given by the researcher in which studies were performed about the Carbon (C). Studies for the major peat land uses in the country of Ireland. These further showed investigations at the national level emission from the peat land and many other relevant activities that includes combustion and horticulture. These activities are approximately measured 3Mt C each year that was spreading into the atmosphere of Ireland.

        WhereasTuretsky(2010) the major uncertainties were associated because of the paucity of many type of filed studies. These uncertainties was considered to be for the some peat land uses. But the major role has to be followed in order to mitigate the emission. Therefore it was concluded that mitigation measures were evaluated in order to reduce the national emissions from peat land covers. These include many other processes one of which was stronger and firm enforcement approach towards the Carbon emission outlook and thus protection. After protection storing the Carbon in natural peat lands in the form that can be utilized in many other forms ion the several ways. Other main process is to rewetting or restoration of already degraded peatlands in order to reduce the emissions. After the reduction of emission there is need to produce and establish the suitable conditions for Carbon sequestration. The last positive approach is to make the way of using alternative non-peat sources for the production of energy and also other horticulture uses.  These all approaches will be ultimately much helpful in the green procurements protection.

        The study by Wilson et al, (2008) in the UK about consumer perception about sustainable products and services found that about 82% of buyers agreed that they were prepared to pay extra cost for ‘ethical’ goods and services. The same study found that this was likely to happen in two ways that include: the buyer purchasing goods where they trust that specific high standards that appeal to their personal values were used or seeking reassurance that the preferred brands, producers and retailers were engaged in a sustainable food supply chain on their behalf (Wilson et al, 2008). Ultimately, the firms benefit as consumers become loyal to the brand that drives sales and profitability.

        The study by Smith (2008), however, indicates that since individuals’ behavioural changes such as beginning to use recycled materials often precede heir attitudinal changes, the manufacturing firms should empower consumers to understand the significance of recycled materials and products from a sustainable chain supply. Firms can attain this by providing enhanced and high-quality products or engaging in product development such as improved packaging (Smith, 2008). Smith (2008) however, notes that such attempts should be underpinned by authentic and legitimate actions within the supply chain, which probably involves broadening the scope of the baseline or adapting higher-value benchmarks linked to enhanced environmental, social andethical performance.

        Lehtinen (2012)study that investigates sustainability and local food procurement found that green procurement leads to economic and social development as well as protection of the environment that are balanced to achieve business goals. She further mentions that the benefits of green procurement as cost control enhanced internal and external standards through performance evaluation and conformity with environmental and social laws and regulations (Lehtinen, 2012). Sarhaye and Marendi (2017) explored the outcomes of green procurement on firm performance in the manufacturing sector and found that green purchasing is significant for enhancing supply chain performance by balancing purchases, launching co-ordination initiatives, establishing criteria and building skills. This finding is supported by the findings of Beer and Lemmer (2011) who concluded that the integration of green purchasing in the public sector is successful because it relies on improving the internal capacity of the firm.

        The study by Robinson et al, (2018) about the strategic supply chain management employed in large bakeries in Australia found that most engage in green procurement and the benefits include: increased profits, decreased production cost, cycle time improvement for fast supply chain, reduced wastage, improved inventory management, improved efficiency, sales and cash-flow, improved productivity, increased flexibility and enhanced service quality. Their study also found that beyond increased profits and reduced cost of production; a company that integrates green procurement increased their competitiveness and improved their supplier relations (Robinson et al, 2018).

        The study by Sarhaye and Marendi (2017) about the significance of green procurement in the organizational performance of manufacturing companies found that green procurement helps to not only improve efficiency but build a brand’s reputation in the situation of intense competition, stern regulations and community’s call to balance economic, social and environmental performance. The role of green procurement in organization performance is also supported by Bag (2017) who studied the role of green procurement in enabling sustainable innovation in supplier networks where he found that green procurement helps businesses to adapt a robust supplier network with the capacity to innovate new products and services that lead to sustainability and ultimately improved performance.