SUSTAINABLE SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT IN GERMAN AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY: EXPERIENCES AND SUCCESS FACTORS

Abstract

Climate change and environmental aspects are key issues on public agenda. Governments and politicians try to implement new regulations and limits to reduce the environmental burden of the industries around the globe. However, success can be seen only to a limited extend in many areas. On the other hand some industrial sectors themselves start to think about solutions to handle the big impacts. Some pioneers in this field discovered already also the competitive and economic advantage of implementing so called green and sustainable solutions in their business. This includes production, manufacturing and transport activities but also ways how to manage and monitor such activities from an eco-friendly perspective. This paper will give an overview of the implication of green logistics along the supply chain in regard to the automotive industry including supply companies from SME sector and will demonstrate the application of this issue. For that an example of the European market leader Volkswagen AG in Germany is chosen and analyzed in the case description.