IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i14p5892-d1432662.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Identifying Key Barriers to Green Transition Development in China’s Express Industry Based on the Fuzzy DEMATEL Method

Author

Listed:
  • Xuan Xu

    (National Institute of Metrology, Beijing 100029, China)

  • Yifan Huang

    (National Institute of Metrology, Beijing 100029, China)

  • Bo Hu

    (National Institute of Metrology, Beijing 100029, China
    School of Law, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China)

  • Chentao Li

    (School of Economics and Management, North China Electric Power University, Beijing 100096, China)

  • Kenan Gong

    (National Institute of Metrology, Beijing 100029, China)

Abstract

The “green transformation of the express” delivery industry in this study primarily refers to the adoption of green energy and environmentally friendly technologies in express delivery packaging, transportation, and recycling systems. This transformation can significantly enhance energy efficiency and reduce emissions in the express system, promoting the sustainable development of the entire industry. However, the progress of green transformation in China’s express delivery industry has been impeded by various barriers. To address this, we propose a barrier analysis framework based on the Fuzzy Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) methodology to explore key obstacles to green transformation in the express industry. Our research aims to answer three main questions: (1) What are the key barriers to green transformation in China’s express delivery industry? (2) How do these barriers interact and influence each other? (3) What strategic measures can be implemented to overcome these barriers? We first compile a list of barriers, innovatively proposing two new ones: “inadequate green standards in the express industry” and “suboptimal green packaging technology”. Considering the ambiguity in expert input and the complex interactions among barriers, we employ fuzzy DEMATEL within an Interval Type 2 Fuzzy Sets (IT2FSs) environment to investigate the significance and causality of these barriers. This approach distinguishes our study from previous research by providing a more nuanced understanding of barrier interactions in the specific context of China’s express delivery industry. Based on our analysis, we identify eight critical barriers and propose corresponding strategic measures.

Suggested Citation

  • Xuan Xu & Yifan Huang & Bo Hu & Chentao Li & Kenan Gong, 2024. "Identifying Key Barriers to Green Transition Development in China’s Express Industry Based on the Fuzzy DEMATEL Method," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-26, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:14:p:5892-:d:1432662
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/14/5892/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/14/5892/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Du, Kerui & Cheng, Yuanyuan & Yao, Xin, 2021. "Environmental regulation, green technology innovation, and industrial structure upgrading: The road to the green transformation of Chinese cities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    2. Zarghami, Mahdi & Szidarovszky, Ferenc, 2009. "Revising the OWA operator for multi criteria decision making problems under uncertainty," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 198(1), pages 259-265, October.
    3. Peng, Wei & Xiong, Langyu, 2022. "Managing financing costs and fostering green transition: The role of green financial policy in China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 820-836.
    4. Zhenyu Jiang & Zongjun Wang & Yanqi Zeng, 2020. "Can voluntary environmental regulation promote corporate technological innovation?," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 29(2), pages 390-406, February.
    5. Sisi Wu & Xuan Gong & Yunfei Wang & Jian Cao, 2022. "Consumer Cognition and Management Perspective on Express Packaging Pollution," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(8), pages 1-23, April.
    6. Knut Blind & Stephan Gauch, 2009. "Research and standardisation in nanotechnology: evidence from Germany," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 320-342, June.
    7. Guo, Yuchen & Yuan, Yu, 2022. "Assessing the energy resources policy agenda: Evidence from China's green express policy," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    8. Harshwardhan Ketkale & Steven Simske, 2023. "A LifeCycle Analysis and Economic Cost Analysis of Corrugated Cardboard Box Reuse and Recycling in the United States," Resources, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-18, February.
    9. Xiufeng Zhang & Yan Li & Ke Shi & Yanchao Feng, 2022. "How Do Environmental Technology Standards Affect the Green Transformation? New Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-16, May.
    10. Pengfei Li & Yutao Ru & Jianhong Wu, 2023. "Influential Factors Affecting Recycling Behavior toward Cardboard Boxes in the Logistics Sector: An Empirical Analysis from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-20, September.
    11. Andrew P. Armacost & Cynthia Barnhart & Keith A. Ware, 2002. "Composite Variable Formulations for Express Shipment Service Network Design," Transportation Science, INFORMS, vol. 36(1), pages 1-20, February.
    12. Munazah Nazeer & Uzma Tabassum & Shaista Alam, 2016. "Environmental Pollution and Sustainable Development in Developing Countries," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 55(4), pages 589-604.
    13. Martin, Florian & Hemmelmayr, Vera C. & Wakolbinger, Tina, 2021. "Integrated express shipment service network design with customer choice and endogenous delivery time restrictions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 294(2), pages 590-603.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Li, Siqiao & Zhu, Xiaoning & Shang, Pan & Li, Tianqi & Liu, Wenqian, 2023. "Optimizing a shared freight and passenger high-speed railway system: A multi-commodity flow formulation with Benders decomposition solution approach," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 1-31.
    2. Cai, Hechang & Wang, Zilong & Zhang, Zhiwen & Xu, Liuyang, 2023. "Does environmental regulation promote technology transfer? Evidence from a partially linear functional-coefficient panel model," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    3. Jianshi Wang & Yu Cheng & Chengxin Wang, 2022. "Environmental Regulation, Scientific and Technological Innovation, and Industrial Structure Upgrading in the Yellow River Basin, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(24), pages 1-17, December.
    4. Du, Qunyang & Sun, Zhennan & Goodell, John W. & Du, Anna Min & Yang, Tianle, 2024. "Ecological risk and corporate sustainability: Examining ESG performance, risk management, and productivity," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 96(PA).
    5. Xu, Ru-Yu & Wang, Ke-Liang & Miao, Zhuang, 2024. "The impact of digital technology innovation on green total-factor energy efficiency in China: Does economic development matter?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 194(C).
    6. Hu, Hui & Qi, Shaozhou & Chen, Yuanzhi, 2023. "Using green technology for a better tomorrow: How enterprises and government utilize the carbon trading system and incentive policies," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    7. Liu, Duan & Yu, Nizhou & Wan, Hong, 2022. "Does water rights trading affect corporate investment? The role of resource allocation and risk mitigation channels," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 117(C).
    8. Chuan Tian & Guohui Feng & Huanyu Li, 2023. "Empirical Study on the Impact of Urbanization and Carbon Emissions under the Dual-Carbon Framework Based on Coupling and Coordination," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-20, March.
    9. Bashir Bashiri & Janna Cropotova & Kristine Kvangarsnes & Olga Gavrilova & Raivo Vilu, 2024. "Environmental and Economic Life Cycle Assessment of Enzymatic Hydrolysis-Based Fish Protein and Oil Extraction," Resources, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-13, April.
    10. Ran, Qiying & Yang, Xiaodong & Yan, Hongchuan & Xu, Yang & Cao, Jianhong, 2023. "Natural resource consumption and industrial green transformation: Does the digital economy matter?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    11. Xueyang Wang & Xiumei Sun & Haotian Zhang & Chaokai Xue, 2022. "Digital Economy Development and Urban Green Innovation CA-Pability: Based on Panel Data of 274 Prefecture-Level Cities in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-21, March.
    12. Xing Zhao & Yifan Guo & Zhen Liu & Anteng Xiu, 2023. "Boosting green recovery: the impact of green fiscal policy on green total factor productivity," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 56(4), pages 2601-2619, August.
    13. Wang, Huaxing & Li, Tianzi & Zhu, Junfan & Jian, Youting & Wang, Zeyu & Wang, Zengwen, 2023. "China's new environmental protection law: Implications for mineral resource policy, environmental precaution and green finance," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PB).
    14. Marullo, Cristina & Ahn, Joon Mo, 2024. "Knowledge tensions and decision-making challenges in open innovation: Standardization as a de-biasing mechanism," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    15. Yanli Ji & Jie Xue & Kaiyang Zhong, 2022. "Does Environmental Regulation Promote Industrial Green Technology Progress? Empirical Evidence from China with a Heterogeneity Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-23, January.
    16. Manuel E. SANSALVADOR & José M. BROTONS, 2017. "The Application of OWAs in Expertise Processes: The Development of a Model for the Quantification of Hidden Quality Costs," ECONOMIC COMPUTATION AND ECONOMIC CYBERNETICS STUDIES AND RESEARCH, Faculty of Economic Cybernetics, Statistics and Informatics, vol. 51(3), pages 73-90.
    17. Łukasz Brzeziński & Adam Kolinski, 2024. "Challenges of the Green Transformation of Transport in Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(8), pages 1-34, April.
    18. Zhu, Junpeng & Lin, Boqiang, 2022. "Resource dependence, market-oriented reform, and industrial transformation: Empirical evidence from Chinese cities," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    19. Xiaoqi Li & Dingfei Guo & Chao Feng, 2022. "The Carbon Emissions Trading Policy of China: Does It Really Promote the Enterprises’ Green Technology Innovations?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(21), pages 1-15, November.
    20. Jiamin Liu & Xiaoyu Ma & Bin Zhao & Qi Cui & Sisi Zhang & Jiaoning Zhang, 2023. "Mandatory Environmental Regulation, Enterprise Labor Demand and Green Innovation Transformation: A Quasi-Experiment from China’s New Environmental Protection Law," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-31, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:14:p:5892-:d:1432662. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.