IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i12p5590-d1681346.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Green Transformation of Enterprises and the Bullwhip Effect: Empirical Evidence from Listed Companies in China

Author

Listed:
  • Mu Xing

    (School of Economics and Management, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210094, China)

  • Hongmei Zhang

    (Yangtze Industrial Development Institute, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China)

  • Dong Chen

    (Yangtze Industrial Development Institute, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China)

  • Wenhe Chen

    (School of Economics and Management, Anhui Normal University, Wuhu 241000, China)

Abstract

In the face of growing economic downturn pressure in China, disruptions in certain segments of the supply chain have intensified the bullwhip effect, severely destabilizing supply chains and posing risks to the sustainable development of the real economy. This study utilizes data from Chinese A-share listed enterprises from 2008 to 2022, employing a multiple linear regression model alongside robustness and endogeneity tests to investigate the mechanism through which corporate green transformation alleviates the bullwhip effect. The empirical results indicate that a one-unit increase in the green transformation leads to a significant 0.073-unit reduction in the bullwhip effect. Mechanism analysis further reveals that green transformation mitigates the bullwhip effect by enhancing supply-chain information sharing, strengthening organizational resilience, and improving managerial effectiveness. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the impact of green transformation on the bullwhip effect varies significantly depending on ownership structure and industry characteristics. This study contributes to the integration of green development theory and supply chain management by providing theoretical insights and practical implications for fostering corporate green transformation and optimizing supply-chain strategies. Specifically, it suggests that policymakers enhance regulatory guidance and incentives, encourage enterprises to prioritize green transformation, and implement tailored strategies based on firm characteristics to achieve supply chain stability and sustainable development.

Suggested Citation

  • Mu Xing & Hongmei Zhang & Dong Chen & Wenhe Chen, 2025. "Green Transformation of Enterprises and the Bullwhip Effect: Empirical Evidence from Listed Companies in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(12), pages 1-32, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:12:p:5590-:d:1681346
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/12/5590/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/12/5590/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chenxi Wang & Deli Wang & Xincai Deng & Shun Wang, 2023. "Research on the Impact of Enterprise Digital Transformation on Internal Control," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-18, May.
    2. Ying Ye & Kwok Hung Lau, 2022. "Competitive Green Supply Chain Transformation with Dynamic Capabilities—An Exploratory Case Study of Chinese Electronics Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-23, July.
    3. Dukangqi Li & Weitao Shen, 2021. "Can Corporate Digitalization Promote Green Innovation? The Moderating Roles of Internal Control and Institutional Ownership," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-22, December.
    4. Hau L. Lee & V. Padmanabhan & Seungjin Whang, 1997. "Information Distortion in a Supply Chain: The Bullwhip Effect," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 43(4), pages 546-558, April.
    5. Li, Zhiyi & Hu, Boqiang & Bao, Yifei & Wang, Yifei, 2025. "Supply chain digitalization, green technology innovation and corporate energy efficiency," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    6. Nathan Nunn & Nancy Qian, 2014. "US Food Aid and Civil Conflict," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 104(6), pages 1630-1666, June.
    7. Jiang, Gaoyang & Peng, Jie & Liang, Xintong & Pan, Junyu, 2025. "Supply chain digitization and continuous green innovation: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(C).
    8. Sampath Rajagopalan & Jayashankar M. Swaminathan, 2001. "A Coordinated Production Planning Model with Capacity Expansion and Inventory Management," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 47(11), pages 1562-1580, November.
    9. Wang, Xun & Disney, Stephen M., 2016. "The bullwhip effect: Progress, trends and directions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 250(3), pages 691-701.
    10. Tri Yuwono & Agus Suroso & Weni Novandari, 2024. "Information and communication technology in SMEs: a systematic literature review," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 1-23, December.
    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. Yantuan Yu & Ning Zhang, 2025. "Revealing the Power of Market-Based Energy Policy: Evidence from China’s Energy Quota Trading System Using Machine Learning," Working papers 2025rwp-258, Yonsei University, Yonsei Economics Research Institute.
    2. Zhou, Li & Naim, Mohamed M. & Disney, Stephen M., 2017. "The impact of product returns and remanufacturing uncertainties on the dynamic performance of a multi-echelon closed-loop supply chain," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 183(PB), pages 487-502.
    3. Manuel Brauch & Andreas Größler, 2022. "Holistic versus analytic thinking orientation and its relationship to the bullwhip effect," System Dynamics Review, System Dynamics Society, vol. 38(2), pages 121-134, April.
    4. QU, Zhan & RAFF, Horst, 2023. "Two-part tariffs, inventory stockpiling, and the bullwhip effect," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 308(1), pages 201-214.
    5. Lin, J. & Naim, M.M. & Purvis, L. & Gosling, J., 2017. "The extension and exploitation of the inventory and order based production control system archetype from 1982 to 2015," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 135-152.
    6. Lin, Junyi & Naim, Mohamed M. & Spiegler, Virginia L.M., 2020. "Delivery time dynamics in an assemble-to-order inventory and order based production control system," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    7. de Lima, Daruichi Pereira & Fioriolli, José Carlos & Padula, Antonio Domingos & Pumi, Guilherme, 2018. "The impact of Chinese imports of soybean on port infrastructure in Brazil: A study based on the concept of the “Bullwhip Effect”," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 9(C), pages 55-76.
    8. Ponte, Borja & Dominguez, Roberto & Cannella, Salvatore & Framinan, Jose M., 2022. "The implications of batching in the bullwhip effect and customer service of closed-loop supply chains," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).
    9. Jalali, Hamed & Menezes, Mozart B.C., 2024. "Product portfolio adjustments and the bullwhip effect: The impact of product introduction and retirement," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 318(1), pages 87-99.
    10. Dominguez, Roberto & Cannella, Salvatore & Framinan, Jose M., 2021. "Remanufacturing configuration in complex supply chains," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    11. Cannella, Salvatore & Dominguez, Roberto & Framinan, Jose M., 2017. "Inventory record inaccuracy – The impact of structural complexity and lead time variability," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 123-138.
    12. Chen, Chang-Chih & Huang, Henry Hongren & Lee, Chun I., 2022. "Supply chain, product pricing, and dynamic capital structure," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 938-952.
    13. Enrique Holgado de Frutos & Juan R Trapero & Francisco Ramos, 2020. "A literature review on operational decisions applied to collaborative supply chains," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(3), pages 1-28, March.
    14. María Arquer & Borja Ponte & Raúl Pino, 2022. "Examining the balance between efficiency and resilience in closed-loop supply chains," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 30(4), pages 1307-1336, December.
    15. Nikolay Osadchiy & William Schmidt & Jing Wu, 2021. "The Bullwhip Effect in Supply Networks," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(10), pages 6153-6173, October.
    16. Yang, Hefan & Liu, Xilu & Meng, Yao & Feng, Baoyi & Chen, Zhijun, 2024. "Digital transformation and the allocation of decision-making rights within business groups – Empirical evidence from China," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 179(C).
    17. Ponte, Borja & Framinan, Jose M. & Cannella, Salvatore & Dominguez, Roberto, 2020. "Quantifying the Bullwhip Effect in closed-loop supply chains: The interplay of information transparencies, return rates, and lead times," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 230(C).
    18. Jiang, Guohai & Chen, Fuzhong & Gu, Mengyi, 2025. "Supply chain digitization and energy resilience: Evidence from China," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    19. Ponte, Borja & Costas, José & Puche, Julio & Pino, Raúl & de la Fuente, David, 2018. "The value of lead time reduction and stabilization: A comparison between traditional and collaborative supply chains," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 111(C), pages 165-185.
    20. Feng Liu & Mingjie Fang & Shufeng Xiao & Yangyan Shi, 2025. "Mitigating bullwhip effect in supply chains by engaging in digital transformation: the moderating role of customer concentration," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 344(2), pages 825-846, January.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:17:y:2025:i:12:p:5590-:d:1681346. 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.