IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/annopr/v348y2025i2d10.1007_s10479-023-05239-z.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Supply chain green strategy considering manufacturers’ financial constraints: how to manage the risk of green supply chain financing

Author

Listed:
  • Zhixuan Lai

    (Shanghai Lixin University of Accounting and Finance)

  • Gaoxiang Lou

    (East China University of Science and Technology)

  • Linsen Yin

    (Shanghai Lixin University of Accounting and Finance)

  • Haicheng Ma

    (East China University of Science and Technology)

  • Xuechen Tu

    (East China University of Science and Technology)

Abstract

Supply chain members have a variety of green strategic choices in the context of manufacturer’ capital-constrained green supply chains. This paper investigates two types of single-dimensional suppliers’ green strategies (Combination of green practices and financing schemes): the green supply (GS) and green manufacturing (GM) strategies. The GS strategy implies that suppliers implement the GS practice independently; the GM strategy indicates that suppliers provide a green credit guarantee (GCG) to manufacturers to help them implement GM practices. In both green strategies, manufacturers need to solve their production capitals through bank credit financing (BCF). Comparing the GS and GM strategies, this paper aims to identify suppliers preferred green strategy. The results show that, compared to the benchmark case without any green strategy, the GS strategy can effectively improve suppliers’ profits, but the GM strategy cannot. Even if the unit investment cost of the GS practice is higher, suppliers will still implement this strategy when the GCG coefficient is high and manufacturer’s initial capital is low. Furthermore, this paper incorporates green marketing (GA) into GS and GM strategies, investigates two types of dual-dimensional supply chain green strategies (GS-with-GA and GM-with-GA), to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of the dual-dimensional green strategy and single-dimensional green strategy. The conclusions show that compared to the single-dimensional green strategy, the dual-dimensional green strategy can improve product greenness and supply chain efficiency, but it does not necessarily improve manufacturer’s profit, especially when both the demand uncertainty level and manufacturer’s initial capital are high. This paper contributes to the literature on operational risk management by guiding enterprises to develop operational and financing strategies to reduce potential operational and financing risks.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhixuan Lai & Gaoxiang Lou & Linsen Yin & Haicheng Ma & Xuechen Tu, 2025. "Supply chain green strategy considering manufacturers’ financial constraints: how to manage the risk of green supply chain financing," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 348(2), pages 1037-1068, May.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:annopr:v:348:y:2025:i:2:d:10.1007_s10479-023-05239-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s10479-023-05239-z
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10479-023-05239-z
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10479-023-05239-z?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Liu, Weihua & Wei, Wanying & Choi, Tsan-Ming & Yan, Xiaoyu, 2022. "Impacts of leadership on corporate social responsibility management in multi-tier supply chains," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 299(2), pages 483-496.
    2. Yongjian Li & Xueping Zhen & Xiaoqiang Cai, 2016. "Trade credit insurance, capital constraint, and the behavior of manufacturers and banks," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 240(2), pages 395-414, May.
    3. Zhu, Wenge & He, Yuanjie, 2017. "Green product design in supply chains under competition," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 258(1), pages 165-180.
    4. Zhang, Linghong & Wang, Jingguo & You, Jianxin, 2015. "Consumer environmental awareness and channel coordination with two substitutable products," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 241(1), pages 63-73.
    5. Suk Hyun & Donghyun Park & Shu Tian, 2020. "The price of going green: the role of greenness in green bond markets," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(1), pages 73-95, March.
    6. Yongzhao Wang & Xiaojie Sun, 2019. "Dynamic vs. Static Wholesale Pricing Strategies in a Dual-Channel Green Supply Chain," Complexity, Hindawi, vol. 2019, pages 1-14, November.
    7. Bin Shen & Yifan Cao & Xiaoyan Xu, 2020. "Product line design and quality differentiation for green and non-green products in a supply chain," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(1), pages 148-164, January.
    8. Cao, Erbao & Du, Lingxia & Ruan, Junhu, 2019. "Financing preferences and performance for an emission-dependent supply chain: Supplier vs. bank," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 208(C), pages 383-399.
    9. Jung, Seung Hwan & Feng, Tianjun, 2020. "Government subsidies for green technology development under uncertainty," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 286(2), pages 726-739.
    10. An, Simin & Li, Bo & Song, Dongping & Chen, Xue, 2021. "Green credit financing versus trade credit financing in a supply chain with carbon emission limits," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 292(1), pages 125-142.
    11. Hong, Zhaofu & Guo, Xiaolong, 2019. "Green product supply chain contracts considering environmental responsibilities," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 155-166.
    12. Jin, Wei & Zhang, Qinhong & Luo, Jianwen, 2019. "Non-collaborative and collaborative financing in a bilateral supply chain with capital constraints," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 210-222.
    13. Cao, Erbao & Yu, Man, 2019. "The bright side of carbon emission permits on supply chain financing and performance," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 24-39.
    14. Yan, Nina & He, Xiuli & Liu, Ye, 2019. "Financing the capital-constrained supply chain with loss aversion: Supplier finance vs. supplier investment," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 88(C), pages 162-178.
    15. Guo Li & Ming K. Lim & Zhaohua Wang, 2020. "Stakeholders, green manufacturing, and practice performance: empirical evidence from Chinese fashion businesses," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 290(1), pages 961-982, July.
    16. Wen, Huwei & Lee, Chien-Chiang & Zhou, Fengxiu, 2021. "Green credit policy, credit allocation efficiency and upgrade of energy-intensive enterprises," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    17. Feng Yang & Junjun Kong & Tianzhuo Liu & Sheng Ang, 2022. "Cooperation and coordination in green supply chain with R&D uncertainty," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 73(3), pages 481-496, March.
    18. Seongtae Kim & Kai Foerstl & Christoph G. Schmidt & Stephan M. Wagner, 2022. "Adoption of green supply chain management practices in multi-tier supply chains: examining the differences between higher and lower tier firms," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 60(21), pages 6451-6468, November.
    19. Yu-Shan Chen & Tai-Wei Chang & Chun-Yu Lin & Pi-Yu Lai & Kuan-Hung Wang, 2016. "The Influence of Proactive Green Innovation and Reactive Green Innovation on Green Product Development Performance: The Mediation Role of Green Creativity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-12, September.
    20. Asgari, Erfan & Hammami, Ramzi & Frein, Yannick & Nouira, Imen, 2021. "The effect of greenness- and price-based competition on a product's environmental performance," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    21. Ting Kong & Taiwen Feng & Yufei Huang & Junya Cai, 2020. "How to convert green supply chain integration efforts into green innovation: A perspective of knowledge‐based view," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(5), pages 1106-1121, September.
    22. Zissis, Dimitris & Ioannou, George & Burnetas, Apostolos, 2015. "Supply chain coordination under discrete information asymmetries and quantity discounts," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 21-29.
    23. Shib Sankar Sana, 2022. "A structural mathematical model on two echelon supply chain system," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 315(2), pages 1997-2025, August.
    24. Deng, Sijing & Fu, Ke & Xu, Jiayan & Zhu, Kaijie, 2021. "The supply chain effects of trade credit under uncertain demands," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    25. Chee Yew Wong & Christina W.Y. Wong & Sakun Boon-itt, 2020. "Effects of green supply chain integration and green innovation on environmental and cost performance," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(15), pages 4589-4609, July.
    26. Lai, Zhixuan & Lou, Gaoxiang & Ma, Haicheng & Chung, Sai-Ho & Wen, Xin & Fan, Tijun, 2022. "Optimal green supply chain financing strategy: Internal collaborative financing and external investments," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    27. Debabrata Ghosh & Janat Shah & Sanjeev Swami, 2020. "Product greening and pricing strategies of firms under green sensitive consumer demand and environmental regulations," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 290(1), pages 491-520, July.
    28. Qin, Juanjuan & Fu, Huiping & Wang, Ziping & Xia, Liangjie, 2021. "Financing and carbon emission reduction strategies of capital-constrained manufacturers in E-commerce supply chains," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    29. Robert G. Eccles & Ioannis Ioannou & George Serafeim, 2014. "The Impact of Corporate Sustainability on Organizational Processes and Performance," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(11), pages 2835-2857, November.
    30. Yina Li & Yang Tong & Fei Ye & Jiajia Song, 2020. "The choice of the government green subsidy scheme: innovation subsidy vs. product subsidy," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 58(16), pages 4932-4946, July.
    31. Zhang, Ranran & Ma, Weimin & Si, Hongyun & Liu, Jinjin & Liao, Le, 2021. "Cooperative game analysis of coordination mechanisms under fairness concerns of a green retailer," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    32. Xiang, Xiaojian & Liu, Chuanjiang & Yang, Mian, 2022. "Who is financing corporate green innovation?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 321-337.
    33. Guo, Shu & Choi, Tsan-Ming & Shen, Bin, 2020. "Green product development under competition: A study of the fashion apparel industry," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 280(2), pages 523-538.
    34. Li, Zhimin & Pan, Yanchun & Yang, Wen & Ma, Jianhua & Zhou, Ming, 2021. "Effects of government subsidies on green technology investment and green marketing coordination of supply chain under the cap-and-trade mechanism," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C).
    35. Asim Paul & Magfura Pervin & Sankar Kumar Roy & Nelson Maculan & Gerhard-Wilhelm Weber, 2022. "A green inventory model with the effect of carbon taxation," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 309(1), pages 233-248, February.
    36. Dash Wu, Desheng & Yang, Lipo & Olson, David L., 2019. "Green supply chain management under capital constraint," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 215(C), pages 3-10.
    37. Kanamura, Takashi, 2020. "Are green bonds environmentally friendly and good performing assets?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    38. Cherrafi, Anass & Garza-Reyes, Jose Arturo & Kumar, Vikas & Mishra, Nishikant & Ghobadian, Abby & Elfezazi, Said, 2018. "Lean, green practices and process innovation: A model for green supply chain performance," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 79-92.
    39. Liu, Yang & Zhu, Qinghua & Seuring, Stefan, 2017. "Linking capabilities to green operations strategies: The moderating role of corporate environmental proactivity," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 187(C), pages 182-195.
    40. Yan, Nina & Sun, Baowen & Zhang, Hui & Liu, Chongqing, 2016. "A partial credit guarantee contract in a capital-constrained supply chain: Financing equilibrium and coordinating strategy," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 122-133.
    41. Ganesh Iyer & David A. Soberman, 2016. "Social Responsibility and Product Innovation," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 35(5), pages 727-742, September.
    42. Gbenga Ibikunle & Tom Steffen, 2017. "European Green Mutual Fund Performance: A Comparative Analysis with their Conventional and Black Peers," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 145(2), pages 337-355, October.
    43. Panos Kouvelis & Wenhui Zhao, 2012. "Financing the Newsvendor: Supplier vs. Bank, and the Structure of Optimal Trade Credit Contracts," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 60(3), pages 566-580, June.
    44. R. Anthony Inman & Kenneth W. Green, 2018. "Lean and green combine to impact environmental and operational performance," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 56(14), pages 4802-4818, July.
    45. Shiming Deng & Chaocheng Gu & Gangshu (George) Cai & Yanhai Li, 2018. "Financing Multiple Heterogeneous Suppliers in Assembly Systems: Buyer Finance vs. Bank Finance," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 20(1), pages 53-69, February.
    46. Li, Guo & Wu, Huamin & Sethi, Suresh P. & Zhang, Xiang, 2021. "Contracting green product supply chains considering marketing efforts in the circular economy era," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 234(C).
    47. Panos Kouvelis & Wenhui Zhao, 2016. "Supply Chain Contract Design Under Financial Constraints and Bankruptcy Costs," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(8), pages 2341-2357, August.
    48. Yoshino, Naoyuki & Taghizadeh-Hesary, Farhad, 2019. "Optimal credit guarantee ratio for small and medium-sized enterprises’ financing: Evidence from Asia," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 342-356.
    49. Xin Wang & Soo-Haeng Cho & Alan Scheller-Wolf, 2021. "Green Technology Development and Adoption: Competition, Regulation, and Uncertainty—A Global Game Approach," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(1), pages 201-219, January.
    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. Lai, Zhixuan & Lou, Gaoxiang & Ma, Haicheng & Chung, Sai-Ho & Wen, Xin & Fan, Tijun, 2022. "Optimal green supply chain financing strategy: Internal collaborative financing and external investments," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    2. Zhixuan Lai & Gaoxiang Lou & Tiantian Zhang & Tijun Fan, 2023. "Financing and coordination strategies for a manufacturer with limited operating and green innovation capital: bank credit financing versus supplier green investment," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 331(1), pages 85-119, December.
    3. Liang, Yuting & Zhang, Qingyu, 2025. "ESG equity or green credit: Financing strategies for green transformation in the supply chain under consumption subsidies," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 280(C).
    4. Xie, Xiaofeng & Shi, Xinyu & Gu, Jing & Xu, Xun, 2023. "Examining the Contagion Effect of Credit Risk in a Supply Chain under Trade Credit and Bank Loan Offering," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 115(C).
    5. Lai, Zhixuan & Lou, Gaoxiang & Chung, Sai-Ho & Fan, Tijun & Ma, Haicheng & Yu, Mingjun, 2025. "The bright side of low-carbon technology sharing in a capital-constrained supply chain," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    6. Wu, Huamin & Weng, Jiaxiang & Li, Guo & Zheng, Hong, 2024. "Green subsidy Strategies and fairness concern in a Capital-Constrained supply chain," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    7. Junjian Wu & Jennifer Shang, 2021. "Green Credit Financing Equilibrium under Government Subsidy and Supply Uncertainty," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-22, November.
    8. Bo Li & Zijia Du & Minxue Wang, 2022. "Financing preference and the role of credit insurance in a green supply chain," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(8), pages 3882-3897, December.
    9. Jiang, Wen-Hui & Xu, Ling & Chen, Zhen-Song & Govindan, Kannan & Chin, Kwai-Sang, 2022. "Financing equilibrium in a capital constrained supply Chain: The impact of credit rating," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    10. Avinadav, Tal & Levy, Priel, 2023. "The effect of an uncertain commission rate on the decisions of a capital-constrained developer," Operations Research Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 11(C).
    11. Niu Yu & Mengni Xiong & Pin Zhou & Qingguo Bai, 2025. "Contract design for a retailer-dominated supply chain under asymmetric green investment cost information," Operational Research, Springer, vol. 25(1), pages 1-31, March.
    12. Kelei Xue & Guohua Sun & Tongtong Yao, 2022. "Incentive Mechanisms for Carbon Emission Abatement Considering Consumers’ Low-Carbon Awareness under Cap-and-Trade Regulation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(7), pages 1-27, March.
    13. Kelei Xue & Guohua Sun, 2022. "Impacts of Supply Chain Competition on Firms’ Carbon Emission Reduction and Social Welfare under Cap-and-Trade Regulation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-25, March.
    14. Li, Yanhai & Ou, Jinwen & Gu, Chaocheng, 2023. "Buyer guarantee and bailout in supplier finance with bankruptcy cost," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 305(1), pages 287-299.
    15. Zhang, Cheng & Xiao, Guangnian & Xu, Lang, 2024. "Manufacturers' emission-reduction investments in competing supply chains with Prisoner’s Dilemma: The economic and environmental impacts of Retailer(s) capital Constraint(s)," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    16. Xiaoli Zhang & Guoyi Xiu & Fakhar Shahzad & Yupeng Duan, 2021. "Optimal Financing Strategy in a Capital-Constrained Supply Chain with Retailer Green Marketing Efforts," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-19, January.
    17. Huang, Shuai & Fan, Zhi-Ping & Wang, Ningning, 2020. "Green subsidy modes and pricing strategy in a capital-constrained supply chain," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 136(C).
    18. Shi, Jinzhao & Liu, Dian & Du, Qiang & Cheng, T.C.E., 2023. "The role of the procurement commitment contract in a low-carbon supply chain with a capital-constrained supplier," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    19. Jiawen Li & Xiaomin Xu & Shengzhong Huang & Hongyong Fu, 2025. "Supply Chain Investment, Financing Schemes With the Uncertainty of Low‐Carbon Technology Innovation: Carbon Asset Pledge vs. Sell–Buyback?," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 46(3), pages 1888-1912, April.
    20. Yan, Nina & Jin, Xuyu & Zhong, Hechen & Xu, Xun, 2020. "Loss-averse retailers’ financial offerings to capital-constrained suppliers: loan vs. investment," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).

    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:spr:annopr:v:348:y:2025:i:2:d:10.1007_s10479-023-05239-z. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.