Green Supply Chain of General Motors - Case Study Example

Most of the questions indicative of a green supply chain were answered in the affirmative, hence suggesting that GM China was indeed effective in managing a green supply chain.

The analysis however reveals that GM China lacks a clear strategy for recovering its end-of-life products. The company argued that it sells its vehicles to far and wide places, and therefore, this aspect of its green supply chain had not been put in place. This paper identified the absence of reverse logistics in GM China as a problem, because in a green supply chain model used in the paper’s discussion section, reverse logistics is identified as a critical aspect of a successful green supply chain management.

The recommendations section of this paper suggests that GM China should develop and implement a policy that establishes a reverse logistics aspect in the green supply chain. The paper further recommends that such a policy would need to be based on prevailing organizational needs. It would also need to be developed by an appointed working group, which would require the company to consult with other stakeholders to develop a comprehensive policy. It is expected that implementing the policy would make GM China have a fully-comprehensive green supply chain, at least when viewed against the model used in this paper. Such a green supply chain is necessary for China since as indicated in this paper, the social license to operate depends on the perceptions that different stakeholders have regarding a firm. The paper however does not quantify the cost of implementing the recommended policy, noting that such an exercise is complex and requires specific figures, some of which may only be known to GM China. The paper however identifies some factors that may contribute to the costs of implementation.