Abstract: Since China proposed the “dual-carbon” target, firms have faced higher requirements for green transformation. In practice, the carbon emissions and environmental impacts vary across different stages of the supply chain, while environmental regulations and natural resource reserves not only change over time, but also are related to the geographic locations of different stages of the supply chain. This requires firms to coordinate and manage the environmental impacts of each stage of the supply chain to timely meet the customized product demands of customers in different application scenarios. Consequently, firms must shift the focus of green practices from the company level to suppliers and customers at the supply chain level, and review their external green supply chain management practices (ex-GSCMP). The implementation of ex-GSCMP has always been considered challenging due to the need for coordinating multiple suppliers and customers that are geographically dispersed, with highly uncertain implementation outcomes. Especially in the context of global manufacturing supply chain restructuring, the collaborative operations among firms at various stages of the supply chain become more complex, leading to increased uncertainty for firms implementing ex-GSCMP.
In fact, the relationship between ex-GSCMP and financial performance has been controversial in the literature, and the performance burden resulting from a firm's green transformation remains a concern for decision makers in supply chain members. Based on this, this study further considers the operational context of customer customization and proposes the value of ex-GSCMP for innovation performance from the perspective of knowledge. Therefore, this study identifies “middle-level knowledge” (i.e., new knowledge regarding the integration of green product design and production with different application scenarios) for analyzing the relationship between ex-GSCMP and both financial and innovation performance, as well as the moderating role of environmental regulation. Based on the knowledge-based view and institutional theory, this study proposes four research hypotheses: (1)Ex-GSCMP has a U-shaped relationship with financial performance. (2)Ex-GSCMP is positively related to innovation performance. (3)Environmental regulation strengthens the U-shaped relationship between ex-GSCMP and financial performance. (4)Environmental regulation strengthens the positive relationship between ex-GSCMP and innovation performance. The survey data are collected from 264 firms and the ordinary least squares regression is then conducted with the SPSS to test the research hypotheses. The results show that there is a U-shaped relationship between ex-GSCMP and financial performance, and ex-GSCMP has a positive effect on innovation performance. Moreover, environmental regulation positively moderates the relationship between ex-GSCMP and financial performance, but does not significantly influence the relationship between ex-GSCMP and innovation performance.
The theoretical contributions of this study are threefold. (1)This study first proposes the impact of ex-GSCMP on innovation performance and finds that there is a positive relationship between ex-GSCMP and innovation performance. From the perspective of knowledge, this study fills a gap in existing literature and enriches the theoretical research on the effectiveness of ex-GSCMP. (2)Combined with the influence of the accumulated “middle-level knowledge” in the context of customer customization, this study uncovers a U-shaped relationship between ex-GSCMP and financial performance, providing a new research perspective for understanding the mechanisms of ex-GSCMP on financial performance. (3)Considering the significant impact of environmental regulation on the relationship between the firm's green practice activities and its effects in reality, the moderating effect of environmental regulation is identified and verified. This study expands the application research field of institutional theory, enriching the contingency perspective on the relationship between ex-GSCMP and financial as well as innovation performance.
Based on the research findings, management suggestions are provided for firms to proactively implement ex-GSCMP. (1)Firms should full leverage the opportunities of implementing ex-GSCMP to acquire external knowledge, accumulate unique “middle-level knowledge”, and develop innovative green products to enhance innovation performance, thereby achieving sustainable development. (2)Firms should make full use of the “collaborative platform” to reduce the interaction costs between firms brought about by the implementation of ex-GSCMP, thereby accelerating the accumulation of “middle-level knowledge”. They should disclose green information to enhance corporate compliance, strengthen inter-firm trust, and improve long-term financial performance. (3)They should combine the requirements and changes of environmental regulations, match suitable supplier resources to carry out ex-GSCMP, and timely adjust the implementation strategy and direction of ex-GSCMP.
Based on the content of this study, further research could consider the following three aspects. (1)Future research could collect objective data to test the model. (2)The sample industries involve machinery, electronics and other industries, so more industry data can be collected in the future to further validate the findings of this study. (3)Because this study focuses on the moderating effect of environmental regulation, future research could analyze the moderating effect of non-governmental factors such as public attention.

Key words: external green supply chain management practices, financial performance, innovation performance, environmental regulation

摘要： 外部绿色供应链管理实践(简记为ex-GSCMP)与企业财务绩效的关系在文献中一直存在争议。以此为切入,本文进一步考虑顾客定制化的运作情境,从知识的视角,提出ex-GSCMP对于企业创新绩效的价值。由此,识别出“中间层知识”(即绿色产品的设计与生产,如何与不同的应用场景相结合的新知识),并结合知识基础观和制度理论,分析ex-GSCMP与财务绩效和创新绩效之间的关系,以及环境规制的调节作用。基于264家企业的问卷数据,并借助SPSS软件进行最小二乘法回归分析以检验研究假设。结果表明,ex-GSCMP与财务绩效之间呈U型关系,ex-GSCMP与创新绩效之间呈正向关系;环境规制正向调节ex-GSCMP与财务绩效之间的关系,但对ex-GSCMP与创新绩效之间的关系没有显著的调节作用。最后,研究结论拓展了ex-GSCMP与财务和创新绩效关系及其情景因素的相关研究,同时为企业主动实施ex-GSCMP也提供了一定的理论支撑和管理建议。

关键词: 外部绿色供应链管理实践, 财务绩效, 创新绩效, 环境规制