Environmental friendly supply chains : How the purchasing department and its forwarders can contribute to more environmental friendly supply chains

Abstract: The purpose of this research study was to explore how the purchasing department and aforwarding company together can promote more environmental friendly supply chains. To achieve this, the three following research questions had to be answered; RQ1: How couldbetter purchasing planning contribute to more environmental friendly supply chains? RQ2:How can the relationship between the purchasing department and its forwarding companycontribute to more environmental friendly supply chains?, RQ3: How can changes intransportation modes contribute to more environmental friendly supply chains? To be able to answer these questions, a single case study was conducted at two companies which already has an established business relationship.To ensure a rich data collection a mixed method was used, where interviews provided qualitative primary data, and quantitative data collection was conducted at both companies. The data was extracted and reduced, to ensure only the relevant information was considered in the research. All data was summarized in accordance with descriptive statistics to make it more comprehensive in the report. The interviews were performed as semi-structured interviews, which where voice recorded and then transcribed to ensure a fair analysis. A summarized version of the transcript is presented in the report.The research indicated that the choice of transportation mode is crucial to ensure more environmental friendly supply chains. When considering what transportation mode to use, itis not enough to merely consider the theoretical carbon dioxide emissions associated with the mode. One also have to take the length of the route and weight of the cargo into accountwhen evaluating which transportation mode is the most environmental friendly option for each shipment.The findings also showed the importance of purchasing planning, to make sure that available containers are fully utilized and reduce the number of transportations by merging differentshipments together. Purchasing planning will also make it possible to reduce the number of air shipments, which emits large amount of carbon dioxide and is mainly used as atransportation mode when there is a high level of urgency. In addition, the research made it clear that sustainable business relationships also cancontribute to more environmental friendly supply chains. By creating long lasting relationships with one or a few forwarders, it is possible to facilitate the achievement of the sustainability objectives. To be able to create sustainable business relationships, theindividual organizations has to achieve a high level of integration between their ownfunctions.