ABSTRACT
Increasingly, companies support or face globalization in order to seek comparative advantage in local regions, whether these advantages have to do with natural resources, cost, labor, or regulation. Globalization can have a significant impact on the greening of a supply chain. For example, the diffusion of environmental standards can occur as leading companies standardize processes and policies, no matter which economy they encounter. This chapter considers various aspects of globalization and its relationship to the greening of the supply chain. Drivers for globalization include market, cost, competition, technology, government, and macroeconomics. The drivers and their relationship to greening supply chains are described. Understanding global and local relationships also means understanding various boundaries and layers. Hence, the levels of analysis ranging from individual-level management (the submicro level) to global industrial networks (supramacro) are then depicted. The level of green supply chain management to be considered and evaluated depends on the boundary of the level of study. This chapter finally provides the delineation of nine boundaries—cultural, economic, informational, legal, organizational, political, proximal, technological, and temporal—in order to help understand the green supply chain, its practices, and its activities.
