Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
natural resources and 4) reduce the residual impact
of residues, emissions and discharges.
The Agreement complements the environmental
provisions of the North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA).
The experiences and results described in this
case respond to the pilot phase of the program
developed in the period from September 2005 until
May 2008. This pilot phase had the participation
of 14 multinational companies with operations in
Mexico and 134 local Small and Medium Sized
Enterprises (SMEs) that serve as first tier suppliers
of these large anchor companies.
Supply Chains and the “Greening” of
SMEs: The Case of a Mexican Program
This case illustrates the experiences of the Mexican
Green Supply Chain Program (MGSCP) and its
benefits, specifically in the field of green logistics.
The Commission of Environmental Cooperation
in North America (CEC) developed the pro-
gram in order to create an effective, replicable
cooperation-based mechanism for promoting
competitiveness through pollution prevention in
small and medium-size enterprises (SMEs) that
supply large companies.
The higher goal of the CEC in starting the
program was to address the challenge of imple-
menting beneficial environmental practices and/
or management systems in SMEs, especially in
developing countries. Despite the importance
of this type of enterprise in the sustainability of
international business, the promotion of environ-
mental improvements is daunting due to a lack of
motivational drivers. Generally, the main drivers
for environmental improvements by industry are
pressures from environmental authorities and
customer requirements. These drivers are virtu-
ally absent for SMEs in developing countries
due to weak regulatory institutions and a lack of
environmental consciousness on the part of local
customers.
In order to address this problem, in 2005 the
Commission on Environmental Cooperation
(CEC) developed a Green Supply Chains Program
as a result of the official mandate confirmed in the
Puebla Declaration. The CEC is an international
organization created by Canada, Mexico and the
United States under the North American Agree-
ment on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC).
The CEC was established to address regional
environmental concerns, to help prevent potential
trade and environmental conflicts, and to promote
The Program Design
The design of the program builds on earlier expe-
riences with a wide range of initiatives related to
the promotion and the adoption of eco-efficiency
and cleaner production strategies in SMEs. The
design of the program aimed to overcome the
main limitations of such experiences by intro-
ducing an innovative combination of tree main
design features:
1.
Eco-efficiency and cleaner production:
Eco-efficiency and cleaner production are
strategies that could transform the vicious
circle of poor environmental management
in SMEs. Both concepts link environmental
improvement to cost reduction and to in-
novation, through pollution prevention and
alternatives such as process optimization,
product innovation, raw material reduction
or replacement and recycling. Adopting
these prevention-oriented measures could
be attractive for SMEs as an alternative to
improving their competitiveness.
2.
Supply chain power to trigger SME par-
ticipation:
Supply chain power was applied
as main force to motivate SMEs to participate
in the program. Leading companies in the
supply chains, the anchor companies, invited
their suppliers to participate in the program
and supervised the implementation of their
improvement projects. This lowered transac-
tion costs, convincing SMEs to participate
