دانلود کتاب راهنمای مدیران برای کاربرد Green-Lean-Six Sigma -ابزارها و شیوه‌ها

In recent times, critical environmental issues, including climate change, natural resource depletion, habitat destruction, pollution, ocean acidification, loss of biodiversity, deforestation, and waste generation, have propelled firms, governments, and society to embrace environmental sustainability and foster natural resource conservation (Esty and Winston 2009; Hariyani and Mishra 2022a; Yadav et al. 2023a, b). As such, the excessive consumption of natural resources, including water, minerals, fossil fuels, fertile soil, and forests, led to a myriad of complex environmental issues and a serious risk of ecological imbalance for both developed and developing economies (Danta and Rath 2024; Hasimoglu 2021; Lu and Wang 2023). Further, growing natural resource depletion affects biodiversity, disrupts natural cycles, causes greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and exacerbates climate change (Lu and Wang 2023). According to the United Nations Development Programme (2020), natural resource consumption has increased to 100.6 million, a fourfold increase from 1970, with an average annual growth rate of 5.5% (Danta and Rath 2024). In response to complex and increasingly growing sustainability concerns, the World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED), also known as the Brundtland Commission, proposed the sustainable development concept, which refers to “the [inclusive] development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” (WCED 1987, p. 43). In a corporate environment, sustainable development (also referred to as ‘sustainability’ in a business context) is broadly conceived as a holistic concept that involves incorporating social, economic, and environmental concerns into strategic and operational decision-making to simultaneously achieve both short-term and long-term business performance. As Székely and Knirsch (2005) expound, sustainability from a business perspective involves: Sustaining and expanding economic growth, shareholder value, prestige, corporate reputation, customer relationships, and the quality of products and services as well as adopting and pursuing ethical business practices, creating sustainable jobs, building value for all the stakeholders and attending to the needs of the underserved. (p. 628) Some scholars, however, have focused more on the environmental dimension while explicating the role of the corporate sector in promoting sustainable development as “the ability of a firm to nurture and support growth over time by effectively meeting the expectations of diverse stakeholders” (Neubaum and Zahra 2006, p.121). As one of the primary users of pristine natural resources, manufacturing firms continue to face a multitude of environmental challenges due to the excessive use of natural resources and energy consumption requirements in industrial processes that cause GHG emissions, harmful air and water pollution, and other forms of hazardous waste and damaging substances (e.g., Esty and Winston 2009; Mohamad et al. 2022; Robinson 2009). For example, the chemical industry faces critical sustainability challenges, including natural resource depletion, the use of hazardous materials, and employees’ and workplace safety issues (Liew et al. 2014; Mohan et al. 2021; Papa floratos et al. 2023). Similarly, the textile industry is considered one of the largest water-consuming industries and is often criticized for environmental pollution, including air emissions, wastewater, energy consumption, and discharge of hazardous chemicals (Luoma et al. 2022). In addition, the leather industry faces significant environmental sustainability challenges, including wastewater generation, human health and safety issues, and the use of toxic chemicals (Brun and Ciccullo 2022; Chen et al. 2023; Omoloso et al. 2021; Sultana et al. 2023). Moreover, the pharmaceutical industry faces numerous sustainability challenges, including excessive energy consumption, GHG emissions, hazardous chemicals, and waste generation (Khan and Ali 2022; Kharat et al. 2025; Tsolakis et al. 2019). Emerging challenges, including economic concerns, growing consumer demand for environmentally friendly products, stringent environmental legislation and policies, and market dynamics, have also influenced the organizations to adopt sustainable practices (Yadav et al. 2023a, b). Rapid industrial development and human-led activities have increased global warming and GHG emissions. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, global warming has reached +1.1 °C compared with the pre-industrial era, jeopardizing the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5 °C, set by the Paris Agreement. Further, global warming could reach +3 °C by 2100, exceeding the safety threshold limit set by the scientific community if immediate actions are not taken (IPCC 2024). The report also emphasized extreme weather conditions, rising sea levels, global food security risks, and loss of biodiversity as contemporary sustainability issues calling for immediate attention and s from stakeholders. One of the significant contributors to GHG emissions is the industrial sector (e.g., Panagiotopoulou et al. 2022), which makes up around 35% of the total emissions. The reasons are associated with the conventional methods of manufacturing products used by businesses in various countries (Wang et al. 2019). Further, the increasing GHG emissions have adverse environmental and social sustainability impacts, resulting in severe health issues (Kwon 2020). Accordingly, manufacturers continue to face increasing pressure to implement sustainable strategies in their operations in response to growing environmental issues and stringent environmental regulations (Yadav et al. 2023a, b). In response, firms heavily invest in their research and development activities to adopt sustainable manufacturing practices (Pandey et al. 2018; Sharma et al. 2017; Yadav et al. 2023a, b). Pro-environmental strategies, including green manufacturing, lean manufacturing, sustainable manufacturing, Six Sigma, and agile manufacturing, are gaining traction among manufacturing firms aiming to achieve operational efficiencies and environmental goals (Ishak et al. 2024; Mohan et al. 2024). In particular, green manufacturing, lean manufacturing, and Six Sigma are increasingly employed to optimize industrial operations and environmental performance (Yadav et al. 2023a, b). The following sections describe these selected strategies and their interrelationships.