Green Marketing: The Relationships Between Marketing Strategy, Supply Chain, and Firms' Environmental Performance

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of the green supply chain as a mediator in the relationship between a green marketing strategy and a firm's environmental performance. Using sustainability theory as our theoretical framework, we developed a model and tested it based on survey data from 170 managers in Israeli companies operating in international markets. Our findings reveal that a green marketing strategy has no direct effect on a firm's environmental performance. However, a green supply chain fully mediates the relationship between a green marketing strategy and a firm's environmental performance. These findings align with sustainability theory by showing that implementing a green marketing strategy alone does not necessarily guarantee improved environmental performance. Maximizing the impact of a green marketing strategy requires its operational implementation across the supply chain to drive environmental performance. Our results have both theoretical and managerial implications. First, from the perspective of sustainability theory, our study combines two interdisciplinary organizational approaches (marketing and the supply chain) that together enable a company to function more effectively. Second, logistics and green supply chain strategies provide faster responses to customers' changing demands and thereby improve a firm's environmental performance. Practically, managers need to implement innovative technologies to adapt their organization to the changing business environment while considering environmental conservation and responding to changes in customers' needs.