Environmental Science and Pollution Research

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08816-y

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Overview of green business practices within the Bangladeshi RMG

industry: competitiveness and sustainable development perspective
Apurbo Sarkar 1 & Lu Qian 1 & Anamika Kor Peau 1

Received: 19 January 2020 / Accepted: 7 April 2020

# Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020

Abstract
Green business initiatives have become a prime driving force towards sustainable development across the world. The economy of
Bangladesh is now on a pick as she has been moving towards nearly hitting the target for becoming a middle-income economy by
2021, and for attaining so, the development of industrial sectors is unavoidable. The booming industrial sectors have been
resulting in a massive depletion of natural resources, greenhouse gas erosion, and toxic waste disposal, which further can cause
uncontrolled degradation of air, soil, and water. In this highly competitive world, like most other businesses, ready-made garment
(RMG) firms are facing tremendous pressure for being more competitive and availing a decisive position towards the reduction of
pollution and impacts of ecological footprint. This nation brings a new paradigm of doing business called green business (GB).
Principles of green business compact with emerging approaches for producing, marketing, and disposing of the products, which
maintain environmental safety and business competitiveness. Green-oriented business strategy can act as a crucial tactic for
gaining a competitive advantage over the potential competitors and assess them with a better way to uphold their stand towards
attaining sustainable development. Since the modern purchaser is continuously being attracted to green-oriented RMG industries,
they want to attain their responsibility to Mother Nature. Especially for the RMG sectors of Bangladesh, environmental concern
is highly crucial since it is the most significant economic sectors of this country. The prime objective of this study is to provide an
overview of green business strategy associated with the RMG sectors of Bangladesh, which further assist the sectors with
competitive advantages. In order to fulfill the prime objectives of the paper, the authors conferred various books, journals, and
research papers related to green business and competitiveness within the context of Bangladeshi RMG sectors. Furthermore, the
study arranged some casual discussions with industry professionals in corporate social responsibility (CSR), environmental
protectionist, sustainable development executives, and ecology-friendly performance officer to provide substantial assistance
for focusing on the precise direction of foundation evaluation and synthesis. In contextualization of the intensification of green
business strategy and environmental degradation, we proposed a framework to quantify the green business strategy with the view
of gain competitive advantages across the RMG sectors in Bangladesh.

Keywords Green business . Sustainable development . Competitiveness . Eco-friendly business . Environmental protection .
Environmental pollution

Introduction populace, the world populace might finish nearly three to six
of world’s resources within a single year (Mittal 2013). It is
If every country in the world follows the lifestyle of developed estimated that the population of the world would be raised to
countries, which would have not even be 30% of the present 9.8 billion in 2050 and 11.2 billion in 2100 (UN DESA 2017).
Increased population means increased pressure for the de-
Responsible editor: Eyup Dogan mands for products, natural resources, and energy that could
have to evolve with challenges like climate change, global
* Lu Qian warming, hazardous waste disposal, ecological imbalances,
luqian@nwafu.edu.cn ecological resources degradation, and unfavorable living con-
ditions since these notions are closely associated with extreme
1
College of Economics and Management, Northwest A&F University, water and land contamination. The emergent, developing, and
Yangling 712100, Shaanxi, China less developed countries are trying to elevate the living

standard of their growing inhabitants. Simultaneously, devel-
oped nations are not willing to lose their modern standard of
living (Vogel and O’Brien 2017). Therefore, the typical global
consumption pattern retains increasing as living standards
keep rising, which denotes that the development of industrial
sectors is inevitable (Mittal 2013). That notion has
commanded an extremely unsustainable position as presently
industrial sector utilizes approximately 70% of world energy
and resources (Schaefer et al. 2016), and the intake of acute
resources for manufacturing use has reached more significant
than before (Mittal 2013).
Ready-made garment manufacturing sector is rising glob-
ally at a very high speed to encounter increased demand for
clothes, fiber, wools, and fabrics (Smith 2016). The nations,
principally developing nations, are working rigorously to
achieve a high development in the ready-made garment
(RMG) sector to boost their economic development.
However, the fast growth of industrial sectors has incredible
effects on the environmental sustainability, which has become
one of the leading global concerns nowadays and becomes a
prime challenge among businesses, academia, governments,
and international groups (Hossain et al. 2017; Mittal 2013).
Moreover, this growth can boost the degradation of the eco-
logical balance and create a vulnerable situation of human
existence in the near future. Within the mid of the twenty-
first century, RMG businesses have been adopting the emerg-
ing state of environment-friendly green practices on a sustain-
able basis, which entirely changes the structure of this sector.
RMG manufacturing is a high-energy and resource-oriented
industry, which demands a massive amount of natural re-
sources for its per average output (Talapatra and Uddin
2017). Energy and natural resources are the leading utility
for production and distribution.
Nevertheless, this sector utilizes that vital resources in such
an unsustainable manner and discharge a massive proportion
of ozone harming substances that causes numerous natural,
financial, and societal issues from environmental change to
global trends of waste management. As a key sector,
manufacturing sectors could have not only resolved the eco-
nomic security of many nations but can also directly affect the
living standard of any countries; moreover, gross domestic
product (GDP) mostly depends on it (Li and Seo 2019). In
terms of profiling sustainable development, manufacturing
sectors could play a crucial role as it supplies products that
are essential for fulfilling the ever-increasing demand of civ-
ilization. This perception has brought a novel business model
commonly acknowledged as a green business (GB) approach.
The challenge of sustaining the progression of manufactur-
ing sectors without damaging the atmosphere can be ad-
dressed by the application of green approaches, systems, tac-
tics, and practices, which can produce goods while taking
environment, economy, and society into concentration
(Hasan et al. 2019; Rashid et al. 2019). Hence, the
Environ Sci Pollut Res
implementation of the green business–oriented industry is
one option for humanity to avail of sustainable development
in the industrial sector. Afonso et al. (2018) stated that the
implementation of green businesses should focus on the prop-
er mixing of environmental concerns with economic and so-
cial objectives. This notion of green business is conceptual-
ized with competitiveness and sustainable development
perspectives.
Chuang and Huang (2018) highlighted the green business
orientation within the integration of capital stock, environ-
mental performance, and business competitiveness. Bekk
et al. (2016) uphold green brand priority–based management
tactics as a robust framework for gaining competitive advan-
tages in highly competitive business world. Various marketing
researchers also focused on the green orientation for profiling
opportunities to hold higher market share and communication
strategies (Güzeloğlu and Erten 2018; Lin and Chen 2017).
Some researcher provides an insight view of resource-based
theory to quantify the impacts of green business strategy to
smooth transition of competitive advantages (Couckuyt 2018;
Duarte and Cruz-Machado 2017). Some study has triggered
the process management of the green tactics (Ma et al. 2017;
Routroy and Kumar 2016; Wakeford et al. 2017), efforts for
optimization of organization’s processes (Abreu et al. 2017;
Katip and İnce 2018), and investment in more energy-efficient
infrastructure (Botchie et al. 2017; Çay 2018); some from a
behavioral perspective (Jakobi et al. 2016; Pal and Gander
2018) and some researcher mentioned green business as col-
lective means to reduce environmental impact in terms of the
manufacturing industry (Cotton et al. 2020; Nayak et al. 2019;
Venkatraman et al. 2020).
Conversely, the enactment of green business is not as sim-
ple as it seems (Friend 2009), particularly in developing and
underdeveloped countries (Ara et al. 2019; Venkatraman et al.
2020; Yang et al. 2016). Previous studies showed that the
research stream is mostly focused on concept building.
Further, few researchers tried the green business approaches
for profiling competitiveness and sustainable development
concept. There is minimal research work found that provides
an insightful overview of green business strategies in terms of
RMG sectors of Bangladesh. However, there is a lack of re-
search that can demonstrate a detailed framework within the
context of Bangladeshi RMG sectors. It is necessary to under-
stand the crucial elements that help the industry to implement
green business approaches. It is also essential how these com-
ponents could be integrated for easy adoption of these ap-
proaches. Further, it becomes pertinent to distinguish how
these profound approaches of green business can provide a
better stand towards sustainable development and competi-
tiveness. The prime objective of this research is to present a
theoretical viewpoint of the green business strategy towards
achieving sustainable development and competitiveness as
well as presenting a framework for adopting green strategies.
Environ Sci Pollut Res
The rest of the paper is designed as follows: “Green busi-
ness strategy of RMG sector in Bangladesh” presents a de-
tailed overview of the RMG sector of Bangladesh, including
the definition of green business. Competitiveness and sustain-
able development are discussed thoroughly in “Relationship
between competitive advantage and sustainable development
in terms of green business strategy.” In “Proposed conceptual
framework,” the study focused on proposing a detailed frame-
work that can facilitate the green business tactics from a
Bangladeshi RMG industry prospective. The outcomes and
significance of this study are presented in “Outcomes and
significance of this study.” Whereas “Conclusions and recom-
mendations” represents the conclusions and recommendations
of the study.
Green business strategy of RMG sector
in Bangladesh
Definitions of green business
Green business (GB) maintains the sustainability of eco-
friendly, financial, and social targets within the production
area and tries to form a strong foundation for all three pillars
of sustainability in business processes. However, what is a
green business? What makes a business green? There are sev-
eral definitions of green business that could be traced; some
are more significant than the others. Green business is
reflected as a sustainable initiative that upholds the triple bot-
tom line by reducing the adverse effects of its activities on the
societal, economic, and environmental procession locally or
globally (Pearce 1994). The thought of green business rose
towards the end of the twentieth century in the wake of the
regularly expanding open concern about the supportability of
economic expansion. The last decades (1999–2010) have
witnessed a significant increase in concern in the business
world, in politics, in the media, and the public at large, related
to climate change and its impact on various fields of activity.
Increased knowledge of severe environmental issues influ-
ences the behavior and perceptions of both individuals and
organizations. The concept of green business is generated
from the emergence of environmental pressures that mainly
focused on eliminating negative environmental impacts
throughout companies’ activities (Awan et al. 2017). From
product design through raw materials selection, via production
facilities, across the marketing and branding within financial
strategy with technological advancement to waste disposal, all
the conventional business sectors are covered by the green
strategy. More importantly, this social and eco-friendly busi-
ness exercise does not sacrifice economic growth (Kanchan
et al. 2015). In his article, Whiteman (2011) demonstrated that
green business strategy contains substantial and conclusive
interrelationship with the financial performance of the
organization. Throughout this alliance, environmental regula-
tions and value containment also play an essential and con-
structive regulating function. Furthermore, the identification
of sustainable merchandise often complements the green busi-
ness model, while the policy of cost savings is also
implemented.
Nowadays, advantage of green business draws much more
attention since this emerging practice helps to keep the envi-
ronment safe and helps to avoid the distressful effects of eco-
logical destruction. When discussing green business, there are
numerous advantages like environment-friendly, preservation
of ecological assets, and the green reputation of products and
services in the market. There is a reliable connection between
monetary, administrative, and financial advantages. Wiese
et al. (2015) suggested executing the green and lean business
model as a strategy for gaining competitive advantage by cost
savings, which amplify sustainable profitability. For gaining
progressively advanced and goal-oriented sustainable activi-
ties, dynamic corporations nowadays increase the investment
in green transitions. Ecological ventures are always welcomed
by society, that is why executives need to identify the potential
markets to gain a competitive advantage, favoring both orga-
nization and society as a whole (Orsato 2009; Rougier et al.
2017). Babiak and Trendafilova (2011) provide a “bunch of
data analysis,” which shows a substantial and permissible
motivator that act like a vital reason to rehearse the green
management and environmental CSR. Hartman and Stafford
(1997) showed a way to prevent pressure from the environ-
mental community, local, and international organizations by
taking advantage of eco-friendly green strategy with green co-
operational behavior. Though business organizations fre-
quently derived by economic benefits, it also has a significant
effect on the stakeholders, customers, and society in general
(Currin 2011). Durmaz and Yaşar (2016) stated that green
business strategies could help transform the ecological prob-
lem into a business strategy to gain competitive advancement
by profiling the business. He also stated that green business is
helpful for ecology by utilizing environment-friendly re-
sources like energy-efficient technology and wind- and
hydro-generated energy with solar-powered electric.
Along with these, there are several opportunities to facili-
tate numerous green/environment-friendly products as the as-
sessment of growth not only from the local perspective but
also internationally. Bansal and Roth (2000b) demonstrated
the way by which any business organization maintains healthy
competition for securing a significant market share. They also
suggested green-oriented business strategies to motivate the
customers, facilitate the cost minimization, catch public atten-
tion, and hold the positions of path showers. They further
expressed that organizations will embrace feasible green prac-
tices only if this mindful strategy satisfies the triple bottom
line of a firm. By utilizing green-oriented technologies, a busi-
ness firm can gain a superior position against the rival

powered by lessening the cost during the design, procurement,
production, packaging, and marketing phases (Karagülle
2012).
Maintaining a naturally sound business does not mean
protecting nature as a whole; instead, it is additionally
profiting to the industries legitimately. Approaches like
reusing the waste, keeping away from pointless utilization of
crude materials, printing double sides, which can lessen paper
needs, and reuse and innovation can diminish the expense of
the product. A new customer can be attracted by providing
more and more environmentally safe product, and it may cre-
ate high demand within the marketplace. For maintaining
competitive stand and keep organizations profitability at the
top, these green approaches can act as a vital tactic for busi-
ness organizations to enjoy a considerable advantage.
Environmental, societal, and economical supportability are
well known as the triple bottom line, which forces a business
organization to think beyond profits. However, a benefit is one
of the primary objectives of any business organization; with-
out profits, there will be no business organization. The green
business provides business organizations such a power by
which it can promote the ecological and societal supportability
along with economic sustainability.
Overview of green business strategy within RMG
sectors in Bangladesh
Bangladesh was referred to a basket with no bottom since her
independence in 1971, and it was said that it was an indicator
of a disaster. People used to think of the RMG sector in
Bangladesh as a site of slavery, child labor, and as a represen-
tative of small businesses. However, currently, the RMG sec-
tors are booming at high speed and already become one of the
most crucial sectors for earning foreign currency.
Nevertheless, its economic expansion is now being a massive
cause for ecological degradations. The time is ripe for the
nation to follow the direction of sustainable development,
which typically means implementing policies and adopting
strategies and tactics to render the growth of the economy
and at the same time enhance the viewpoints of society and
environment as a whole approach (Khan 2017). Bangladesh
Bureau of Statistics provided an estimation that Bangladesh’s
economy is grown by 7.86% in FY18 (the fiscal year 2018),
up from 7.28% in FY17 (the fiscal year 2018), which repre-
sents an averaging over 6% a year for the past decade (Star
Business Report 2018). By providing low-cost and premium-
quality manufacturing services, Bangladesh gains impressive
economic growth while using its vibrant ready-made garment
(RMG) sector. This also helps Bangladesh to hold a well-
reputed stand with a leading position in the global RMG sec-
tor. Since the buyer of Bangladeshi RMG sectors are mostly
Europe- and the US-oriented, the eco-friendly buyer could use
Environ Sci Pollut Res
a curtail part for the sectors to maintain the environment and
workplace safety-security in top priority (Sobhani et al. 2009).
Moreover, the USA and the European Union are shifting
their attention from the Chinese market as the Chinese mar-
kets are no longer favorable with a low-cost worker like
Bangladesh. Buyers can influence by the progressions of
green business practices, and therefore Bangladeshi RMG
sectors can achieve the trust of the buyer. Estimated at $35.5
billion out of 2017–2018, exports of RMG represented more
than 83% of total exports during the October–December 2018
period, securing Bangladesh as the second position of RMG
exporter after China (Hoque and Clarke 2013). This sector
utilizes more than 6 million individuals, around 80% of whom
are ladies from rural networks. Because of high worker cost
and increasing obligatory confronting the significant con-
tenders like China, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Myanmar,
Bangladeshi RMG sectors are now holding a leading place
with the target of $50 billion exports by 2021. Given the scale,
there is no doubt that crucial planning to gain the anticipated
growth for this industry is a clear reflection of Bangladesh’s
goal to achieve middle-income country status. For achieving
one of the most anticipated goals of the country’s millennium
development to secure the position within the middle-income
countries, there is no doubt that the systematic planning for
this crucial sector is unavoidable.
While the development figures are empowering,
Bangladesh can guarantee a significantly higher offer of the
worldwide clothing market, which will cross the $2 trillion
imprint by 2025 from the present estimation of $1.9 trillion.
In any case, specialists caution that notwithstanding tending
towards environmental effects with labor security and safety
issues, the industry ought to set itself up to address those
issues for maintaining the efficient development of this ever
quickly extending production. Without blending the nation’s
financial aspirations with natural concerns, economic growth
will not be sustainable. Though the government of
Bangladesh now recognizes the significance of environmental
protection, there is still a lack of practices that can quantify the
approaches moving forward. Various private sectors in the
RMG industry are gradually, however, relentlessly pushing
towards “becoming environmentally viable business” by ad-
vancing green business strategies and inspiring the business
people to welcome the environment-friendly business model
and implement green manufacturing practices. The worldwide
demand for green-oriented products and services creates enor-
mous pressure and motivates the factories to embrace more
environmentally friendly green business and production sys-
tems that are merely satisfying the standard. Where the buyers
asking the producer to provide more environment-friendly
products, green business–oriented RMG factories can gain a
significant competitive advantage since there is a chance to
gain some incentives by delivering the product, which has
lower environmental effects. This strategy can attract more
Environ Sci Pollut Res
and more buyers for the European Union and the USA, where
environmentally friendly products or eco-labeled products
have an enormous demand (Ahammed and Harvey 2004).
Currently, the 28-billion-dollar Bangladeshi RMG sector
has led in the way towards environmental growth by con-
structing 67 green structures, which are considered as the
highest in the world for availing environment-friendly build-
ing. Besides, 13 of Bangladesh’s best green building plants
won the “Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
(LEED) Green Factory Award” in appreciation by earning
“LEED Platinum certification” for their contributions to sus-
tainable development. With the globe’s many pioneering
green manufacturers in renewable industrial development,
Bangladesh, the second most crucial ready-made clothing ex-
porter, had already assumed a dominant market position. Of
the 13 plants, “LEED Platinum” is classified while over 280
plants “United States Green Building Council (USGBC)”
were recorded for “LEED” approval. The world’s second-
biggest factory in Indonesia is 40, accompanied by India 30
and Sri Lanka with 10 (Selim 2013).
The practitioners claimed that the cost associated with the
short-term development of green strategy could be satisfied in
the long-term by providing resource efficiency and minimiz-
ing cost. The most challenging parts of these approaches are
the factories have to invest without expecting an immediate
outcome, which could consider as some extra expenditure.
However, it can be maintained successfully if the organization
can negotiate with the elite class buyers to gain some incen-
tives for upholding the green business strategy. In any case,
this fills in as an open door for industry pioneers to gain
showcase their stand towards environmental protection and
exploit Bangladesh’s capacity to pull in higher offers of the
worldwide market in RMG. It is the ideal time for the RMG
business to lead the pack in further putting resources into
greening measures, which can be an impetus to the business’
development aspirations and can likewise lift Bangladesh’s
commitment to bringing down carbon outflow. Eventually,
an agreement on green transition focused on a flexible com-
bination of opportunities based on the socio-political-
economic adaptability of the country would have been the best
way to overcome apart from the unsustainable direction to
productivity expansion in Bangladesh.
Relationship between competitive advantage
and sustainable development in terms
of green business strategy
Sustainable development
Sustainability is the term selected to cross the development of
the environmental gap without minimizing economic benefit.
The principles of sustainable development examine the
connection between economic developments and create
values for society and environmental quality. It evolved in
1972 when a conference arranged by the UN was held in
Stockholm on human-environment orientation. Nevertheless,
there was no proper definition of sustainable development
until 1985 when Brundtland (1985) papers were first released.
In these reports, this term has been defined as a futuristic
design of development, which is capable of addressing current
generations demand without minimizing the upcoming gener-
ations need and requirements.
This notion created a subsequent need for collaborative
decision-making capabilities of our socio-economic require-
ments with the environment’s natural healing ability.
Sustainability is a vibrant method of transition that is compat-
ible with potential and current conditions in terms of utiliza-
tion of assets, investment perspective, technology design
guidance, and organizational transition (Rogers et al. 2012).
According to Turner (1988), the main motto of sustainable
development is maintaining an appropriate level of growth
within the economic boundaries without deteriorating the nat-
ural balancing. In an article, Starke and Brundtland (1990),
stated a concept that aims to identify “honest and honest’
growth is sustainable development. Since the environment is
the foundation for all financial exercise and for existence it-
self, they indicate that” it is certainly appropriate for the work-
place to continue with reliability and dignity for future gener-
ations. The concept of three interdependent components of
sustainable development, which are environmental, societal,
and economical, covers most aspects of sustainable develop-
ment (Fig. 1).
Businesses cannot be isolated from nature (Spinello 2019).
From raw materials through the production facilities to local
waste disposal, all the necessary resources are supplied by
nature. Any corporate organization’s fundamental goal is to
run its business within more extended periods, and business
leaders must use the sustainable development strategy to attain
this goal. Most significantly, it is necessary to take into ac-
count the enhancement and growth of the situation for inhab-
itants, where, along with all the family members, the man-
agers, workers, suppliers, and even the potential customers
live. The RMG organization needs to keep a healthy supply
of natural resources for both current and future aspects. The
relationship and trust with the supplier should be used as a
basis for this critical stage. Those will assist RMG company to
deal with ever-increasing product demand and address con-
sumer expectations. Besides the use of green business strate-
gy, RMG firm can create pressure for attaining sustainability
within the interconnected sector.
Competitiveness
The identification of interrelationship between attaining
environment-friendly approaches and competitiveness is

Fig. 1 The objectives of
sustainable development (Source:
Authors’ own research)
now holding the central area of interest among business re-
searchers, police builders, and the international community
(Li et al. 2017, p. 100; Papadas et al. 2019). Therefore, busi-
ness organizations are influenced to implement an effective
method for defending the environment from the adverse ef-
fects of their business activities (Palmer and Truong 2017;
Shen and Li 2019). However, environmental aspects are often
sacrificed in favor of profitability (Ghassim and Bogers 2019;
May Tzuc et al. 2020). While social expectation and ecolog-
ical principles can force business organizations to develop
more environmentally friendly management (Klein et al.
2020), some firms have little motivation to adopt environmen-
tal management practices, which they either neglect or adopt
only to meet environmental standard (Noordewier and Lucas
2019). As a result, those firms might not be accomplished of
grabbing the economic advantage that is linked with eco-
friendly management due to a strong focus on immediate
profit or negligence of environmental management tactics
(Udokporo et al. 2020).
In contrast, other firms go beyond regulation and evaluate
proactive environmental strategies (Vishwakarma et al. 2018)
in order to increase their competitiveness, which can further
improve those firms’ economic sustainability (Abbas 2020;
Onubi et al. 2020). Competitive advantage is a set of abilities
that give businesses leverage over their competition. It allows
businesses to offer their potential customers with superior val-
ue than their competitors (White 2019). Two generic types of
Environ Sci Pollut Res
competitive advantage are developed by Porter (1980); in this
study, Porter stated that business origination could have
gained competitiveness by availing low-cost products or adopt
dynamic approaches that can facilitate the consumers with
unique values. These green business strategies could be one
of the best weapons for availing the competitive advantages
and facilitate the betterment of the environment and society
(Azzone and Bertelè 1994; Cheng et al. 2019; Schroeder and
Robinson 2010). Natural environments will be a significant
battleground for economic competition in this generation and
the coming generation. Energy, natural resources, disposal of
harmful materials, emissions of greenhouse gas, and environ-
mental problems can provide profitable possibilities and
change competitive landscapes in many sectors (Naz et al.
2019). Managers and regulators in the current era focus on
the actual expenditure of damage control and restoration of
natural exploitation. Through managing adverse effects on the
environmental circumstances, businesses supposed to gain a
suitable position by using this can achieve a significant com-
petitive advantage over the rivals (Junquera and del Brío
2012). They need to capitalize mostly on the opportunity cost
of pollution by reducing the wastage of resource and proper
use of recycled materials and energy as well as naturally sound
office system, which further leads to the reduced product price
for the client. By doing all these, a green-oriented business
organization can enjoy the advantages of environmentally
friendly practices and competitiveness. Green-oriented
Environ Sci Pollut Res
business organizations can enjoy the advantages in many
ways compared with competitors. It can assist companies with
cost-reduction options by minimizing the use of raw materials,
reducing energy consumption, carbon emissions, natural re-
sources, and even with government financial support, which
further drive them to obtain low-cost product inventory that
attracts more buyers (Porter and Linde 2000).
Since there are many attributes of competitive advantage, it
directly obtained from minimizing cost as well as boosted
revenues from the implementation of green technologies
(Shrivastava 1995). In addition to the price benefits, the
RMG business can enjoy the enhanced environmental images
that provide a boost in branding opportunities by maintaining
its sustainable ecological conditions and maximize the use of
its assets. Eco-friendly practices can uphold the image of the
RMG firms, which can help holds a better reputation than the
rivals. Nevertheless, public reputation and green image are
always considered essential elements to gain a competitive
advantage, and green businesses can assess this effective busi-
ness strategy to draw broader attention from potential cus-
tomers. Providing customers with a green brand means
distinguishing and creating competitive value, which can
boost up the economic growth of a firm. Lack of economic
efficiency can lead to pollution that confronts green eco-
friendly practices and reduce the power of competitiveness.
Moreover, the competitiveness of a firm largely depends on
a courtier’s law and regulation, especially for RMG firms
because the majority of the buyers of the RMG industry are
from developed countries. For example, the EU and the USA
consistently created pressure for RMG firms and set some
shorts of law enforcement for assessing environment-
friendly practices, which may affect the competitiveness of
Bangladeshi RMG organizations. Since the USA and EU hold
a total of 90% buyer share of Bangladeshi ready-made gar-
ment industry. Those notions can promote a massive aware-
ness among the RMG firms in Bangladesh, and as a result,
now Bangladesh has the second-highest number of green
RMG factories in the world, as mentioned earlier.
Proposed conceptual framework
In the modern era, business organizations are facing tremen-
dous pressure from many influential bodies to transform their
core business strategy for being more environment-friendly.
However, for acting on the green approach, the continuous
transformation is unavoidable, and usually, it creates contested
problems for translating this renewal process of the business
intent (Hendrickx 2015). For a better understanding of the
transformation process, the nature and the purpose of the firm
should be grasped as a starting point, which can assess the
transformation process from a functional perspective. A
company’s primary aim is to achieve the “growth” that leads
its development and broadens the integrating structures for its
performance. For delivering more significant efficiency, busi-
ness organizations can achieve their expected goals (Evans
et al. 2017). A green organization is a system that consists of
process and structural combination for economic perfor-
mance, derived by resources and material in linkage with the
ecological well-being (Hart and Milstein 2003).
The framework proposed in this present study is based on
the context of a developing country like Bangladesh. The
structure is amplifying the green business strategy of RMG
sectors based on the willingness to contribute to the develop-
ment of societal, ecological, and economic sustainability for
enjoying the competitive advantages. The framework has
contained three fundamental aspects, namely, green business
principles, product and process design, system identification,
and interaction between those related systems; these three
items are interrelated with each other. These three dimensions
(“Idealization,” “Strategic planning,” and “Realization”) are
derived by the first part (“Introduction” and “Green business
strategy of RMG sector in Bangladesh”) of the model, which
act like preparation stage (system definition and green busi-
ness principle) and modifying by “Relationship between com-
petitive advantage and sustainable development in terms of
green business strategy” (Determination of economic, socie-
tal, and environmental metrics for system evaluation). The
increased sensing capacity shows a better understanding of
what is faced by the shareholders and what characteristics will
contribute to a distinct edge (from the material system)?
Idealization phase will set the idea and allocate all the re-
sources within aspects of formulated this idea into a strategic
plan. The strategic planning phase is designed to identify ca-
pacities that suit opportunities, establishes policies and recom-
mendations that allow the effective and productive use of or-
ganizations capital, defines business goals and targets, and
contributes to resources and property. It incorporates the com-
petencies, institutional processes, and procedures for the fur-
ther execution of the necessary tasks under a given value
proposition. In the realization phase, all the components of
the framework will be checked whether all the strategic plan-
ning and resources are working correctly or not and where
necessary modification will be carried out. The manufacturing
companies can be continually and systematically transformed
concerning the desired ends of sustainability by
operationalizing individual elements and managing their inti-
mate relationships. In the following part, the relationships be-
tween different components of the framework are portrayed.
Idealization
In addition to meeting the ever-increasing demands of indus-
try and community, green strategies should not only be envi-
ronmentally friendly but should also offer incentives for the
availing the corporate growth. An idealization process is a

process that is focused on filling the hollow approaches to
corporate growth by evaluating the potentiality of green entre-
preneurship (Jänicke 2012). According to Khan (2017), ide-
alization is a process of a compiled framework that can change
or renew the production processes to establish for assessing
the operation in such a way that can reduce the ecological
impact. The green entrepreneurship approach had profound
effects on the forms of performance of the company based
on a complicated philosophy of idealized capabilities (Chan
et al. 2016). Many companies are interested not only in yield
reduction and threat management but also in wealth creation
measures in terms of idealizing the sustainable development
strategies into their core business process (Bansal and Roth
2000a; Dangelico et al. 2017). Businesses in the modern
world have become increasingly interested in encouraging
new ideas for assessing greater environmental protections
and stakeholders’ (consumers, society, and business itself)
satisfaction (Chang and Yu 2001; Fernando et al. 2019).
This nation mostly quantifies the ability to modify the existing
idea with new ideas, which has created a significant impact in
designing adaptive strategic plan and realizations of the pro-
found opportunities of capturing green values (Bowen and
Hepburn 2014; Lin et al. 2011; Zhu et al. 2020). In the pro-
posed framework (Fig. 2), the idealization process derived two
dimensions: (a) system definition and (b) green business prin-
ciples. The system definition is covered by answering the
possible criteria and the motivations for transforming the tra-
ditional business strategy into a more environmentally friend-
ly business. The green business principle is covered by the
extent of the green policies that the organizations are going
to take, for example, energy-efficiency/minimum power, op-
erational safety, personal health, proper utilization of cost, and
waste management.
Strategic planning
The concept of sustainable development needs to be
incorporated into the policies and processes of a busi-
ness if it is trying to follow green business principles.
However, organizations need not implement new man-
agement methods necessarily, instead of the refining and
orienting the existing management methods towards
more environmentally friendly tactics. The design of a
functional environmental sustainability planning system
involves balancing strategic thinking and leadership.
Incorporated into corporate strategy and even into mon-
itoring and communication systems should be a princi-
ple for tackling climate change. A strategy for improve-
ments to the processing system is necessary to meet the
goals of environmental sustainability (McPherson et al.
2019). Although there is increasing concentration in the
connection between strategic planning and business
model development (idealization) (Barbosa et al. 2020;
Environ Sci Pollut Res
Cloughton 2020; Globocnik et al. 2019; Judge and
Douglas 1998; Posas 2011), research and practice strug-
gle to integrate the two activities (Quazi 2001; Teixeira
and Canciglieri Junior 2019). The proposed framework
is designed by covering the strategic planning, the in-
volvement of moderating culture of organizations, and
the relationships of whole resources of organizations.
These parts also derived by describing the accountabil-
ity and responsibilities and founding improved structural
framework, information dissemination mechanism, and
modern operational approaches.
Realization
In terms of green business, the realization is acted pros-
pects of adjusting and checking mechanism of the man-
agement (Khan 2017; Ray et al. 2004), which generally
emphasizes the previous two parts (idealizations and stra-
tegic planning). It will also assess the top management to
take the progressions and take necessary initiatives where
necessary. The proactive design of the realization phase
will provide a comprehensive overview of the whole
framework including how this strategic planning will per-
form according to the main idea (achieving three pillars of
sustainability) and how future frameworks and mecha-
nisms will be interconnected as well as it will collaborate
with broader perspectives of achieving optimal yields
(sustainable development). To maintain a smooth transi-
tion of realization phase for green business approach,
three essential areas, namely, green design and efficient
use of raw materials, green manufacturing and green sup-
plier selection, and green packaging and shipping, must
be addressed during the design/development phase (Beng
and Omar 2014). However, the application of exploration
techniques in analyzing and improving business processes
realization is an emergent theme in literature (Santos and
Alves 2017). Since the previous study of green business
shows that there is a limited number of study could be
traced, that can emphasize the realization phases (Mehalik
et al. 2008), which provide an innovative scope of re-
search. The present paper suggests a model for availing
the hollow approaches of realization in terms of green
business approaches, by adopting a decomposition meth-
odology proposed by Ang (1999) that serves as a roadmap
for manufacturers order to enhance their environmental
policies by recommending the critical issues and relevant
factors. This phases (realization) is mainly covered the
productivity, action plans, and operational consequences
of the whole frameworks for accomplishing the prime
goals of the organization. Further, this phase handles the
profound relationship between frameworks and systems
(including operations, resources, and expertise) from the
practical viewpoint so that all shareholders can achieve
Environ Sci Pollut Res
Fig. 2 Structural representation
of the proposed framework
sustainable growth. This uses an existing proprietary per-
sonalized knowledge, which enables additional data to be
used from a range of sources on various aspects of the
industry.
Outcomes and significance of this study
After an in-depth literature study, this paper found a close con-
nection between green business strategy and competitiveness in
terms of ready-made garment industries. Which is quite similar to
some of the research within this specific topic (Bhavani and
Tendulkar 2001; Ferdousi and Ahmed 2009; Li and Cai 2008).
The study also found a close interrelationship between green
business approaches and sustainable developments, as stated by
Batu and Kusumawardhani (2018), Tran et al. (2018), and Chipo
et al. (2018). Moreover, the study presents a structural framework
for adopting green business strategy within the context of
Bangladeshi RMG sectors. The three significant components of
the proposed framework are compiled (idealization, strategic
planning, and realization) within the context of an operational
viewpoint. Some authors tried to evaluate the model transition
for green business, but those are primely covered by very broad
prospective (Kirchhoff 2000; Mokhlesian and Holmén 2012;
Sommer 2012). Some researcher provides a narrow or single
indicators approach for stating the green business model
(Abuzeinab and Arif 2014; Jakobi et al. 2016; Nair and
Paulose 2014). Though some researchers tried to address the
emergence of the framework for availing green business, mostly
neglected the structural representation of the green business
framework (Cheng et al. 2018; Dubey et al. 2017; Gao et al.
2019; Leonidou et al. 2017).
Moreover, this study compiles a bunch of definitions in the
context of green business, which could be beneficial for future
researchers, and the interrelationship between competitiveness
and sustainable development in the context of RMG sectors
will also help the future researcher with a better viewpoint of
this emerging context. The framework proposed in this study
will be helpful for the RMG sector to follow a structured way
to adopt a green-oriented strategy as it designed a clear path-
way by covering a well-structured hierarchy (idealization,
strategic planning, and realization).

Conclusions and recommendations
RMG companies are now facing tremendous pressure from
increasing environmental concerns to integrate their business
strategies with ecological governance. Furthermore, organiza-
tions can create more market advantages than rivals if they can
effectively tackle environmental challenges. The critical com-
petitive role of green-oriented RMG companies is to gain
some shorts of latent opportunities along with the cost mini-
mization and optimum use of natural resources, which can
assess the organization for creating values for their prospec-
tive buyers. As Bangladeshi RMG sectors are expanding rap-
idly, nowadays, awareness of environmental problems is hold-
ing much more attention. Economic circumstances within the
country’s sustainable growth policy and security are given a
lot more attention by industry pioneers, notably the “LEEDs”
certified and global firms in Bangladesh now increasing too.
With a greater focus on strategic targets, it anticipated that
long-term initiatives and investment would substitute short-
term plans and procedures. The development of “greener”
sectors can lead by setting uncompromising legislation and
more responsible approaches. This work attempted to address
the research gap first by identifying the need for a systemic
and comprehensive description of the problem and demon-
strated a potential solution (proposed framework) that is high-
ly viable and that can incorporate sustainability principles into
development strategies. Some specific assumption in this
study is portrayed below:
& Most of the businesses generally disregard the enormous
expenses of unsustainable practices, which continuously
create threats on societal, ecological, and economic struc-
ture. Like most other regions of the globe, South Asian
countries are witnessing several devastating natural ca-
lamities like drought, cyclones, tornados, and many other
natural calamities. Bhola cyclone (1970), Cyclone Sidr
(2007), Cyclone Aila (2009), Cyclone Roanu (2016),
and Cyclone Fani (2019) in Bangladesh show how dra-
matic and devastating effects on the countries growth
leads by high transition expenses.
& Thus, maintaining a better future and mitigating the dev-
astating tread of climate change, ozone depletion, and
waste disposal, business world should be more conscious
and more responsible by adopting green strategies. If
green strategy towards business can handle efficiently, it
can act as a powerhouse of saving environment, compet-
itive advantages, and upholding the development strate-
gies sustainably. Governmental supports and sound prac-
tices of environmental regulation can boost up this pow-
erhouse nationally and globally.
& The extensive literature suggests that the practices of bet-
ter environmental protection do not minimize the compet-
itive advantages of any company. On the contrary, it can
Environ Sci Pollut Res
help the business to supply the low-cost product, uphold
the corporate image, attain political goodwill, tax rebate
facilities, and, most importantly, satisfy the modern cus-
tomer’s demands.
& By accepting this innovative strategy of green into the core
business processes, Bangladeshi RMG can enlighten the
goodies of sustainable development not only at the nation-
al level but also in the global perspective. Green business
and competitiveness have a direct correlation, and we can-
not but utilize this modern, innovative, and noteworthy
tactics to compete with China, Vietnam, and India.
& Ultimately, the framework is developed to provide a
streamlined and inclusive solution that can reliably gener-
ate positive improvements and achieve broad goals.
& From the operational viewpoint and conceptual relations,
three components, “idealization,” “strategic planning,”
and “realization” are portrayed profoundly.
The proposed framework, however, not yet tested with
managerial methods, processes, or resources, and there is an
evolving need for further clarification of this approach with
some questionnaire surveys for measuring the actual impacts.
Moreover, in the current context, more research needs to ad-
dressed and checked whether the proposed framework could
meet under different industrial contexts. This insight should
reveal their analytical function for incorporating environmen-
tal standards while solving manufacturing-related issues. This
study expects that Bangladeshi RMG will grab the most ex-
ceptional opportunity of maintaining a competitive edge in
this ever-growing population’s demands with environmental
protection and makes the world a better place only for this
present generation but also for our future generation.
Acknowledgments The authors acknowledge the anonymous reviewers
for their contribution to improve the manuscript.
Funding information This study was funded by the National Natural
Science Foundation of China (Grant No: 71973105).
Compliance with ethical standards
Conflict of interest The authors declare that they have no conflict of
interest.
References
Abbas J (2020) Impact of total quality management on corporate green
performance through the mediating role of corporate social respon-
sibility. J Clean Prod 242:118458. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.
2019.118458
Abreu MF, Alves AC, Moreira F (2017) Lean-green models for eco-
efficient and sustainable production. Energy 137:846–853. https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2017.04.016
Abuzeinab A, Arif M (2014) Stakeholder Engagement: A Green Business
Model Indicator. 4th International Conference on Building
Resilience, Incorporating the 3rd Annual Conference of the
Environ Sci Pollut Res
ANDROID Disaster Resilience Network, 8th – 11th September
2014, Salford Quays, United Kingdom, 18:505–512. https://doi.
org/10.1016/S2212-5671(14)00969-1
Afonso C, Gavilan D, García-Madariaga J, Gonçalves HM (2018) Green
consumer segmentation: managerial and environmental implications
from the perspective of business strategies and practices. In: Leal-
Millan A, Peris-Ortiz M, Leal-Rodríguez AL (eds) Sustainability in
innovation and entrepreneurship: policies and practices for a world
with finite resources. Springer International Publishing, pp 137–
151. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-57318-2_9
Ahammed R, Harvey N (2004) Evaluation of environmental impact as-
sessment procedures and practice in Bangladesh. Impact
Assessment and Project Appraisal 22(1):63–78. https://doi.org/10.
3152/147154604781766102
Ang BW (1999) “Decomposition Methodology in Energy Demand and
Environmental Analysis,” Chapters, in: Jeroen C.J.M. van den
Bergh (ed.), Handbook of Environmental and Resource
Economics, chapter 74, Edward Elgar Publishing https://ideas.
repec.org/h/elg/eechap/801_74.html
Ara H, Leen JYA, Hassan SH (2019) GMS for sustainability performance
in the apparel manufacturing industry: a conceptual framework.
Vi s i o n 2 3 ( 2 ) : 1 7 0 – 1 7 9 . h t t p s : / / d o i . o r g / 1 0 . 11 7 7 /
2F0972262919850931
Awan U, Kraslawski A, Huiskonen J (2017) Understanding the
Relationship between Stakeholder Pressure and Sustainability
Performance in Manufacturing Firms in Pakistan. 27th
International Conference on Flexible Automation and Intelligent
Manufacturing, FAIM2017, 27-30 June 2017, Modena, Italy, 11,
768–777. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.promfg.2017.07.178
Azzone G, Bertelè U (1994) Exploiting green strategies for competitive
advantage. Long Range Plan 27(6):69–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/
0024-6301(94)90165-1
Babiak K, Trendafilova S (2011) CSR and environmental responsibility:
motives and pressures to adopt green management practices. Corp
Soc Responsib Environ Manag 18(1):11–24. https://doi.org/10.
1002/csr.229
Bansal P, Roth K (2000a) Why companies go green: a model of ecolog-
ical responsiveness. Acad Manag J 43(4):717–736
Bansal P, Roth K (2000b) Why companies go green: a model of ecolog-
ical responsiveness. Acad Manag J 43(4):717–736. https://doi.org/
10.5465/1556363
Barbosa M, Castañeda-Ayarza JA, Lombardo Ferreira DH (2020)
Sustainable strategic management (GES): sustainability in small
business. J Clean Prod 120880:120880. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
jclepro.2020.120880
Batu KL, Kusumawardhani A (2018) Green Business Performance-based
CSR. Evidence from Large-Scale Enterprises in Indonesia. Quality-
Access to Success, 19(166)
Bekk M, Spörrle M, Hedjasie R, Kerschreiter R (2016) Greening the
competitive advantage: antecedents and consequences of green
brand equity. Qual Quant 50(4):1727–1746. https://doi.org/10.
1007/s11135-015-0232-y
Beng LG, Omar B (2014) A sustainable product realization strategy using
decomposition-based approach. Appl Mech Mater 660:1067–1071
Bhavani TA, Tendulkar SD (2001) Determinants of firm-level export
performance: a case study of Indian textile garments and apparel
industry. J Int Trade Econ Dev 10(1):65–92. https://doi.org/10.
1080/09638190122431
Botchie D, Sarpong D, Bi J (2017) Technological inclusiveness: northern
versus Chinese induced technologies in the garment industry.
Technol Forecast Soc Chang 119:310–322. https://doi.org/10.
1016/j.techfore.2016.04.011
Bowen A, Hepburn C (2014) Green growth: an assessment. Oxf Rev
Econ Policy 30(3):407–422
Brundtland GH (1985) World commission on environment and develop-
ment. Environ Policy Law 14(1):26–30
Çay A (2018) Energy consumption and energy-saving potential in cloth-
ing industry. Energy 159:74–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.
2018.06.128
Chan HK, Yee RWY, Dai J, Lim MK (2016) The effect of regulatory
pressures and environmental dynamism on green product innovation
and performance. Nineteenth International Working Seminar on
Production Economics
Chang IC, Yu YH (2001) Using sustainable development indicators as a
supplementary measure for the integrated management of environ-
mental information system in Taiwan. Environ Sci Pollut Res 8(2):
127–137. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02987306
Cheng X, Long R, Chen H (2018) Obstacle diagnosis of green competi-
tion promotion: a case study of provinces in China based on catas-
trophe progression and fuzzy rough set methods. Environ Sci Pollut
Res 25(5):4344–4360
Cheng X, Long R, Chen H, Li Q (2019) Coupling coordination degree
and spatial dynamic evolution of a regional green competitiveness
system – a case study from China. Ecol Indic 104:489–500. https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2019.04.003
Chipo C, Walter C, Rufaro K (2018) Staying Competitive in the Fast-
Fashion Era in a Developing Economy. International Journal of
Costume and Fashion 18(2):1–12. https://doi.org/10.7233/ijcf.
2018.18.2.001
Chuang S-P, Huang S-J (2018) The effect of environmental corporate
social responsibility on environmental performance and business
competitiveness: the mediation of green information technology
capital. J Bus Ethics 150(4):991–1009. https://doi.org/10.1007/
s10551-016-3167-x
Cloughton C (2020) Investigating the link between innovation and main-
stream adoption: how to identify consumer trends. J Retail Consum
Serv 101915:101915. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jretconser.2019.
101915
Cotton L, Hayward AS, Lant NJ, Blackburn RS (2020) Improved gar-
ment longevity and reduced microfibre release are important sus-
tainability benefits of laundering in colder and quicker washing
machine cycles. Dyes Pigments 177:108120. https://doi.org/10.
1016/j.dyepig.2019.108120
Couckuyt D (2018) An overview of challenges and research avenues for
green business process management. In: Debruyne C, Panetto H,
Weichhart G, Bollen P, Ciuciu I, Vidal M-E, Meersman R (eds)
On the move to meaningful internet systems. OTM 2017
Workshops. Springer International Publishing, pp 270–279
Currin E (2011) “Businesses Going Green: An Analysis of the Factors
that Motivate Firms to Adopt Environmentally Friendly Practices”.
Honors Theses 120. https://digitalcommons.coastal.edu/honors-
theses/120
Dangelico RM, Pujari D, Pontrandolfo P (2017) Green product innova-
tion in manufacturing firms: a sustainability-oriented dynamic capa-
bility perspective. Bus Strateg Environ 26(4):490–506
Duarte S, Cruz-Machado V (2017) Green and lean model for business
sustainability. In: Xu J, Hajiyev A, Nickel S, Gen M (eds)
Proceedings of the Tenth International Conference on
Management Science and Engineering Management. Springer,
Singapore, pp 1281–1291
Dubey R, Gunasekaran A, Papadopoulos T (2017) Green supply chain
management: Theoretical framework and further research direc-
tions. BIJ 24:1–35. https://doi.org/10.1108/BIJ-01-2016-0011
Durmaz Y, Yaşar HV (2016) Green marketing and benefits to business.
Bus Manag Stud 2(2):64–71
Evans S, Vladimirova D, Holgado M, Van Fossen K, Yang M, Silva EA,
Barlow CY (2017) Business model innovation for sustainability:
towards a unified perspective for creation of sustainable business
models. Bus Strateg Environ 26(5):597–608
Ferdousi F, Ahmed A (2009) An Investigation of Manufacturing
Performance Improvement through Lean Production: A Study on

Bangladeshi Garment Firms. International Journal of Business and
Management 4:106–116
Fernando Y, Jabbour CJC, Wah W-X (2019) Pursuing green growth in
technology firms through the connections between environmental
innovation and sustainable business performance: does service ca-
pability matter? Resour Conserv Recycl 141:8–20
Friend G (2009) The truth about green business. Que Publishing
Gao Y, Zhao D, Yu L, Yang H (2019) Duration analysis on the adoption
behavior of green control techniques. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26(7):
6319–6327
Ghassim B, Bogers M (2019) Linking stakeholder engagement to profit-
ability through sustainability-oriented innovation: a quantitative
study of the minerals industry. J Clean Prod 224:905–919. https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.03.226
Globocnik D, Faullant R, Parastuty Z (2019) Bridging strategic planning
and business model management – a formal control framework to
manage business model portfolios and dynamics. Eur Manag J 38:
231–243. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.emj.2019.08.005
Güzeloğlu EB, Erten EÜ (2018) To Be or Not to Be (Green). In J.
Marques (Ed.), Handbook of Engaged Sustainability (pp. 1–49).
Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-
319-53121-2_44-1
Hart SL, Milstein MB (2003) Creating sustainable value. Acad Manag
Perspect 17(2):56–67
Hartman CL, Stafford ER (1997) Green alliances: building new business
with environmental groups. Long Range Plan 30(2):184–149
Hasan MM, Nekmahmud M, Yajuan L, Patwary MA (2019) Green busi-
ness value chain: a systematic review. Sustainable Production and
Consumption
Hendrickx HHM (2015) Business Architect: A Critical Role in Enterprise
Transformation. Journal of Enterprise Transformation 5(1):1–29.
https://doi.org/10.1080/19488289.2014.893933
Hoque A, Clarke A (2013) Greening of industries in Bangladesh: pollu-
tion prevention practices. J Clean Prod 51:47–56
Hossain, L., Sajib, M., & Hafiz, E. (2017). Readymade garment indus-
tries going green. The Financial Express. International Publications
Limited. http://www Thefinancialexpress-Bd. Com/2017/08/06/
79126/Readymade-Garment-Industriesgoing-Green
Jakobi T, Castelli N, Nolte A, Schönau N, Stevens G (2016) Towards
collaborative green business process management as a conceptual
framework. In: Gomez JM, Sonnenschein M, Vogel U, Winter A,
Rapp B, Giesen N (eds) Advances and new trends in environmental
and energy informatics: selected and extended contributions from
the 28th International Conference on Informatics for Environmental
Protection. Springer International Publishing, pp 275–293. https://
doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-23455-7_15
Jänicke M (2012) “Green growth”: from a growing eco-industry to eco-
nomic sustainability. Energy Policy 48:13–21. https://doi.org/10.
1016/j.enpol.2012.04.045
Judge WQ, Douglas TJ (1998) Performance implications of incorporating
natural environmental issues into the strategic planning process: an
empirical assessment. J Manag Stud 35(2):241–262
Junquera B, del Brío JÁ (2012) The role of environmental activity inte-
gration into the R&D department to obtain competitive advantage.
Int J Sust Dev World Ecol 19(3):210–218. https://doi.org/10.1080/
13504509.2011.609568
Kanchan U, Kumar N, Gupta A (2015) GREEN BUSINESS- Way to
achieve globally sustainable competitive advantage. Journal of
Progressive Research in Social Sciences 2(2):92–100 Retrieved
from http://scitecresearch.com/journals/index.php/jprss/article/
view/322
Karagülle AÖ (2012) Green business for sustainable development and
competitiveness: an overview of Turkish logistics industry. Procedia
Soc Behav Sci 41:456–460
Environ Sci Pollut Res
Katip A, İnce Z (2018) Green chemistry applications in textile industry.
Science, Ecology and Engineering Research in the Globalizing
World, 384
Khan BF (2017) Governance for green growth in Bangladesh: policies,
institutions, and political economy. UKAid-Adam Smith
International, Green Growth Knowledge Platform
Kirchhoff S (2000) Green business and blue angels. Environ Resour Econ
15(4):403–420
Klein S, Schneider S, Spieth P (2020) How to stay on the road? A busi-
ness model perspective on mission drift in social purpose organiza-
tions. J Bus Res. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.01.053
Leonidou LC, Christodoulides P, Kyrgidou LP, Palihawadana D (2017)
Internal drivers and performance consequences of small firm green
business strategy: the moderating role of external forces. J Bus
Ethics 140(3):585–606
Li H, Cai W (2008) Green marketing and sustainable development of
garment industry-a game between cost and profit. International
Journal of Business and Management 3(12):81–85
Li J, Seo Y-S (2019) A Study on the Performance Impact of Manufactur
Garmenting Firms Based on Green Supply Chains. Trade Research
15(1):57–74. https://doi.org/10.16980/jitc.15.1.201902.57
Li D, Zheng M, Cao C, Chen X, Ren S, Huang M (2017) The impact of
legitimacy pressure and corporate profitability on green innovation:
evidence from China top 100. J Clean Prod 141:41–49. https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.08.123
Lin Y-H, Chen Y-S (2017) Determinants of green competitive advantage:
the roles of green knowledge sharing, green dynamic capabilities,
and green service innovation. Qual Quant 51(4):1663–1685. https://
doi.org/10.1007/s11135-016-0358-6
Lin Y, Tseng M-L, Chen C-C, Chiu AS (2011) Positioning strategic
competitiveness of green business innovation capabilities using hy-
brid method. Expert Syst Appl 38(3):1839–1849
Ma Y, Hou G, Xin B (2017) Green process innovation and innovation
benefit: the mediating effect of firm image. Sustainability 9(10):
1778
May Tzuc O, Bassam A, Ricalde LJ, Jaramillo OA, Flota-Bañuelos M,
Escalante Soberanis MA (2020) Environmental-economic optimiza-
tion for implementation of parabolic collectors in the industrial pro-
cess heat generation: case study of Mexico. J Clean Prod 242:
118538. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.118538
McPherson B, Sharip M, Grimmond T (2019) The impact on life cycle
carbon footprint of converting from disposable to reusable sharps
containers in a large US hospital geographically distant from
manufacturing and processing facilities. PeerJ 7:e6204. https://doi.
org/10.7717/peerj.6204
Mehalik MM, Lovell M, Shuman L (2008) Product realization for global
opportunities: learning collaborative design in an international set-
ting. In VentureWell. Proceedings of Open, the Annual Conference
(p. 157). National Collegiate Inventors & Innovators Alliance
Mittal VK (2013) Development and validation of drivers for barriers to
and stakeholders of green manufacturing [PhD Thesis, Birla
Institute of Technology and Science]. http://hdl.handle.net/10603/
25544
Mokhlesian S, Holmén M (2012) Business model changes and green
construction processes. Constr Manag Econ 30(9):761–775
Nair S, Paulose H (2014) Emergence of green business models: the case
of algae biofuel for aviation. Energy Policy 65:175–184
Nayak R, Akbari M, Maleki Far S (2019) Recent sustainable trends in
Vietnam’s fashion supply chain. J Clean Prod 225:291–303. https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.03.239
Naz A, Zaman K, Yousaf SU, Nassani AA, Aldakhil AM, Abro MMQ
(2019) Saudi Arabia-China-Pakistan economic corridor: intergov-
ernmental green initiatives. Environ Sci Pollut Res 26(25):25676–
25689. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-05843-2
Environ Sci Pollut Res
Noordewier TG, Lucas MT (2019) On being green and profitable: does
industry context matter? Int J Prod Econ 107528. https://doi.org/10.
1016/j.ijpe.2019.107528
Onubi HO, Yusof N, Hassan AS (2020) Understanding the mechanism
through which adoption of green construction site practices impacts
economic performance. J Clean Prod 254:120170. https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.120170
Orsato RJ (2009) When Does it Pay to be Green?. In Sustainability strat-
egies (pp. 3-22). Palgrave Macmillan, London
Pal R, Gander J (2018) Modelling environmental value: an examination
of sustainable business models within the fashion industry. J Clean
Prod 184:251–263. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.02.001
Palmer M, Truong Y (2017) The impact of technological green new
product introductions on firm profitability. Ecol Econ 136:86–93.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2017.01.025
Papadas K-K, Avlonitis GJ, Carrigan M, Piha L (2019) The interplay of
strategic and internal green marketing orientation on competitive
advantage. J Bus Res 104:632–643. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
jbusres.2018.07.009
Pearce D (1994) Green business. Nature 371(6493):117–117. https://doi.
org/10.1038/371117a0
Porter ME (1980) Industry structure and competitive strategy: keys to
profitability. Financ Anal J 36(4):30–41
Porter M, Linde C (2000) Green and competitive: ending the stalemate.
The Dynamics of the Eco-Efficient Economy, Edward Elgar,
Cheltenham/Northampton, 33–55
Posas PJ (2011) Exploring climate change criteria for strategic environ-
mental assessments. Exploring Climate Change Criteria for
Strategic Environmental Assessments 75(3):109–154. https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.progress.2011.05.001
Quazi HA (2001) Sustainable development: integrating environmental
issues into strategic planning. Ind Manag Data Syst 101:64–70
Rashid MHU, Zobair SAM, Shadek MJ, Hoque MA, Ahmad A (2019)
Factors Influencing Green Performance in Manufacturing
Industries. International Journal of Financial Research 10(6).
https://doi.org/10.5430/ijfr.v10n6p159
Ray G, Barney JB, Muhanna WA (2004) Capabilities, business process-
es, and competitive advantage: choosing the dependent variable in
empirical tests of the resource-based view. Strateg Manag J 25(1):
23–37
Rogers PP, Jalal KF, Boyd JA (2012) An introduction to sustainable
development. Routledge
Rougier NP, Hinsen K, Alexandre F, Arildsen T, Barba LA, Benureau FC,
Brown CT, De Buyl P, Caglayan O, Davison AP (2017) Sustainable
computational science: the ReScience initiative. PeerJ Comput Sci
3:e142
Routroy S, Kumar CS (2016) An approach to develop green capability in
manufacturing supply chain. International Journal of Process
Management and Benchmarking 6(1):1–28. https://doi.org/10.
1504/IJPMB.2016.073322
Santos HRM, Alves C (2017) A2BP: a method for ambidextrous analysis
of business process. ICEIS 3:227–238
Schaefer H, Fletcher SEM, Veidt C, Lassey KR, Brailsford GW, Bromley
TM, Dlugokencky EJ, Michel SE, Miller JB, Levin I (2016) A 21st-
century shift from fossil-fuel to biogenic methane emissions indicat-
ed by 13CH4. Science 352(6281):80–84
Schroeder DM, Robinson AG (2010) Green is free: creating sustainable
competitive advantage through green excellence. Special Issue:
Organizing for Sustainability 39(4):345–352. https://doi.org/10.
1016/j.orgdyn.2010.07.002
Selim S (2013) Ecological modernisation and environmental compliance:
the garments industry in Bangladesh. Routledge, India
Shen B, Li Q (2019) Green technology adoption in textile supply chains
with environmental taxes: production, pricing, and competition. 9th
IFAC Conference on Manufacturing Modelling, Management and
Control MIM 2019, 52(13), 379–384. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
ifacol.2019.11.153
Shrivastava P (1995) Environmental technologies and competitive advan-
tage. Strateg Manag J 16(S1):183–200
Smith J (2016) Imperialism in the twenty-first century: globalization,
super-exploitation, and capitalism’s final crisis. NYU Press
Sobhani FA, Amran A, Zainuddin Y (2009) Revisiting the practices of
corporate social and environmental disclosure in Bangladesh. Corp
Soc Responsib Environ Manag 16(3):167–183
Sommer A (2012) Managing green business model transformations (1st
ed.). Springer Science & Business Media. https://www.springer.
com/gp/book/9783642288470
Spinello RA (2019) Business ethics: contemporary issues and cases.
SAGE Publications
Star Business Report (2018) GDP growth reaches 7.86pc in final count.
The Daily Star. https://www.thedailystar.net/business/bangladesh-
present-gdp-growth-rate-7.86-percent-in-2017-18-1635835
Starke L, Brundtland GH (1990) Signs of hope: working towards our
common future. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Talapatra S, Uddin MK (2017) Understanding the Difficulties of
Implementing TQM in Garments Sector: A Case Study of Some
RMG Industries in Bangladesh. In 2017 International Conference
on Mechanical, Industrial and Materials Engineering, Rajshahi (pp.
28-30)
Teixeira GFG, Canciglieri Junior O (2019) How to make strategic plan-
ning for corporate sustainability? J Clean Prod 230:1421–1431.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.05.063
Tran T, Tran T, Burgess J, Müller S, Weber M (2018) An Exploration of
Extraordinary Characteristics Impacting on the Improvement of
Competitive Advantage of Vietnam’s Garment Industry. In 2018
4th International Conference on Green Technology and
Sustainable Development (GTSD) (pp. 466-469). IEEE
Turner RK (1988) Sustainable environmental management; principles
and practice (No. 333.715 S964). Westview Press
Udokporo CK, Anosike A, Lim M, Nadeem SP, Garza-Reyes JA,
Ogbuka CP (2020) Impact of lean, agile and green (LAG) on busi-
ness competitiveness: an empirical study of fast moving consumer
goods businesses. Resour Conserv Recycl 156:104714. https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.resconrec.2020.104714
UN DESA (2017) World population projected to reach 9.8 billion in
2050, and 11.2 billion in 2100. UN DESA | United Nations
Department of economic and social affairs. https://www.un.org/
development/desa/en/news/population/world-population-prospects-
2017.html
Venkatraman PD, Scott K, Liauw C (2020) Environmentally friendly and
sustainable bark cloth for garment applications: evaluation of fabric
properties and apparel development. Sustain Mater Technol 23:
e00136. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.susmat.2019.e00136
Vishwakarma AK, Nema AK, Sangle S (2018) Study of determinants of
proactive environmental strategies in India’s power sector. J Clean
Prod 194:43–53. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2018.05.135
Vogel C, o'Brien K (2003) Coping with Climate Variability. Routledge,
London. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315199948
Wakeford JJ, Gebreeyesus M, Ginbo T, Yimer K, Manzambi O, Okereke
C, Black M, Mulugetta Y (2017) Innovation for green
industrialisation: an empirical assessment of innovation in
Ethiopia’s cement, leather and textile sectors. J Clean Prod 166:
503–511
White J (2019) Competitive advantage: Definition, Examples and Global
Impact. TheStreet. https://www.thestreet.com/personal-finance/
education/what-is-competitive-advantage-14869235
Whiteman G (2011) Climate economics: corporate greening falls short.
Nature 473:149–150
Wiese A, Luke R, Heyns G, Pisa N (2015) The integration of lean, green
and best practice business principles. Journal of Transport and

Supply Chain Management 9(1):10 pages. https://doi.org/10.4102/
jtscm.v9i1.192
Yang L-R, Chen J-H, Li H-H (2016) Validating a model for assessing the
association among green innovation, project success and firm ben-
efit. Qual Quant 50(2):885–899. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11135-
015-0180-6
Environ Sci Pollut Res
Zhu X, Du J, Boamah KB, Long X (2020) Dynamic analysis of green
investment decision of manufacturer. Environ Sci Pollut Res. https://
doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08144-1
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdic-
tional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.