Assessment of hierarchy and inter-relationships of barriers to environmentally conscious manufacturing adoption

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to develop hierarchy and inter-relationship among barriers to environmentally conscious manufacturing (ECM) adoption using an interpretive structural modeling (ISM) technique. The paper will demonstrate how ISM supports policy makers in the government and industry in identifying and understanding interdependencies among barriers to ECM. Interdependencies among barriers will be derived and structured into a hierarchy in order to derive subsystems of interdependent elements with corresponding driving power and dependency.

Design/methodology/approach

ISM was used to identify hierarchy and inter-relationships among barriers to ECM adoption and to classify the barriers according to their driving and dependence power using MICMAC analysis. The barriers to ECM adoption are identified through the review of literature followed by developing a model of barriers using ISM based on the inputs from experts from industry and academia.

Findings

The main findings of the paper include the development of hierarchy and inter-relationship and ISM model of barriers to ECM adoption. The developed model divided the identified barriers into five levels of hierarchies showing their inter-relationship depicting the driving-dependence relationship. These five levels have been classified into three categories – internal barriers, economy barriers, and policy barriers category.

Originality/value

The developed ISM model is expected to provide a direction to the policy makers in the government and industry and the top management of the organizations to leverage their resources in timely manner to adopt ECM successfully.

Citation

Kumar Mittal, V. and Singh Sangwan, K. (2013), "Assessment of hierarchy and inter-relationships of barriers to environmentally conscious manufacturing adoption", World Journal of Science, Technology and Sustainable Development, Vol. 10 No. 4, pp. 297-307. https://doi.org/10.1108/WJSTSD-04-2013-0020