The effect of green supply chain on environmental and economic performance from the perspective of food retailers in Sari city

Despite the increasing well-being of economic growth in the contemporary era, serious environmental problems are facing the future of humanity, threatening human life. Economic activities such as industrial, agricultural, and service activities use natural resources and dependent on them, on the other hand the nature of their process potentially pollute the environment; Therefore, if not paying attention to these activities' consequences and environmental issues, enormous costs must be spent to remove the damage and waste from a lack of attention to this issue. Research in organizational sustainability and sustainable utilization of resources have generally been conducted within the scope of large companies. At the same time, the main share of industrial and commercial activities is available to small and medium-sized businesses and they actually have a significant contribution to environmental performance; Therefore, methods such as green supply chain management are useful for small and medium-sized organizations to expand green activities to improve environmental performance. Green supply chain management is with environmental requirements in all stages of product design, selection and supply of raw materials, production and manufacturing, delivery and transfer processes, and reuse management to maximize the resources and productivity of energy consumption along with improvement of supply chain performance. According to studies today, the consumer wants to protect himself and the environment, and this has formed a kind of social responsibility and has led to the formation of targeted consumer choices, and as a result, companies have faced increasing pressure to be responsible and greener. The distribution sector is one of the important sectors of the economy. This sector, as the interface between consumer and producer to create a market economy, is essential and plays an essential role in price bidding. The distribution sector is one of the important sectors of the economy. This sector, as the interface between consumer and producer to create a market economy, is essential and plays an essential role in Price formation. Retailers play the most important role in changing people's consumption patterns and are also the most important part of the supply chain of any company. The growth in stores, along with the pursuit of a competitive strategy, has led to a high level of concentration in food retailing. Considering the importance of food and its waste, the development of retail sales, as well as the existence of environmental problems in this region, the existence of research that is comprehensive and complete in a way that shows the effect of green supply chain management in the aspect of food retail It seems necessary to examine and evaluate.

This study examines the relationship between the green supply chain with environmental performance and economic performance among food retailers in Sari city. The statistical population of this research is all food retailers in Sari city. The sample size was determined using Cochran's formula with an unknown statistical population of 96, and 130 questionnaires were distributed to be sure, and 119 questionnaires were confirmed by removing ambiguous questionnaires. The data required for this research was collected using a five-point Likert questionnaire in the spring of 2022 and the model was analyzed using the structural equation model through Smart-PLS software.A structural equation model (SEM) is a specific causal structure between a set of latent variables and observed variables. Through the structural equation model, latent variables (factor or structure) can be measured indirectly by using obvious variables (questionnaire items or questions). To check the relationship between green supply chain factors in stores and supply chain management processes on environmental and economic performance; Factor load, reliability, and validity of each of the observed variables are evaluated. To check the validity of each of the observed items or variables, the factor load of each observed variable is calculated, which shows whether the variance between the constructs and its indicators is greater than the variance of the measurement error of that construct or not. Average Variance Extracted (AVE) is used to establish validity. Also, the index used to measure reliability is the composite reliability index (CR), which calculates the reliability of structures not in absolute terms, but according to the correlation of their structures with each other, and it is superior from this point of view.

The primary purpose of this study is to identify the relationship between the green supply chain and economic and environmental performance in food retail in Sari. In this research, data analysis was performed in two parts: descriptive and inferential. According to the diversity of the structure of the stores, 14% were grocery, 79% were grocery and protein items, and 7% were grocery, protein items and vegetables. The minimum and maximum ages for store managers were 24 and 74, respectively. In terms of area, the smallest store was about 15 square meters, and the largest store was about 2000 square meters. Based on the results obtained, among the influencing factors for green activities in stores, we can mention the negative effect of water and energy management and waste management on cooperation with supplier. Additionally, the influencing factors in SCM processes can be described as the impact of 0.430 units of green purchasing on environmental performance, the impact of 0.270 and 0.216 units of green logistics on environmental performance and economic performance, respectively, and the impact of 0.432 units of cooperation with suppliers on economic performance. In addition, based on the results of the influencing factor in the performance results, it can be seen that the effect of 0.329 units and significant environmental performance on economic performance. Based on the results of this research, it can be suggested to the retail stores and food stores of the studied area that it is better to replace the traditional supply chain of their businesses with the green supply chain to maintain the environmental performance and improve their economic performance. Also, the importance of this issue requires that the green supply chain management model be considered at different levels of society, which this research was also formed in this regard, and it can help the competitiveness of organizations and the environmental performance of the food industry.