Green supply chain management as a tool for transforming the economy in the transition to the sustainable development concept

Purpose. The growth in the scale of economic activity of mankind has caused destructive environmental changes. Economic activity in the twentieth century has become a significant geological and biospheric factor. This led to the formation of the Sustainable Development Concept and Green Growth Theory. One of the tools for the practical implementation of these approaches is the introduction of Green Supply Chains into the business. The purpose of the study is the analysis of Green Supply Chains as an innovative tool for doing business, as well as the study of its reflection in modern scientific literature. Methodology / approach. The research used methods of comparative and retrospective analysis, an institutional approach, structural-functional and scientometric analysis. As data sources, information was used from the international bibliographic database Scopus and the national (Russian) bibliographic database elibrary.ru. Results. One of the ways of transforming enterprises, industries and the economy under the influence of the Sustainable Development Concept is to introduce Green Supply Chain (GSC) into business practice. Understanding the importance of implementing this tool, business entities and their stakeholders form a «social order» for GSC research. This caused a surge in interest of researchers in many countries around the world to this issue. In the last decade, interest in these issues in the world scientific literature has been growing like an avalanche. Moreover, if initially the main studies were conducted in European and North American countries, by now the championship has passed to Asian countries. This geographical redistribution of research efforts leads to the modernization of the economies of rapidly growing Asian countries, primarily China and India. This will inevitably lead to an improvement in their competitive position in the world. At the same time, business and authorities in not all developing economies realized the strategic importance of GSC. This applies to Russia, Ukraine and several other countries. This situation objectively weakens their competitive position in the global economy. Originality / scientific novelty. The article quantitatively evaluated the research activity in studying the problems of Green Supply Chains. This study is based on chronological and geographical factors. Identified trends: a shift in the center of world research in Asia; correlations between the pace of green modernization of the economy and research activity in the field of Green Supply Chains; country differentiation in research activity. The advantages of Green Supply Chains as an innovative tool for doing business are shown. Practical value / implications. A substantive analysis showed that the concept of Green Supply Chains and its implementation in business can lead to significant positive changes not only in the economy, but also in society. In this regard, in countries where this concept has not yet become significant and is perceived by the authorities and business as something secondary, politicians should pay more attention to it. It is necessary to activate a special direction of state policy aimed at stimulating the formation and development of Green Supply Chains in the national economy.