J. Basic. Appl. Sci. Res., 2(9)8952-8961, 2012 © 2012, TextRoad Publication ISSN 2090-4304 Journal of Basic and Applied Scientific Research www.textroad.com *Corresponding author: Mahdi Golsefid-Alavi, Department of Management and Accounting, Qazvin Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qazvin, Iran, E –mail address: Mahdi_golsefid@yahoo.com Evaluation of the Most Effective Criteria in Green Supply Chain Management in Automotive Industries Using the Fuzzy DEMATEL Method Alireza Irajpour, Mahdi Golsefid-Alavi, Mehdi Hajimirza, Nasrin Soleimani-Nezhad Department of Management, Faculty of Management and Accounting, Qazvin branch, Islamic Azad University (IAU), Qazvin, Iran. ABSTRACT Sustainability, green and environmentally issues are significant which has been discussed in recent years and a large number of firms implement green practices to improve their businesses. Automotive industries are considered one of the major contributors to environmental pollution and the area that requires implementation of more effective sustainability practices. So, it is important to pay attention to environmental requirements in supply chain process in automotive companies. In this article, we used the fuzzy DEMATEL method, to study the influence of the most important factors and to find out the ranking of critical factors in green supply chain management in automotive corporations and also a model with multi-criteria approach and 15 factors in green supply chain management was presented. Based on our research, we concluded that the top five important critical sub-factors of green supply chain management in automotive industries in Iran are as follows: Environmental policy, International, governmental and domestic environmental agreements and legislations, Green and cleaner production, Effective communication within companies and suppliers, and Green image. KEY WORDS: green supply chain management, Sustainability, environmental management system, fuzzy DEMATEL 1. INTRODUCTION Nowadays, Managers of companies are not only expected to reduce lead times, improve quality, decrease costs and increase flexibility, but also they are expected to become more environmentally responsible (Irajpour et al., 2012a) and environmental performance is a concern for managers of every firms (Zhu and Sarkis, 2004). Recently, companies have begun to face increasing stakeholder concerns respecting the operational impact of the firm on the environment and society as individuals become more aware of the fact that each operational process has the potential for producing a negative impact on ecological and social systems (Setthasakko, 2010) and concerns about the sustainability and the protection of the natural environment have become increasingly significant issues amongst governments, environmentalists and society in many countries (Ribeiro and Guzman, 2010). Green supply chain management (GSCM) becomes a exciting topic and there is a worldwide trend for manufacturers to choose their green suppliers for constructing their green supply chain (Lee, 2008b) and with the increased environmental worries during the past decade, awareness is growing that issues of environmental pollution attending industrial development should be addressed together with supply chain management, so contributing to the initiative of Green supply chain management (Hu and Hsu, 2010) and many companies are now proactively implementing green practices (Wang et al., 2011). Also, all of the environmental management standards and green systems highlight the need for continuous improvement in trying to protect the environment and the nature (Chavan, 2005) and nowadays, many corporations have experienced increasing globalization and organizations struggle to improve their environmental image through green production (Zhu et al., 2008b) and green supply chain management has appeared as a significant new approach for industries to obtain earnings and market development by reducing environmental risks and damages (Hu and Hsu, 2010). In this study, we have used fuzzy DEMATEL method to study the influence of the most significant criteria in green supply chain management. This paper is organized as follows: Section 2 discusses the green supply chain management in automotive companies. Section 3 discusses the important factors of this research. Section 4 discusses the methodology. Section 5 analyzes the results and Section 6 discuses the study. 2. Green supply chain management (GSCM) in automotive corporations Since the early days of the industrial revolution, the study and management of industrial pollution has been a critical issue for society and companies (Sarkis et al., 2011) and the study of the automotive supply chain and environmental issues is important because its scope is international (Gonza´lez et al., 2008). Automotive companies 8952