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The purpose of this paper is to identify the themes that emerged from retail supply chain (RSC) literature during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic that inform future mitigation and recovery strategies.

This study analyses contributions in the RSC literature using four databases: Emerald, Elsevier (Science Direct), Wiley and Taylor & Francis. The systematic review approach resulted in identifying 74 articles covering 2020 to 2022.

Four themes emerged from the RSC literature on COVID-19. The first theme highlighted the factors that exacerbated the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the RSC. The second theme focussed on the types of disruptions that occurred in the RSC during the pandemic. The third theme demonstrated the recovery strategies used to reduce the impact of COVID-19 on the RSC. The fourth theme identified proposed mitigation strategies for the RSC post-COVID-19 outbreak.

The study provides a deeper understanding of how RSC managers could successfully reduce the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic by dealing with interruptions. Based on the reviewed studies and the four themes that evolved from RSC literature on COVID-19 throughout 2020–2022, 11 key RSC strategies and lessons have been recommended to decision-makers in the retail industry.

This is the first study to identify the themes that emerged from RSC literature during the COVID-19 pandemic to inform future mitigation and recovery strategies. The resulting themes add to the existing body of knowledge and establish the need for further research into other sectors that might be affected by future pandemics.

The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of integration capabilities on reverse supply chain (RSC) adoption and, consequently, RSCs' effectiveness. Thus, supply chain (SC) integration capabilities and their types in relation to internal, supplier and customer integration capabilities are investigated.

In this paper a quantitative survey was conducted with Malaysian manufacturers with a certified the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001 environmental management system. The entire population was utilized through census sampling; 150 useable survey responses were received. The partial least squares technique was used for the data analysis.

The results indicate that internal integration improves external integration. In addition, supplier and customer integration have a positive direct effect on the adoption of RSC activities. Though internal integration has no significant direct effect on the adoption of RSC activities, it has an indirect impact through both supplier integrative capabilities and customer integrative capabilities.

The findings of this study suggest that the managers of manufacturers whose internal integrative capabilities are the base and whose SC integrative capabilities and external integrative capabilities are reinforcing SC integrative capabilities should adopt RSC activities.

The paper offers in-depth insight into this issue and has shed light on the ambiguities in the literature regarding the role of SC integration in RSC adoption.

Outsourcing has become a strategic decision for most of the organizations in the present context of globalization and circular economy. The objective of proposed study is to empirically investigate the relationship between the outsourcing benefits and triple bottom line (TBL)-based performance of reverse supply chain (RSC) comprising of economic, environmental and social factors.

In the present study, the partial least square path approach of structural equation modeling has been applied for testing hypotheses. A questionnaire was developed for collecting the information and responses from the experts of electronics industry, India. Measurement models were tested for ensuring the fitness of data for further applying partial least square path approach of SEM.

The results provide insightful information on outsourcing and RSC performance. It reveals that outsourcing decisions are important and have great influence on the economic, environmental and social performance of RSC.

The study will provide useful guidance to the organizations for outsourcing decisions. One of the limitations of the study is that it has considered data collected from the Indian electronics industry. Therefore, results may not be generalized.

The third-party service providers have core competencies, and they are the experts of providing RSC services. It is also apparent from the exploration of past research and theoretical background that there are limited number of studies focusing on the impact of outsourcing decisions in RSC performance specifically from the TBL perspective. Hence, the proposed study is an effort to explore the impact of outsourcing RSC activities on the performance of RSC from a sustainability perspective.

Approximately, 800m tons of e-waste is generated per year in India. Reverse supply chain (RSC) is the probable strategy to cope up with the issue. Setting up a RSC process is not popular in the Indian sector. There are several factors that basically control the profitability of such kind of business. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to develop a causal model among the identified issues and sub-issues for setting up a RSC in an Indian semiconductor manufacturing industry and then evaluate the critical issues based on the causal relations.

Decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method along fuzzy set theory is used to develop the causal framework among the identified strategical and tactical issues. According to the causal relations from DEMATEL, analytical network process is then used to identify the weights of the sub-issues.

The cause–effect interactions among the main issues show that legislations and regulations, market-related issues and organizational issue are the most significant strategic issues. Uncertainty in the acquisition time is the most significant tactical issue because it has a crucial impact on the quality and quantity of the used products. Based on the obtained causal relations of the main issues, it is identified that the reduction of waste, creation of new opportunity, market competition, cost reduction, change in technology and location, capacity and number of recovery facility are the major sub-issues in RSC implementation.

This study is conducted on the basis of the experts’ opinion from a semiconductor manufacturing industry, situated in the southern part of India. Therefore, this proves its practical implications.

The paper provides the detail illustration of the issues in the RSC process, and the prioritization of the issues based on the cause–effect relationships also provides some meaningful managerial insights.

This paper aims to purport deeper understanding of, and instigate theoretical elaboration to, multidimensional value created through different reverse supply chain (RSC) relationships.

By capturing the relationships (and their differences) constituted and embedded in three “extreme” case studies from global used clothing supply chain, the sources of multidimensional values are explored in line with Dyer and Singh’s (1998) relational theory.

In the RSC, when downstream relationships are typically more opportunistic, value is created using inter-personal ways of knowledge sharing and through use of informal safeguards. In contrast, the upstream RSC relationships are more symbiotic, and value is created through more seamless (and routinized) knowledge sharing practices, and additional use of more formal transaction-specific controls or financial incentives as safeguarding instruments.

The use of consolidated case studies may affect the consistency in the findings presented. Another limitation relates to deriving propositions per each source presented in relational theory.

Practitioners particularly from industries whose global RSCs include different natures of relationships and multiple value incentives can be benefited through this study.

The paper extends the original sources of value creation prescribed in relational theory by contextualizing them in RSCs. It depicts how multidimensional values are created relationally by dyadic partners as the nature of relationship differs between upstream and downstream.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate reverse supply chain (RSC) practices and their obstacles using case studies of Moroccan companies. The authors present the main findings of case studies’ analysis along with a discussion of an RSC framework for further directions of research.

A qualitative approach was adopted and semi-structured interviews with Moroccan companies were conducted using an interview guide.

The authors present an RSC model that encompasses remanufacturing, refurbishing and disposal processes. The authors believe that this model would constitute a promising framework for further research. The findings show that the successful implementation of RSC depends on many factors, but the company’s attitude (proactive or conservative) is one of the most critical determinants in RSC initiatives. Furthermore, the results of the case studies indicate two types of inhibitors: external and internal. These findings confirm the results of previous research on environmental sustainability obstacles in general and RSC obstacles in particular.

This study has some limitations that provide future research opportunities. Because this study is qualitative, further statistical support is needed to justify wider generalisation of its findings. Further studies might therefore investigate RSC practices in developing countries other than Morocco to increase the external validity of the results.

The findings can help firms to gain better understanding of their RSC and particularly the link between forward and RSCs. Consequently, companies can upgrade their business models to better control their RSC activities.

The relevant literature about RSC practices has mainly targeted manufacturing sectors in developed countries, and few studies have been conducted on developing countries. Research on RSC practices in developing countries in general and African countries in particular is sparse. This is one of the first articles written to address this gap by investigating RSC practices in Morocco.

In a quest to meet increasing pressure to incorporate environmental and sustainability factors due to the legislations and growing public awareness, companies are rethinking of strategizing their supply chain network to take control of the reverse flow of products as well. This growing interest has also led to tremendous growth in publications occurring in several reputed journals in the last few years. In this context, the purpose of this article is to perform a systematic literature survey of recent and state-of-the-art papers in order to draw insights and highlight the future directions.

This paper has selected and reviewed 204 papers published from the year 2002–2017. The papers were collected from the web of science and Google scholar database which have the DOI number. The selected papers were then categorized into main five core areas of RSC management namely reverse supply chain (RSC), Reverse Logistics (RL), Remanufacturing, Closed-Loop Supply Chain (CLSC) and Product Recovery Systems (PRS) and then analyzed with great detail. Finally, the research gaps that were identified from the study have been highlighted for future research opportunities.

This paper would serve as a roadmap to the managers who wish to align their forward and reverse supply chains for overall growth and development. It provides an in-depth knowledge on RSC to the researchers working in this domain. The scholars would be able to identify the areas of RSC which have been already addressed and the areas which remain unaddressed.

This paper presents a systematic literature survey of state-of-the-art papers that was published in the reputed journal in the area of RSC. Total 204 numbers of papers which were published in the reputed journals between 2002 and 2017 are reviewed, categorized and analysed to draw the opportunities and future research direction in the area of RSC.

Although manufacturers have traditionally viewed reverse supply chain (RSC) activities as a costly nuisance, more recent research has found that the RSC can contribute to the firm’s financial performance. The purpose of this paper is to identify how the RSC can contribute to the firm’s financial performance and examine the exogenous contingency factors decisive for the contribution’s size. Because the exogenous factors are outside the control of the firm’s operations and supply chain management, the factors influence the RSC’s financial contribution irrespective of managerial policies and design decisions.

The paper applies a systematic literature review using the sequence of planning the review, searching and screening literature, extracting information from the selected literature, and synthesizing and analyzing findings. In total, 112 papers were included.

The study has identified 15 distinct opportunities for RSC-contribution to the firm’s financial performance. The study has identified 56 contingency factors. These are related to market segmentation, customer behavior, product design, and the firm’s distributor network. The study includes an interrelationship network between factors and the RSC’s contribution.

For managers, the paper shows how the RSC can increase the firm’s financial performance and which contingency factors determine whether operating a RSC will be financially viable if implemented.

While extant literature includes several reviews about RSC-related managerial policies and design decisions, this paper contains the very first collection of RSC-contribution opportunities available to manufacturers as well as the first review of exogenous contingency factors.

When original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) examine whether to implement a reverse supply chain (RSC) for their products, oftentimes the motive is cost savings or regulatory compliance. However, a frequently overlooked but equally important benefit is the possibility for creating new revenue. The purpose of this paper is to examine which revenue streams the RSC enables for OEMs to utilize and how these streams are utilized in industrial practice.

First, the paper identifies the RSC-enabled revenue streams that are available to OEMs using a literature-based conceptual modeling approach. Second, using a set of eight cases the paper explores these streams’ utilization pattern and develops a set of propositions that explain the pattern.

Results show a set of 12 distinct RSC-enabled revenue streams within three categories: new revenue through sales of used items, new revenue through sales of recovered items, and new revenue through added sales of virgin products. Six of these 12 streams are utilized in industrial practice. Among the propositions that explain the utilization pattern are the degree of component customization, product life-cycle longevity, and the value gap between used and recovered products.

While extant literature concerning the relation between the RSC and the firm’s revenue is scarce, this paper contributes to the understanding of RSCs’ revenue generation potential and thus to the stream of literature that views the RSC as a value creator rather than a costly nuisance. Furthermore, the paper provides managers with a broad view of how their firm’s RSC can increase revenue from existing markets as well as create revenue from new markets.

This paper investigates residential sanitation collection (RSC) pricing under two different service delivery arrangements: (1) the municipal RSC arrangement where municipal employees collect residential refuse, and (2) the contract RSC arrangement where private sector firms, under contract with a municipality, collect residential refuse. The results of the study indicate that municipal RSC prices are significantly higher than contract RSC prices. Furthermore, municipal RSC prices exhibit greater variability than contract RSC prices. These findings suggest that contract pricing is consistent with pricing in a competitive market.