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Due to increasing supply chain complexity, the supply chain uncertainty has become an imperative issue, which hinders the development of modern logistics and supply chain management. The paper attempts to conceptualize reverse logistics uncertainty from supply chain uncertainty literature and present the types of reverse logistics uncertainty in a triadic model.

The concept of reverse logistics uncertainty is developed based on a triadic model of logistics uncertainty and supply chain uncertainty literature. A desk research is conducted to develop a taxonomy of reverse logistics uncertainty. To better depict the reverse logistics uncertainty, we use case studies to discuss the types of reverse logistics uncertainty in the triadic model.

The study reveals four types of supply chain uncertainties in the reverse logistics. We call them reverse logistics uncertainty. Type-A and Type-B uncertainty are new types of supply chain uncertainty in the reverse logistics.

The types of reverse logistics uncertainty have not been empirically validated in industries. Especially, the two new types including Type-A and Type-B reverse uncertainty need further exploration.

Although reverse logistics has been discussed in the past decades, very few studies have been conducted on the supply chain uncertainty in returns management arena. The paper offers valuable insights to better understand the supply chain uncertainty in the reverse logistics. This also provides suggestions for both managers and researchers to reflect on the reverse logistics uncertainty management and business sustainability.

Information technology is a key enabler of logistics performance. Unfortunately, most logistics information systems are implemented with forward logistics processes in mind, with little, if any, consideration for the reverse channel. Informed by task‐technology fit theory, the authors aim to explore how use of complementary information technologies to support reverse logistics processes can lead to enhanced process performance.

The authors use a survey method to gather data from logistics professionals who are positioned within various reverse logistics functions. Using reverse logistics processing effectiveness and reverse logistics cost effectiveness as dependent variables, the authors use multiple regression to examine the relationships between indicators of task‐technology fit and reverse logistics performance.

The authors’ models explain 49 percent and 30 percent of the variance in reverse logistics cost effectiveness and processing effectiveness, respectively. Information technology use and reverse logistics technology innovativeness are shown to enhance levels of reverse logistics cost effectiveness; information system compatibility and reverse logistics technology innovativeness are shown to enhance levels of reverse logistics processing effectiveness.

Although limited by the sample frame, the authors’ findings remain consistent with task‐technology fit theory and suggest that employing information technologies that are designed to complement reverse logistics processes can lead to increased reverse logistics process performance.

This study supports the notion that more attention should be given to reverse logistics processes. In order to achieve maximum return on investment, managers should consider allocating resources toward information technologies and systems that directly support reverse logistics.

This research employs a theory that has seen little attention in the logistics literature to provide insight into how use of complementary information technology can enhance reverse logistics processes.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the changes in governance structures that evolved as reverse logistics systems were developed. The UK car crash repair sector was used as a case study.

The value‐chain governance framework proposed by Gereffi et al. was used to assess changes in governance systems as firms developed a reverse logistics flow and three transactional variables were used to determine how supply chains are governed and change. Both forward and reverse product flows for two supply chains were assessed to determine what changes in governance of the supply chain took place as reverse logistics operations developed.

The authors' analysis documents how relationships between the focal firm and other supply chain members altered as the new reverse logistic system developed. The modular governance structure that developed through increased supplier capability coupled with higher levels of knowledge and information codifications were shown to be important factors in the establishment of a reverse logistics system. Supplier capability, knowledge codification and transaction complexity were found to be moderating variables which can enrich the traditional models on buyer‐supplier relationships based on trust and ongoing commitment.

Reverse logistics continues to be a major issue for business. Our findings provide an insight into some of the governance and knowledge management developments as focal firms respond to growing pressures to re‐use materials and parts. In total, six factors were identified which can assist firms in assessing their current governance structures and the development of a pathway for implementation of reverse logistics.

Little research has been conducted into supply chain governance structures needed to manage the new reverse logistics systems for the re‐use, recycling and repair of products.

The purpose of this paper is to explore whether Czech companies believe that value is being generated by reverse logistics (RL), and whether (and how) they track its costs and benefits. The quality of performance measurement of RL was related to three corporate attributes. The findings were then compared to the results of an older study to describe developments over the past five years, and to evaluate the changes during this time period.

This exploratory research is based on data from 102 Czech companies collected in 2009. The basic statistical tests were applied in the analysis. A part of the paper takes the form of longitudinal research.

One third of Czech companies surveyed reported that RL had a positive influence on their profits. A positive relationship between the profitability of RL activities and a company's strategic focus on RL was also identified. The level of interest by companies in performance measurement has increased; however, the companies tend to focus on the efficiency of RL while the effectiveness is neglected.

Managers must acknowledge the issue of proper measurement of RL performance, and involve RL in the planning process if they want to improve it. They should focus more on effectiveness, not just on efficiency. The analyzed data express the opinions of executive management, and were not accompanied by financial or production data.

The survey first maps the status of RL performance measurement in the Czech Republic. It finds a relationship between profitability of RL and corporate planning, and it points out that companies focus mainly on RL efficiency, and fail to consider effectiveness in their performance measurement.

The purpose of this paper is to present the research carried out on the development of a conceptual framework termed as the reverse collaboration framework (RCF) to provide supply chain (SC) visibility and information sharing to practitioners in a reverse logistics (RL) operations.

The research methodology used in this research is a combination of concept mapping, and the extension of the work of other researchers (deductive approach) to develop a RCF that connects tools, techniques, systems and RL processes.

This research shows that by integrating tools, systems, tools and techniques with RL processes by means of the RCF will increase performance and productivity of a RL operations. This is demonstrated by applying the RCF to a consumer electronics business that proves that the time taken for the end to end RL operations is reduced by 20%.

The RCF has been demonstrated with the data from a consumer electronics organisation. Literature points out that there are many different mathematical models for RL across a number of industries. Thus, at this stage, it is not clear if the RCF developed in this research will work in other industries, such as the newspaper, plastic bottles and online retailers industry where product returns are high. This research work can be extended in developing an IT solution by future researchers that can be linked to the main ERP system of an organisation.

SC managers can use the RCF in the extended form of an IT solution to manage the RL operations of their organisations.

There is a lack of research in the space of reverse collaboration in the broader field of SC management. This paper has fulfilled that gap.

The aim of this paper is to develop a systematic literature review (SLR) aiming to identify reverse logistics (RL) concepts and practices applied to the end-of-life (EOL) and end-of-use (EOU) of pharmaceuticals and to identify and synthesize, through bibliometric indicators, research opportunities on RL, considering the analysis of publications in the periodical Supply Chain Management: An International Journal (SCMij).

The SLR followed two steps, namely, search for articles on the subject and content analysis of selected material and bibliometric analysis of publications using VOSviewer®.

The SLR allowed the compilation of evidences regarding pharmaceutical RL in the groups: environmental risk, the RL evolution and regulatory and stakeholder’s educational perspective. Despite the timid specific literature on pharmaceutical RL, it was also possible to point out research gaps and opportunities. Pharmaceutical RL seems to be influenced by studies from traditional RL including mathematical modeling, managerial strategies and technologies but prescind of a systemic solution. Besides reducing environmental impact, the motivation to implement pharmaceutical RL resides in its potential for revenue. Considering integrated logistics as a trend and an emerging issue, RL for the pharmaceutical industry needs to be addressed more thorough and broadly.

The limited number of papers returned in this SLR of pharmaceutical RL impaired the bibliometric analysis of them, leading to the inclusion of papers on general RL.

This study provides an overview of the evolution of RL in the pharmaceutical industry, it also clarifies concepts and EOL/EOU practices, particularly directed to the pharmaceutical industry RL.

While forward logistics handles and manages the flow of goods downstream in the supply chain from suppliers to customers, reverse logistics (RL) manages the flow of returned goods upstream. A firm can combine RL with forward logistics, keep the flows separated, or choose a position between the two extremes. The purpose of this paper is to identify the contextual factors that determine the most advantageous position, which the paper refers to as the most advantageous degree of combination.

The paper first develops a scale ranging from 0 percent combination to 100 percent combination (i.e. full separation). Second, using the contingency theory the paper identifies the contextual factors described in RL-literature that determine the most advantageous degree of combination. The set of factors is subsequently tested using a case study, which applies a triangulation approach that combines a qualitative and a quantitative method.

The results show six distinct contextual factors that determine the most advantageous degree of combination. Examples of factors are technical product complexity, product portfolio variation, and the loss of product value over time.

For practitioners the scale of possible positions and set of contextual factors constitute a decision-making framework. Using the framework practitioners can determine the most advantageous position of the scale for their firm.

Much RL-research addresses intra-RL issues while the relationship between forward and RL is under-researched. This paper contributes to RL theory by identifying the contextual factors that determine the most advantageous relationship between forward and RL, and proposes a novel decision-making framework for practitioners.

Whilst implementation of a broad range of reverse logistics (RL) practices is increasingly the norm within commercial supply chain management, they have had limited impact in the humanitarian logistics (HL) sector. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the challenges and opportunities for the application of RL in a HL context.

Through a broad review of both the academic and practitioner literature, supplemented by informal discussions with senior humanitarian logisticians, the paper summarises the current state of RL within the HL sector before recommending ways in which practices that are increasingly found in a commercial context could be implemented.

The findings indicate that, to date, the use of commercial RL practices is extremely limited within the HL sector, but there are a number of areas where their introduction be possible in the future.

Whilst the reviews of the literature were comprehensive, further and more detailed research into the RL practices (if any) undertaken by aid agencies needs to be undertaken in order that appropriate lessons and experiences can be implemented across the sector as a whole.

Given the overall desire of humanitarian agencies to “do no harm” it will be increasingly important for such organisations to embrace RL practices in order to improve the sustainability of their disaster preparation and response activities.

In light of the generally increased awareness of the need to reduce the environmental footprint as well as improving the social and economic impacts of their supply chain activities, there is likely to be increasing pressure on aid agencies to adopt RL practices. This paper identifies some of the potential areas in which this can be undertaken, and the associated barriers to be overcome.

To date, it would appear that no academic research has been undertaken into the RL practices within the HL sector. To this extent, the research represents a first look at a new sub-topic within the overall HL field.

Reverse logistics (RL) is a strategic instrument across industries. The rapid evolution of online marketplaces has led to frequent product returns with variations across diversified businesses. These marketplaces have caused potential losses due to fraudulent returns, hence requiring a commitment of resources to RL. With information systems (IS) playing a role in improved supply chain performance, the purpose of this paper is to analyse the impact of a conceptualized IS framework on achieving RL strategic outcomes, under the individual moderating influence of resource commitment (RC) and return frequency.

Data have been collected through a questionnaire from top to middle management executives managing the supply chain, logistics and IS. Moderated regression analysis was conducted on the collected sample using Hayes’ (2013) process modeling.

The study depicts that IS capability, IS for logistics, IS partnership quality and IS for value addition lead to RL strategic benefits. Also, return frequency and RC act as relatively strong moderators with a negative impact. When analyzed for the individual IS constructs, RC has a stronger moderating impact than return frequency.

The IS usage framework can be used effectively by practitioners for enhancing strategic RL performances depending on variations in committed resources and return frequency for individual industries.

The study proposes an IS usage framework for achieving enhanced RL strategic outcomes and emphasizes on the moderating role played by RC and return frequency for producing the results.

Although the importance of establishing sound metrics is often noted in the logistics literature, few research efforts have examined appropriate metrics for reverse logistics (RL) processes. Through the lens of goal-setting theory, the paper identifies and align salient RL goals and metrics, and uncover some of the most common challenges to RL professionals. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The paper used open-ended questions to gather qualitative data from 84 RL professionals from the defense industry. A content analysis method was employed to extract and categorize the goals, challenges, and metrics for RL processes.

The paper identifies specific categories of goals, challenges and metrics. Several themes emerged from the study, to include customer service, disposition, costs, and process efficiencies. Using these themes, the paper matched goals to metrics and found a lack of uniformity and noted that metrics and goals often were not matched or were misaligned.

This research is limited by the defense industry sample and the research method. Caution should be used when generalizing the results, and further research is required to empirically test the validity of the findings. Nonetheless, in the context of goal-setting theory, the study contributes to the performance metrics literature by aligning RL metrics with goals and addressing challenges faced by RL practitioners. By investigating the topic from multiple perspectives, the study provides more detailed findings and demonstrates the differences between the inbound and outbound RL processes.

This study provides insight into the metrics used to monitor and control RL processes. The findings may help firms to identify shortcomings and choose metrics that they can employ to align RL processes with firm goals.

The study contributes to the performance metrics literature by aligning RL metrics with goals and addressing challenges faced by RL practitioners. By investigating the topic from both an inbound and outbound perspective, the study provides more detailed findings and demonstrates the differences between the inbound and outbound RL processes.