Search results

The feasibility and desirability of reverse logistics in market-motivated contexts are examined in China. Interactions between the major barriers, that hinder or prevent the application of reverse logistics in China are analyzed. Management’s key task is to diagnose barriers to the application of reverse logistics that could be crucial to the organization’s future survival. Simultaneity, a value delivery system exists to create value for customers and environments by supplying needed products and services. Value delivery systems are at the heart of every firm and, more than anything else, determine that, whether the firm survives in the marketplace or disappears into bankruptcy or takeover. The processes and model of market-motivated reverse logistics value delivery system are discussed, and the processes content and model are presented. Simultaneity, based on the advantage of the Third Party Reverse Logistics Providers (3PRLs) and Outsourced Service Providers, an integrated evaluation model is built to select 3PRLs by using the integrated decision-making methods. Reflecting the comprehensive information requirement, the Analytic Hierarchy Process and entropy approaches are applied to calculate the objective weights. A new kind of relative similarity degree is established by combining the Euclidean distance with the grey correlation degree. An example demonstrates the model’s efficiency.

This study aims to examine and understand the impact of reverse logistics adoption on firms' digitalization and collaboration activities. Specifically, leveraging the knowledge-based view, this study examines how adopting sustainable logistic practices (reverse logistics) prepares firms to embrace digitalization and encourages them to collaborate with other organizations.

The study used longitudinal survey data from two waves (2017 and 2019) from the Mannheim Centre for European Economic Research. The authors used the negative binomial regression analyses to test the impact of reverse logistics adoption on the digitalization and inter-organizational collaboration dependent count variables.

The study's findings highlight the usefulness of reverse logistics in enabling digitalization and inter-organizational collaboration. The results show that the firms investing in sustainable supply chains will be better positioned to nurture digitalization and inter-organizational collaboration.

For resource-bound managers, this study provides an important insight into prioritizing activities by highlighting how reverse logistics can facilitate digitalization and collaboration. The study demonstrates that the knowledge generated by reverse logistics adoption can be an essential pillar and enabler toward achieving firms' digitalization and collaboration goals.

The study is among the first to examine the effect of reverse logistics adoption on firm activities that are not strictly associated with the circular economy (digitalization and collaboration). Utilizing the knowledge-based view, this study reports on the additional benefits of reverse logistics implementation previously not discussed in the literature.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the current status of reverse logistics practices used on four sectors of Indian manufacturing industry, namely, auto, paper, food and beverage processing, and electronics.

A nationwide questionnaire-based survey has been used to assess reverse logistics practices in Indian context.

It was seen from the survey that Indian companies considered implementing reverse logistics programs in their organization as a strategic-level decision. Volume of products entering the return stream is a key driver of reverse logistics activities. One of the important observations of this research is that Indian companies have primarily adopted reverse logistics due to the economic benefits associated with them.

The results reported in this research are the bird’s eye view of reverse logistics practices in the Indian context only. The low level of questionnaire responses is also one of the limitations of this study. Numerical data related to companies could not be reported in this research as companies were reluctant in giving sensitive data.

The present research would be useful for benchmarking professionals/managers for understanding strategic, tactical and operational-level issues of reverse logistics with respect to Indian context. Also, logistics managers can evolve suitable strategies for successful implementation of reverse logistics programs.

The literature review indicates that only a few frameworks available give a holistic perspective of the current status of reverse logistics operations in an Indian context. This research is an attempt in this regard.

The purpose of this paper is to report on research undertaken to investigate whether current reverse logistics theories and models can be totally applied in developing countries like China using the electronic industry as a case study.

A case study approach was adopted with information collected from company web sites, direct observation, and in‐depth interviews with four major consumer electronic product manufacturers in China. Findings were analyzed and compared across all the cases studied to determine the common external and internal drivers for reverse logistics implementation as well as the obstacles faced by the whole electronic industry. A comparison with the literature was made to identify the gaps between current theories and models and actual practices in China.

The findings suggest that while reverse logistics drivers vary from company to company, barriers to reverse logistics are common and are mainly external. The major difficulty in implementing reverse logistics in the electronic industry of China is the lack of enforceable laws, regulations or directives to motivate manufacturers. Furthermore, economic support and preferential tax policies are absent to help manufacturers offset the high investment costs of reverse logistics. Low public awareness of environmental protection and underdevelopment of recycling technologies are also some of the obstacles to widespread reverse logistics implementation. The findings also reveal the presence of linkages between the various external factors that are not fully explored in current reverse logistics models.

The study corroborates the application of transaction cost economics and resource‐based view theory to account for the different approaches to reverse logistics adopted by firms in developing countries. It also reveals a need for further research on the linkages between external factors affecting reverse logistics implementation. The four case studies of large corporations are drawn from a Chinese setting in which implementation of reverse logistics is still in an early stage. The complex nature of China's transitional economy and political considerations may influence the perspectives and practices of small manufacturers in the management of environmental issues thus limiting the generalizability of the findings.

The study reveals the problems encountered in the implementation of reverse logistics in China and proposes measures to expedite the development.

This paper presents a systematic analysis of the external and the internal factors affecting reverse logistics implementation in developing countries like China. It reveals the need to investigate the linkages between the various external factors that are less explored in current reverse logistic theories and models. The study also identifies the major drivers and obstacles faced by the industry, a clear understanding of which might facilitate the formulation of appropriate nation‐wide reverse logistics policy and strategy through the support of the government and the investment of the manufacturers.

This study aims to present a methodology and a system to support the technical and managerial issues involved in anomaly detection within the reverse logistics process of an e-commerce company.

A case study approach is used to document the company’s experience, with interviews of key stakeholders and integration of obtained evidence with secondary data.

The paper presents an algorithm and a system to support a more efficient and smart management of reverse logistics based on a set of anticipatory actions, and continuous and automatic monitoring of returned goods. Improvements are described in terms of a number of key performance indicators.

The analysis and the developed system need further applications and validations in other organizational contexts. However, the research presents a roadmap and a research agenda for the reverse logistics transformation in Industry 4.0, by also providing new insights to design a multidimensional performance dashboard for reverse logistics.

The paper describes a replicable experience and provides checklists for implementing similar initiatives in the domain of reverse logistics, in the aim to increase the company’s performance along four key complementary dimensions, i.e. time savings, accuracy, completeness of data analysis and interpretation and cost efficiency.

The main novelty of the study stays in carrying out a classification of anomalies by type and product category, with related causes, and in proposing operational recommendations, including process monitoring and control indicators that can be included to design a reverse logistics performance dashboard.

Performing retailing in a complete omnichannel manner is not a simple task, and it considerably increases the complexity of supply chain management operations. This paper aimed at identifying the barriers hindering efficient management of a return channel in this type of retail.

A systematic literature review procedure was used, including descriptive and content analysis of results. The review was performed using four academic databases. Applicable barriers were categorized thematically, a conceptual framework was proposed and future research avenues were drawn.

The contribution of this paper comprises a theoretical description of reverse logistics applied to omnichannel retail, the identification of the return barriers in omnichannel and a conceptual framework for a holistic view of the problem. In all, 43 barriers were identified including high investments, product restocking, additional transportation costs and poor communication.

The link between reverse logistics and omnichannel area is recent and publications are still scarce, so the newness of this study limits the opportunity for further deepening or more robust validation of the results.

The results offered may be used by managers in the areas of retail and supply chain management in general in order to reduce the natural complexity in omnichannel environment.

Regarding previous literature on omnichannel retail, only a few works consider the after-sales stage. This work intended to pave the way in this poorly explored intersection (reverse logistics and omnichannel) by presenting a conceptual framework to classify various barriers in omnichannel retail return.

The purpose in this paper is to develop a systematic literature review aiming to reveal innovation opportunities associated with the thematic collaboration and trust in the reverse logistics field.

The authors adopted a parallel analysis approach segregating the systematic literature review papers in two groups at NVivo®, collaboration and trust in the supply chain and collaboration and trust in reverse logistics, aiming to explore in the first group of papers insights for innovation on collaboration and trust in reverse logistics. The content analysis strategy was supported by the knowledge exchange theory described in Gravier et al. (2008).

Reverse logistics is hardly dissociated from broader sustainable supply chain management approaches, which make all considerations on collaboration and trust designed for such approaches valuable and valid for reverse logistics. Collaboration and trust concepts in supply chain and in reverse logistics contexts are quite similar, while collaboration/trust is mandatory for managing networks in sustainable approaches and in reverse logistics, as well. Downstream and upstream, the chain disruptive innovation business models may be developed between focal companies and returns system third-party logistics providers, fourth-party logistics providers or end-customers, in a business-to-customer collaboration approach. Several collaboration technologies are listed in three perspectives: knowledge sharing, knowledge generation and knowledge implementation.

This study uses a specific protocol for the systematic literature review, and due to inclusion and exclusion criteria, other protocols can provide different results. The strategy of analysis under the knowledge exchange perspective may give a type of result different from other perspectives.

This research systematizes the existing knowledge on the collaborations and trust, which is a priority basis for reverse logistics, providing insights to researchers and practitioners in the area and identifying an agenda for future studies.

It is not surprising that proper implementation of reverse logistics systems can result in better customer loyalty and reduction in operational costs due to reuse or remanufacturing of some parts. This is particularly important for those industries with a short product life cycle, like the mobile phone industry. The major objective of this paper is to present the results of a pilot survey with follow‐up interviews, which was conducted for investigating the practices of reverse logistics in this industry.

A questionnaire survey was sent to the industrial participants, and follow‐up interviews were conducted with the respondents.

On the one hand, reverse logistics systems are important to the industry; on the other hand, the low level of importance of reverse logistics relative to the other issues is still a major barrier in realizing reverse logistics systems.

It is not clear what the critical factors are in designing reverse logistics systems for the mobile phone industry. Based on the results, it is interesting to learn how to reach a compromise in dealing with this dilemma.

The purpose of the paper is to examine the major factors that may influence industries to implement reverse logistics. Thus, the practice of reverse logistics can be promoted by suggestions provided for businesses to eliminate the identified barriers.

In this paper, a questionnaire is developed and the survey is conducted among Hong Kong businesses to collect data on the perception of companies on reverse logistics implementation. Nine hypotheses are set to investigate its influence on company background information, recognition, and perception on reverse logistics, as well as the internal and external factors. Statistical analysis is carried out to test the data collected. Managerial implications are presented to encourage industries to implement reverse logistics.

The result of the statistical analysis shows that internal and external factors significantly influence reverse logistics. Financial and human resources play an important role in companies' implementation of reverse logistics, whereas tangible resources do not have much influence on the practice. Companies with good cooperation and relationship with other business partners can implement reverse logistics.

There has been increasing concern on environmentally friendly activities worldwide to protect the environment. Therefore, the concept of reverse logistics should be focused on for the return of goods for remanufacturing.

Previous studies have been conducted to explore the barriers that may hinder industries from implementing reverse logistics in specific industries. Only a few studies have been conducted to investigate the internal and external measures that influence its implementation.

The importance of integrating sustainability into business activities rises continuously. In addition to an established focus on forward logistics, there is a growing awareness of reverse logistics. Reverse logistics ensures sustainable practices and increases competitiveness for companies, but it also comes with challenges. Therefore, the implementation of reverse logistics is associated with uncertainties. This paper aims to fill this gap by analyzing the development and comprehensive potential of reverse logistics as a sustainability tool.

To bridge the research gap, a real-time Delphi study was conducted. Through an extensive desk research, semi-structured interviews and an expert workshop, 14 projections for the German food sector of 2040 were created. A total of 49 experts in the field of logistics, reverse logistics and food logistics assessed the future projections concerning estimated probability, impact and desirability of occurrence.

The findings derived lead to three possible future scenarios as well as potential drivers and barriers that food companies, the government and society need to consider to enable a successful transition toward implementing reverse logistics in food supply chains.

The study examined the future role of reverse logistics as a sustainability tool in food supply chains. The results serve as a framework for decision-making on the sustainable orientation of business practices, leading to increased competitiveness and resilient business strategy. Several implications are derived for practitioners, policymakers and society to promote reverse logistics. Methodologically, this study extends existing Delphi methods by conducting a quantitative dissent and sentiment analysis, considering various surface-level and deep-level diversity characteristics.