Forward Supply Chain Research Articles

Information-centric influence strategies for quality assurance in reverse logistics supply chains: external stakeholders' perspective

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is twofold: firstly, to identify the information-centric strategies of external stakeholders that influence the quality assurance (QA) in the reverse logistics supply chains (RLSC) of demolition waste (DW) and, secondly, to recognize the determinants for using each strategy.Design/methodology/approachSemi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 professionals representing five external stakeholder groups: state and local government agencies, non-government organizations (NGOs), forward supply chain upstream and downstream actors. The data was analyzed based on Creswell's five-step process, and the conventional content analysis was used for coding and generating themes.FindingsThe study found seven information-centric influence strategies: regulating, monitoring, leading, incentivizing, demolition approval, forming contracts and specifications. The state government organizations were the most dominant in influencing the QA in RLSC. All external stakeholders use both aggressive and cooperative strategies. The urgent, legitimate and economic core of the issue decides the type of strategy to exert an information-centric influence over the QA in RLSC of DW.Originality/valueTo the author's best knowledge, this study is one of the first investigations performed based on a theoretical basis within the context of RLSC in the construction industry (CI). This study used empirical data to elaborate the stakeholder theory while providing new knowledge on stakeholder influence, particularly those relevant to information sharing. Thus, this study developed a theoretical base that future researchers in the study domain could use.

A Conceptual Model for Reverse Supply Chains and Information Sharing

Reverse supply chain is the process of returning the products from their production or consumption centers back to the supply chain in order to extend their life cycle and gaining competitive advantage. In this paper, these chains and their difference with forward supply chains are introduced from previous researches. Then the different flows of products, disposal options, processes and members are presented. For reverse supply chains the level of information sharing and the uses of IT are modeled at this paper. Finally, the criteria for selecting an information sharing technology are identified and a hierarchical model is suggested to achieve the managerial insights conceptually

Game theoretic analysis of a three-stage interconnected forward and reverse supply chain

The dynamic economic scenario of today ensures that industrial and environmental policies that contribute to greener supply chain are incorporated. This paper considers an interconnected three-stage forward and reverse supply chain, which provides green products to a green conscious market. The procurement of raw materials is responsible for the first stage of the supply chain; the second manufacturing/remanufacturing process; and the third stage of marketing the products to the consumer. There is one supplier, one manufacturer, and one retailer in the forward supply chain. New raw materials are used in this supply chain, and new products are manufactured and sold. There is also a market for remanufactured products, and in this market, the same retailer also sells remanufactured products. There is one collector, one remanufacturer, and one retailer in the reverse supply chain. From consumers, the collector collects used products, processes and sells the remanufacturable ones to the remanufacturer. If the raw materials supplied by the collector are not adequate to satisfy the demand, the remanufacturer purchases the remainder from the seller. Both the manufacturer and the remanufacturer use green manufacturing processes. Two models, namely centralized model and decentralized model, are formulated. A numerical example is taken to illustrate the two model and perform sensitivity analysis.

Designing a disruption-aware supply chain network considering precautionary and contingency strategies: a real-life case study

Due to the high risk in the business environment, supply chains must adopt a tailored mechanism to deal with disruptions. This research proposes a multi-objective formulation to design a robust and resilient forward supply chain under multiple disruptions and uncertainty. The mentioned objective functions include minimizing the total cost, environmental impacts, and the network non-resiliency associated with the supply chain simultaneously countered using an augmented ε-constraint method. A Mulvey robust optimization approach is also utilized to deal with uncertainty. Ultimately, the developed model is validated based on three datasets associated with a case study of the steel industry. The results indicate that preventive and mitigation resilience strategies have significantly promoted the supply chain’s capabilities to deal with disruptions. Controlling network resiliency via non-resiliency measures has also created a risk-aware and robust structure in the incidence of disturbances. Numerical results reveal that multiple sourcing, lateral transshipment, and fortification of facilities will lead to the greatest cost-efficiency in the case study. Observations also indicate that the fortified supply chain will be highly economically viable in the long run due to the reduction of costs resulting from lost sales, unnecessary inventory holding, and the company’s credit risk.

Eco-Innovation, Sustainability and Business Model Innovation by Open Innovation Dynamics

The paper aims to analyze the environmental aspects of innovation activity undertaken by companies and, in particular, to assess sustainable business leaders’ propensity to generate eco-innovation. The research described in the paper was descriptive and, to some extent, diagnostic. It was based on a non-random sample and was conducted—using the Computer Assisted Telephone Interview (CATI) method—in 2019 among 54 of the most eco-innovative Polish companies. The results of the research indicate that they are more likely to generate radical rather than incremental changes. Moreover, the most eco-innovative companies are those developing technologies for biodiversity protection. The results further indicate that companies with more than 50 employees have a higher propensity to develop incremental and radical eco-innovation than smaller firms with relatively fewer resources. Finally, this study shows that adopting an open innovation strategy strengthens the propensity to generate eco-innovation, especially radical ones. Moreover, developing such changes is dominated by the adoption of strategic and operational forward supply chain collaboration, involving the absorption of knowledge and information streaming directly from the market. The results can provide a frame for developing new business models incorporating collaboration in eco-innovation activities, especially in the situation of a post-pandemic recovery of the economy.

Integrated Operational Model of Green Closed-Loop Supply Chain

Due to increasing environmental awareness, companies have started embracing the green supply chain concept to reduce waste of resources. Based on this increased awareness, an integrated green closed-loop supply chain has been developed, which integrates the forward supply chain and reverse supply chain. The reverse supply chain follows the same path as the forward supply chain in the reverse direction to recycle used products. Due to the uncertain quality of used products, not all products can be selected for recycling and reproduction, as the reduced yield might decrease the overall net income in the supply chain. The study develops an evaluation model to consider government subsidy, used product recycling rate, and quality of the used products to explore their impacts on the entire system. The results show that when the reproducibility rate of used raw materials decreases, the net income would also decrease accordingly. Furthermore, when government subsidy increases, the net income of the supply chain also increases accordingly. Similarly, when the recycling rate of used products increases, the net income also increases. As government subsidy affects the net income more than the recycling rate of used products, this research concludes that government subsidy is a key factor in the green closed-loop supply chain.

Development of cores acquisition model with two switching mechanisms in a retailer-oriented closed-loop supply chain system

Retailer-Oriented Closed-Loop Supply Chain (ROCLSC) is an integration of forward and reverse supply chains with retailer taking charge of the remanufacturing, distribution, and collecting activities. This type of mechanism is quite effective, since the majority of product returns management is performed by the retailer. However, in practical industries, the implementation of ROCLSC is still limited. In this study, we investigate a ROCLSC system that involves an Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and a retailer. OEM plays a role as a producer of new products, while the retailer is in charge of remanufacturing, collecting, as well as selling and distributing both newly manufactured and remanufactured products. We develop a mathematical model to maximize the profit of each party. Although several studies have developed models for cores acquisition, here we apply a different cores switching mechanism. We introduced the fixed rate and flat rate mechanisms used in the business-to-business (B2B) system, where product functions are very important to consumers. In addition, this research focuses on ROCLSC where most of the existing cores acquisition models are Manufacturer-Oriented Closed-Loop Supply Chain (MOCLSC). The result of this study shows that the retailer will get higher profits when the product returns are acquired through the fixed rate mechanism, rather than the flat rate mechanism. Therefore, determining the optimal amount of cores collected through the fixed rate mechanism will increase the retailer’s profit, as well as joint profit of both parties. From the results, we also point out an interesting note that the retailer should increase efforts to sell new products along with the increasing proportion of consumer Willingness to Pay (WTP) for remanufactured products. Hence, both OEM and retailer profits can be increased consecutively

Pricing and coordination of competitive recycling and remanufacturing supply chain considering the quality of recycled products

<p style='text-indent:20px;'>Considering the quality of recycled products, we develop a game model of a multi-level competitive recycling and remanufacturing supply chain with two manufacturers and multiple recyclers. Being focus on two mainstream game models, namely the manufacturer-recycler cooperation game model and the manufacturer-led Stackelberg game model, we explore the connection between optimal pricing decisions and performance levels of the supply chain members. Although researches indicate that the quality of recycled products will not affect the pricing decisions in the forward supply chain, it is positively related to the recycling price, the repurchase price, and the overall profit in the reverse supply chain, and the intensity of competition among manufacturers or recycled products will affect the pricing decisions and the performance levels of the two models. In the manufacturer-led Stackelberg game model, the supply chain does not reach the Pareto optimum, which uses the recycling cost sharing contract to achieve the coordination. Afterwards, the profits of the two manufacturers and multiple recyclers in the supply chain are increased, and the overall profit of the supply chain system is higher than that of the manufacturer-led Stackelberg game model. Finally, numerical analysis is conducted to verify the proposed coordination mechanism and its effectiveness.</p>

Pricing and greening decisions of competitive forward and reverse supply chains under government financial intervention: Iranian motorcycle industry case study

The necessity for sustainable development and to support eco-friendly products have manifold the government responsibility in directing green activities. This paper theoretically studies the moderating role of government in pricing and greening decisions of chain-to-chain competition in developing substitutable green products under government involvement in supporting green product distribution and/or recycling through assigning monetary tariffs to customers and practically adjusts a real-world case study of the Iranian motorcycle industry issues. We examine two competitive supply chains (SCs) consisting of one retailer and one manufacturer under two-way logistics, i.e. forward SC that distributes green products and backward SC that collects pollutant products from the market. In addition to maximizing the profit of each SC member and minimizing government expenditure, reductions in environmental pollution are also examined. This study examines the impact of government policies in equilibrium strategies through six scenarios, based on different government elective policies, and using Nash or Stackelberg game structures. A computational analysis of the case study reveals that under more constrained budget situations, the government should resist the urge to reduce recycling tariffs, compared with distribution tariffs. The greatest reduction in environmental pollution is achievable through: government financial support only for recycling with the lowest investment rejection behavior, following a Nash game, reducing greening costs, increasing tendencies towards environmental protection, and increasing the rate of recyclable products. The greatest profit for firms is obtainable through: government financial support of distribution and recycling logistics with the lowest tendency towards environmental protection, following a Nash game, reducing greening costs, reducing the investment rejection behavior of the government, and increasing the rate of recyclable products.

Pricing and Coordination Mechanism of Supply Chain considering Product Recycling under Asymmetric Power

The concept of “green supply chain” puts forward new requirements for the recycling management of waste products. The waste electronic products are taken as the research object, and a two-stage closed-loop supply chain composed of a manufacturer, a retailer, and consumers is considered in this paper. By constructing a Stackelberg game model, the pricing strategy and profit distribution of the supply chain under different decision modes considering asymmetric powers are studied. Finally, Python is used for simulation. The results show that the gross profit of supply chain under decentralized decision is always lower than that under centralized decision-making, and asymmetric power has an impact on the pricing decision-making of forward supply chain and reverse supply chain; compared with transfer cost, wholesale price has a greater impact on coordination effect.

Closed-loop supply chain network with interaction of forward and reverse logistics

Abstract Beneficial to the environment but complex in nature, closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) has been understandably a topic of studies for a lot of researchers. However, most of the literature focuses on the homogeneity of CLSC products and on the dyadic structure of the CLSC mostly involving single manufacturers, distributors, or retailers. Very seldom do we find studies conducted in the analysis of the CLSC with network structure, in which multiple agents compete and coordinate. Inspired by some recent business cases, we develop a coupled CLSC network model dealing with heterogeneous products facing different market demands. The end-of-life product from the forward supply chain is collected and recycled so that raw material can be extracted and used as an input for the reverse supply chain which produces another type of product. Moreover, in each supply chain, raw material suppliers, manufactures, and retailers have to compete and coordinate to satisfy the demand while the forward and reverse supply chains have to work together to materialize the supply chain “loop”. Additionally, a CLSC network equilibrium is defined and studied by using variational inequalities. The properties of the equilibrium solution are also examined. By applying the modified projection method, we analyze a series of numerical examples. Based on the proposed model, the managerial insights are provided to show how the market size of the forward chain, raw material costs in both forward chain and reverse chain impact the demand, equilibrium prices and total profits of the CLSC network. It is also worth noting that the consumers' environmental awareness is critical to make the coupled CLSC networks viable.

Blockchain-Based Forward Supply Chain and Waste Management for COVID-19 Medical Equipment and Supplies.

The year 2020 has witnessed unprecedented levels of demand for COVID-19 medical equipment and supplies. However, most of today’s systems, methods, and technologies leveraged for handling the forward supply chain of COVID-19 medical equipment and the waste that results from them after usage are inefficient. They fall short in providing traceability, reliability, operational transparency, security, and trust features. Also, they are centralized that can cause a single point of failure problem. In this paper, we propose a decentralized blockchain-based solution to automate forward supply chain processes for the COVID-19 medical equipment and enable information exchange among all the stakeholders involved in their waste management in a manner that is fully secure, transparent, traceable, and trustworthy. We integrate the Ethereum blockchain with decentralized storage of interplanetary file systems (IPFS) to securely fetch, store, and share the data related to the forward supply chain of COVID-19 medical equipment and their waste management. We develop algorithms to define interaction rules regarding COVID-19 waste handling and penalties to be imposed on the stakeholders in case of violations. We present system design along with its full implementation details. We evaluate the performance of the proposed solution using cost analysis to show its affordability. We present the security analysis to verify the reliability of the smart contracts, and discuss our solution from the generalization and applicability point of view. Furthermore, we outline the limitations of our solution in form of open challenges that can act as future research directions. We make our smart contracts code publicly available on GitHub.

A system dynamics model for green logistics in a supply chain of multiple suppliers, retailers and markets

This paper aims at developing a system dynamics (SD) model to analyse the effect of green transportation and logistics on the total transportation cost of forward supply chain (FSC) and the total a...

A systematic literature review of quantitative models for sustainable supply chain management.

Supply chain management is the basis for the execution of operations, being considered as the core of the business function in the 21st century. On the other hand, at present, factors such as the reduction of natural resources, the search for competitive advantages, government laws and global agreements, have generated a greater interest in the sustainable development, which, in order to achieve it, industries need to rethink and plan their supply chain considering a path of sustainability. So sustainable supply chain management emerges as a means to integrate stakeholders' concern for profit and cost reduction with environmental and social requirements, attracting significant interest among managers, researchers and practitioners. The main objective of this study is to provide a synthesis of the key elements of the quantitative model offerings that use sustainability indicators in the design and management of forward supply chains. To achieve this objective, we developed a systematic literature review that includes seventy articles published during the last decade in peer-reviewed journals in English language. In addition a 4 W's analysis (When, Who, What, and Where) is applied and three structural dimensions are defined and grouped by categories: Supply chain management, modeling and sustainability. As part of the results we evidenced a continuous growth in the scientific production of this type of articles, with a predominance of deterministic mathematical programming models with an environmental economic perspective. Finally, we identified research gaps, highlighting the lack of integral inclusion of a life cycle analysis in the design of supply chain networks.

Resilient supply chain under risks: A network and structural perspective

Constant development and changes in the supply chain lead the system to meet various risks. Thus, a proper procedure should be adopted to cope with such issues. This study addresses a bi-objective model to design a resilient and robust forward supply chain under uncertainty and multiple disruptions. The investigated objective functions include minimizing the total cost and the total non-resiliency of the network that are tackled using the e-constraint method. Notably, resilience strategies and two-stage stochastic programming are respectively considered to cope with disruption and operational risks. Ultimately, some random numerical benchmarked examples are applied to the model to confirm the proposed formulation's performance. The results indicate that considering risks in the system leads to increased costs, but it would be profitable in the long term. Notably, a resilient chain can prevent system failure and enhance capabilities to reduce risk exposure costs and damages.

Decision-making of closed-loop supply chain under Corporate Social Responsibility and fairness concerns

In recent years, manufacturers have been under pressure from consumers and the government in terms of environmental awareness and corporate social responsibility (CSR). The CRS behavior regulated by government subsidy is limited understood and needs attention urgently. In this study, three closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) models, including one decentralized decision-making model without fair concerns, one decentralized decision-making model with fair concerns, and one centralized decision-making model with fair concerns, were designed to for understanding the influence of government subsidy, CSR coefficient, and fairness concerns on decision-making by comparing optimal solutions of these models. Proportion of government subsidy was utilized as a coordination variable to design a joint contract of ‘government subsidy sharing and cost sharing’ and to coordinate decentralized decision-making. On this basis, two extended models, a CSR-based fairness concern model and a government decision-making model, were proposed. Finally, the models are verified by numerical experiments. Conclusions that we drew from this study. Our research shows that: (i) There is a threshold for the manufacturer’s CSR, and CSR works only if it is higher than this threshold. Both the CSR behavior of manufactures and the fairness concerns of retailers can increase consumer surplus, retailer’s profit, and system profit but damage the leading enterprises’ profit. CSR behavior of manufactures can effectively diminish retailer’s fairness concern, but will reduce the efficiency of government subsidy to some degree which differs from past researches. (ii) The impact of retailers’ fairness concern about the profits gap is twofold. On one hand, it decreases the sales price and increases the consumer surplus in the forward supply chain. On the other hand, it decreases the price and quantity of recycling in the reverse supply chain. (iii) The centralized decision-making model has the lowest retail price of products, the highest the recycling price of waste products, and the highest system profit. (iv) After coordination, the retailer’s share of profits increases as the fairness concern increases, but the feasible scope for coordination mechanisms decreases.

Multichannel retail competition with product returns: Effects of restocking fee legislation

Abstract The Internet’s explosive growth enabled new ways to reach customers, but product returns became problematic. Today, most brick-and-mortar stores have either been integrated into or replaced by the online channel. We model the competition among sales channels and analyze its equilibrium structure. We consider two competing retailers and three sales channel configurations—brick-and-mortar, click-and-mortar and strictly online—and derive the conditions under which a Nash equilibrium exists. We rule out product returns in the brick-and-mortar channel, but online purchases can be returned (possibly subject to a restocking fee). Our model allows for repeated returns of an item and its reintroduction into the forward supply chain. We investigate the effect of restocking fees and customer’s perceived channel value on the equilibrium as well as the impact of EU legislation addressing free returns. We also analyze some extensions of the model and conduct a numerical analysis to explore whether restocking fee legislation helps or hinders online business. Our results indicate that the equilibrium structure is determined by the values of the return rate, the refund rate, and the online channel attraction. Also, it results profitable to refurbish and reintroduce returned items into the forward chain multiple times. Lastly, in the context of whether to charge or not a restocking fee and the introduction of a new EU legislation, we can conclude that retailers charging a restocking fee should put more effort in order to increase consumer’s perceived value, meaning that customers will accept a restocking fee provided they view the online purchase as having higher quality than a brick-and-mortar purchase.

The Optimal Pricing of Dual-Channel Supply Chain with the Third Party Product Recovery and Sales Effort

The optimal pricing of dual-channel supply chain with the third party product recovery and sales effort is considered in this paper. The optimal selling pricing of direct channel and retail channel in the forward supply chain and the optimal collection pricing of retail channel and the third party in the backward supply chain are given for the general case under the centralized and decentralized model. Then, the effect of sales effort of the retailer and the optimal pricing strategy with sales effort under the centralized and decentralized model are provided and analyzed. Finally, the comparative analysis of four situations is carried out by numerical results.

Reverse logistics: Conceptualising strategies and procurement best practicesReverse logistics: Conceptualising strategies and procurement best practices

Global e-commerce in the consumer retail sector could not exist without the development, and more importantly acceptance, of sophisticated logistics strategies. The traditional forward supply chain with its inbound and outbound logistics is understood as significant to competitiveness and enterprise value. Reverse logistics, on the other hand, is that largely invisible yet widely used functionality that is increasingly having a very real impact in this economic environment. In fact, reverse logistics is in many ways inseparable from the growth of global e-commerce in the consumer retail sector. The functional elements of reverse logistics are similar to those of its traditional forward logistics counterpart and yet many striking differences exist. The reverse supply chain has a character both in business operations and in consumer buying habits that is as complex and challenging as it is essential to market performance. The strategic development of reverse logistics systems and their procurement from third-party service providers are systematically examined in this paper.

Identification of the Barriers of Reverse Supply Chain

Reverse supply chains represent an opportunity to create a value stream, not financial loss. Reverse supply chains deserve as much attention at the corporate level as forward supply chains and should be managed as business processes that can create value for the company. Many manufacturing firms have not yet adapted reverse supply chain but view it as the great nightmare to their organizational system. Like many other system, reverse supply chain has also its critical success factors. This research aims to identify the barriers of reverse supply chain management which invariably present in the system. Among the critical success factors, those perform below the threshold were identified as barrier using fuzzy logic technique.