Reverse Logistics Service Provider Research Articles

The impact of reverse logistics process coordination on third party relationship quality: A moderated mediation model for multichannel retailers in the fashion industry

Multichannel retailing is a widely adopted strategy in the fashion industry. Companies in this industry find it a source of competitive advantage to invest in reverse logistics infrastructure. However, limited empirical studies investigate the enablers of the relationship quality between the retailers and their reverse logistics service providers. This study quantifies the impact of reverse logistics process coordination between retailers and logistics service providers on relationship quality. Moreover, it tests the mediating role of reverse logistics service quality and the moderating role of conflict frequency in this relationship. Data were collected through a survey using a purposive sample of 241 retail store managers from the fashion retail industry of Pakistan. For this purpose, a self-administered questionnaire was developed using a five-point Likert Scale to gauge the responses. Conditional process analysis was used to evaluate the moderated mediation model. The findings showed a significant positive impact of reverse logistics process coordination on the relationship quality with a logistics service provider, a significant positive mediation effect of reverse logistics service quality, and a significant moderation effect of conflict frequency on the indirect relationship. However, conflict frequency, contrary to the hypothesis in the study, strengthened the indirect relationship. Furthermore, the moderation effect of conflict frequency on the direct relationship was insignificant. This study will help managers better understand the best practices leading to effective management of reverse logistics processes, particularly product returns.

A Framework for Adopting a Sustainable Reverse Logistics Service Quality for Reverse Logistics Service Providers: A Systematic Literature Review

Reverse logistics has become a competitive need for sustainability. Lack of resources to apply reverse logistics solutions has severely impacted many supply chains’ costs and customer service, making it impossible to meet the expectations of return processing. In those conditions, client demands for higher service quality are the main drivers of effective sustainability operations. This study aims to establish the sustainable reverse logistics service quality (SRLSQ) theoretical framework offered by reverse logistics services providers (RLSPs). The study conducts a systematic methodology protocol by examining reliable academic periodicals using PRISMA guidelines based on the research scope and identified 56 papers from 2011–2022, with the main research focus on SSQ and RLSQ dimensions to develop a research framework. By re-evaluating those factors using the SRLSQ framework and by including sustainability into the service quality approach, this study expanded the practicability of reverse logistic service quality and sustainable service quality. The results point to a knowledge gap when it comes to quantifying the impact of reverse logistics operation process through a triple bottom line approach on customer outcomes, relationship quality (RQ), and mediation of operation risk factor, which could be examined within various contexts in subsequent work.

A strategic decision-making framework for sustainable reverse operations

Several factors, such as rapid industrial development, rising population, growing waste disposal, and exponential depletion of natural resources, have become a global challenge and call for a multifaceted approach to environmental protection. Rising consumers' awareness of environmental issues and the evolving ecological legislation puts pressure on businesses to adopt green practices in product design, manufacturing, distribution, and end-of-life disposition. Looking at these challenges, reverse logistics (RL) also known as reverse operations has become the most investigated theme in Supply Chain Management (SCM). Incorporating reverse logistics into the supply chain is not a simple task. Outsourcing reverse operations to the third-party reverse logistics service provider (3PRLSP) is an important strategic decision by many companies. This helps them to achieve a competitive advantage by reducing costs and improving quality processes and services. To this aim, this paper proposes a novel hybrid framework for selecting a 3PRLSP for the electronic industry. The first stage includes the preliminary screening of 3PRLSPs based on the method of effectiveness and compliance (E&C). In the second phase, graph theory and matrix approach (GTMA) is employed to choose the best 3PRLSP for outsourcing the reverse operations. The application of the proposed method is validated through a case-study based approach with reference to the Indian consumer electronic company. The data for the study was collected from experienced experts in senior managerial positions in the industry. The study findings revealed that the three dimensions of sustainability- economic, environmental and social, are vital in selecting 3PRLSP.

Selection of Third-Party Reverse Logistics Service Provider Based on Intuitionistic Fuzzy Multi-Criteria Decision Making

The scientific selection of a third-party reverse logistics service provider (3PRLP) is helpful for enterprises to obtain the expected ecological and economic benefits. Different enterprises have different requirements for 3PRLP selection and, thus, should adopt personalized and simplified evaluation criteria. However, there is a lack of research on criteria screening. Therefore, this paper proposes a criteria screening method based on a rough set for the first time. The 3PRLP selection is a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) problem in essence, and different criteria can be expressed in different forms. The existing research mostly uses one method for 3PRLP selection, lacking the comprehensive application of various methods. In this paper, various criteria values are transformed into intuitionistic fuzzy numbers (IFNs) for the comparison and combination of various intuitionistic fuzzy MCDM methods. In terms of criteria weighting, a subjective weighting method based on an analytical network process (ANP) is proposed due to the possible correlation between the criteria at the same level. Meanwhile, an objective weighting method based on intuitionistic fuzzy entropy is proposed. The subjective and objective weights are integrated to form the more scientific combination weights. Combining the modeling principles of different intuitionistic fuzzy MCDM methods, the representative methods under each principle are chosen to build a combination evaluation idea that integrates multiple single evaluation models, and the specific evaluation steps are given, including the single evaluation, Kendall compatibility test, combination evaluation, and Spearman consistency test. An illustrative example of 3PRLP selection is provided to verify the feasibility of the methods of criteria screening and weighting and the combination evaluation idea.

Blockchain technology for bridging trust, traceability and transparency in circular supply chain

Trust, traceability, and transparency emerge as critical factors in designing circular blockchain platforms in supply chains. To bridge the three circular supply chain reverse processes (i.e., recycle, redistribute, remanufacture) and the three factors affecting blockchain technologies (i.e., trust, traceability, transparency), this paper proposes the integrated Triple Retry framework for designing circular blockchain platforms. A circular blockchain platform was designed in a supply chain, including manufacturer, reverse logistics service provider, selection centre, recycling centre, and landfill. The results highlight blockchain's role as a technological capability for improving control in the movement of wastes and product return management activities.

A Profit Distribution Model of Reverse Logistics Based on Fuzzy DEA Efficiency—Modified Shapley Value

Reverse logistics is an important way to realize sustainable production and consumption. With the emergence of professional third-party reverse logistics service providers, the outsourcing model has become the main mode of reverse logistics. Whether the distribution of cooperative profit among multiple participants is fair or not determines the quality of the implementation of the outsourcing mode. The traditional Shapley value model is often used to distribute cooperative profit. Since its distribution basis is the marginal profit contribution of each member enterprise to different alliances, it is necessary to estimate the profit of each alliance. However, it is difficult to ensure the accuracy of this estimation, which makes the distribution lack of objectivity. Once the actual profit share deviates from the expectation of member enterprise, the sustainability of the reverse logistics alliance will be affected. This study considers the marginal efficiency contribution of each member enterprise to the alliance and applies it to replace the marginal profit contribution. As the input and output data of reverse logistics cannot be accurately separated from those of the whole enterprise, they are often uncertain. In this paper, we assume that each member enterprise’s input and output data are fuzzy numbers and construct an efficiency measurement model based on fuzzy DEA. Then, we define the characteristic function of alliance and propose a modified Shapley value model to fairly distribute cooperative profit. Finally, an example comprising of two manufacturing enterprises, one sales enterprise, and one third-party reverse logistics service provider is put forward to verify the model’s feasibility and effectiveness. This paper provides a reference for the profit distribution of the reverse logistics.

A DEMATEL approach to select green reverse logistics service providers

With the development of science and technology, the problems of environmental pollution and waste of resources are becoming more and more serious. Urban logistics is one of the regions with the highest frequency of logistics activities. In the face of the destruction of the environment and its impact on human life, urban logistics need to be transformed to be more friendly to the environment. This study aims to find the key success factors for selecting green reverse logistics service providers. Based on urban logistics and reverse logistics, on the perspective of sustainability, this study collected five aspects and twenty-four factors. DEMATEL is employed to process the data of expert assessments. Referring to the causal map, “Green operations level” and “Greenness of facilities and equipment” are crucial.

Third-party reverse logistics service provider selection approaches and criteria: a literature review

Third-party reverse logistics service provider selection approaches and criteria: a literature review

Green Medical Reserve Logistics Provider Selection Using DEMATEL Method

Compared with general commercial reverse logistics operators, the recovery and treatment of expired drugs and medical waste is a complex and highly technically difficult project. The qualifications required by the relevant service providers are also more stringent. For medical institutions, the selection of reverse logistics operators is always a critical issue. On the perspective of sustainability, this paper aims to investigate and explore the critical factors of selecting a medical reverse logistics service provider. Through the process of the Delphi method, the experts’ assessments were collected, and 24 factors affecting the selection of medical reverse logistics service provider were screened and summarized. Then, Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) was employed to calculate the total influence values and net influence values between factors that could be used to draw the visual causal map. Referring the causal map, “Green process operation level” and “Recycling process greening degree” are significantly higher than other factors in terms of total influence value and net influence value. Therefore, they can be regarded as crucial factors. This finding implies that medical reverse logistics providers must have the ability to improve the greening of facilities, as well as equipment, integrating existing processes to make it greener and environmentally friendly.

Third-party reverse logistics service provider selection approaches and criteria: A literature review

Third-party reverse logistics service provider selection approaches and criteria: A literature review

Logistics service triad for household waste: consumers as co-producers of sustainability

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the sustainability of waste supply chains regarding the energy efficiency of first-mile waste collection systems and quality of waste. Roles of actors in the waste service triad are considered, particularly focusing on households. Design/methodology/approach Primary data are collected from respondents including municipality officers, waste service providers (WSPs) and households through brainstorming sessions, semi-structured interviews, site visits and a focus group. Secondary data are collected from official reports for validation. Findings Findings reveal tension between the energy efficiency of waste collection logistics and the quality of waste collected. Households are co-producers of logistic services providing important inputs in the form of sorting and moving waste and raw materials into new cycles of goods circulating in logistics systems. Other actors in the logistics service triad are the municipality as regulator and the WSP acting as a reverse-logistics service provider. Practical implications This study provides principles for policymakers and practitioners to evaluate the energy efficiency of waste management options, considering the quality of waste. Also, “logistics services” and “quality of waste” as concepts might provoke new thoughts on how to involve the consumer in resource recovery. Originality/value Few studies have focused on the end-consumer’s role in waste supply chains. By considering waste as a resource and the consumer as the supplier of this input, this study provides a new way to think about logistics services for waste collection.

Identification of influencing factors for the selection of RLSP using DEMATEL method

The selection of reverse logistics service provider (RLSP) can bring economic benefits. Considering the current development of reverse logistics in manufacturing, process and domestic appliances industries, this paper proposes a set of factors influencing selection of service provider and uses a DEMATEL method to establish relation matrixes reflecting the relationships among those factors. The interaction among the criteria is analysed before arriving at a decision for the selection of RLSP. The research enables better understanding of the complex relationships of the key attribute in the decision making environment and improves the reliability of the decision making process.

Application of AHP in reverse logistics service provider selection: a case study

In the recent time, reverse logistics has become essential for organisations because of unavoidable product returns, government regulation, environmental concerns and sustainability. Reverse logistic is one way to reduce costs, increase revenue and remain competitive in market. In many organisations, by-products and waste materials have the potential to become valuable inputs. Not many organisations have a satisfactory reverse logistics system for recovering their rejected parts for reuse or recycle. This is because of lack of systematic investigation and importance. In this connection, this paper formulates the reverse logistics service provider selection as a multi criteria decision making problem and develops a methodology to select the best two reverse logistics service providers for an injection moulding parts manufacturer company using analytical hierarchy process (AHP). A real life case study demonstrates the application of the proposed method and sensitivity analysis is carried out to confirm the robustness of the proposed methodology.

Identification of influencing factors for the selection of RLSP using DEMATEL method

The selection of reverse logistics service provider (RLSP) can bring economic benefits. Considering the current development of reverse logistics in manufacturing, process and domestic appliances industries, this paper proposes a set of factors influencing selection of service provider and uses a DEMATEL method to establish relation matrixes reflecting the relationships among those factors. The interaction among the criteria is analysed before arriving at a decision for the selection of RLSP. The research enables better understanding of the complex relationships of the key attribute in the decision making environment and improves the reliability of the decision making process.

Application of AHP in reverse logistics service provider selection: a case study

Application of AHP in reverse logistics service provider selection: a case study

SELECTION OF REVERSE LOGISTICS SERVICE PROVIDER (RLSP) USING ANALYTICAL NETWORK PROCESS (ANP): A CASE STUDY OF AN AUTOMOTIVE COMPANY

<p>Activities in reverse logistics implementation are practiced extensively by lead acid battery manufacturing industries. One important problem faced by the management in the battery manufacturing industry is the regular supply of spent batteries/ lead from the end users in the supply chain management of battery production. The Analytic Network Process (ANP) based decision model presented in this work structures the problem related to options in selection of a reverse logistics service provider for supply of EOL lead acid batteries in a hierarchical form and links the determinants, dimensions, and enablers of the reverse logistics service provider with alternatives available to the decision maker. A reverse logistics service provider evaluation problem has been formulated that includes two primary tasks: preliminary screening of the RL service providers by a team of managers and an Analytic Network Process (ANP) based model for final selection. The proposed approach, therefore, links the financial and non-financial, tangible and intangible, internal and external factors, thus providing a holistic framework for the selection of an alternative for the reverse logistics operations for EOL batteries. The results of the present work indicate that acceptable cost between the user and the RL service provider companies is the most important determinant which influences the final selection process. This approach also enables the decision-makers to better understand the complex relationships of the relevant attributes in the decision making which may subsequently improve the reliability of the decision.</p>

Outsourcing decisions in reverse logistics: Sustainable balanced scorecard and graph theoretic approach

Reverse logistics has become an important issue for most of the organizations due to increased flow of product returns and growing concern for the environment, legislation, and corporate social responsibility. Reverse logistics activities include product collection, inspection and sorting, disposition (reuse, repair, remanufacture or recycle), and redistribution of products. One of the important decisions is whether such activities must be outsourced partly or all must be outsourced or nothing must be outsourced. The articles on the selection of third party reverse logistics service providers are abundant but the articles on outsourcing reverse logistics fully or partly are very limited. The proposed study develops a framework for outsourcing decisions in reverse logistics by using graph theoretic approach. The ability of graph theoretic approach to consider interdependencies and maintaining hierarchical relationship among attributes and sub-attributes makes it an attractive approach. The attributes and sub-attributes were selected by combining four traditional balanced scorecard perspectives i.e. stakeholder, internal business process, learning and growth, and finance with triple bottom line aspects of sustainability known as sustainable balanced scorecard. By considering sustainable balanced scorecard based attributes and sub-attributes, organizations can ensure their contribution toward sustainability even after outsourcing the reverse logistics activities. The proposed framework is illustrated by case example of a mobile manufacturing firm. Scenario based alternatives were developed and “outsourcing index” were calculated for all the alternatives by evaluating permanent function using graph theoretic approach. The best alternative was selected based on the “outsourcing index”. The proposed framework will help managers and practitioners in outsourcing reverse logistics decisions.

TOPSIS-AHP Based Approach for Selection of Reverse Logistics Service Provider: A Case Study of Mobile Phone Industry

Reverse supply chain logistics, means mobility of goods from end consumers towards core manufacturer in the channel of product distribution. In the turbulent business environment, the companies must promote alternative uses of resources that may be cost-effective and ecology friendly by extending products’ routine life cycles. Reveres logistics activities i.e. storing, transporting and handling of used products poses a great challenge to reverse logistics managers as there is always chances of uncertainty in terms of quantity, quality and timing of return of EOL products in case of reverse supply chains. Business organizations including those of white/electronics goods manufacturing industries would like to focus on their core competency areas and there is need of making outsourcing decisions of their reverse logistics process to Third-Party reverse Logistics Providers (3PRLPs). Thus, most important strategic issue for top management is the evaluation and selection of third party logistics service provider who can effectively provide reverse logistics operation services to the firms. The objective of this work is to develop decision support system to assist the top management of the company in selection and evaluation of different 3PRL service providers by hybrid approach using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method. A real life case study of a mobile phone manufacturing company is presented to demonstrate the steps of the decision support system. Present study also enables the logistics managers to better understand the complex relationships of the key attributes in the decision making environment and subsequently improve the reliability of the decision making process.

Research on fourth party reverse logistics based on nonprofit organisation

In order to help reverse logistics service providers to reach economies of scale, share facilities and reduce investments, fourth party reverse logistics based on nonprofit organisation is proposed. As one of advanced logistics modes, fourth party logistics (4PL) can consolidate the scattered demands of returns and resources of logistics on the bases of the data pool. Putting the interest of 4PL outside the interest group can avoid the competition between third party logistics providers and 4PL and might promote application of 4PL. Three nonprofit organisations which are potential fourth party reverse logistics are yielded. The collaborative relationships among their participators and application fields are submitted. At the end, Wuhan logistics market in China is studied to validate the feasibility of proposed fourth party reverse logistics based on nonprofit organisation. Some conclusions are presented.

A DECISION MODEL FOR REVERSE LOGISTICS SERVICE PROVIDERS IN DETERMINING ROBUST OPTIMAL PROCESSING QUANTITIES OF RETURNED PRODUCTS

ABSTRACT Reverse logistics covers a serial of activities in dealing with returned products from consumers, including collecting, reusing and recycling. Implementing reverse logistics is much more complicated and expensive than forward logistics to an enterprise. Meanwhile, the systematic patterns for handling transportation, storage, processing and management processes of these activities are still called for. Consequently, to reduce the reverse logistics cost and focus on its core business, an enterprise prefers outsourcing these activities in this manner. Previous studies focused on the selection of processing facilities and the infrastructure design of reverse logistics distribution channels for third-party reverse logistics service providers. In contrast, this research aims to deal with the issues of reverse logistics from different viewpoint. We propose a decision model for a reverse logistics service provider under the context of uncertain, multi-period, multi-type returned/recycled products and multiple processing facilities environment. The major focus of this model is on determining the robust optimal quantities of customer orders and robust optimal processing quantities of returned products for each processing facility. To deal with the issues of uncertainties, the model applies the scenario-based robust optimization approach. Further information on experiment results and implications can be found in this paper.