Reverse Logistics

Abstract

Environmental concerns and rapid development of e-commerce bring a new focused field in reverse logistics. In order to avoid return losses and add customerspsila value, there is a need for companies to find proper ways to reduce wastes and recover the value from used products for further utilities. All these challenges make reverse logistics a contemporary area of interest among managers and researchers of this field. The paper proposed the reasons of practicing reverse logistics and the implications of reverse logistics. The differences between reverse logistics and traditional forward logistics; and green logistics and closed-loop supply chain are analyzed. Moreover, reverse logisticspsila distinct characteristics such as supply uncertainty and operational difficulties are pointed out. Based on qualitative and quantitative case study methods, the typical managerial and operational practices of reverse logistics are discussed in detail in this paper. By concluding, the paper presented possible directions for further investigations on this subject.