Reverse Logistics:Structured Literature Review

Seminar paper from the year 2014 in the subject Business economics - Supply, Production, Logistics, grade: A, Heriot-Watt University Edinburgh, course: Green Logistics, language: English, abstract: This assignment reviews the literature of RL. In order to structure the research, the following research questions were developed: - Which activities are covered by RL and what differentiates it from forward logistics (FL)? - What are the drivers and benefits for companies implementing RL operations? - What are the impacts of RL on the SC and how does it contribute to green the SC? The motivation for conducting this research has several origins. Firstly, the research on RL is limited. Secondly, businesses are increasingly confronted with a throw-away mentality of the society. This makes a modification in the behaviour towards the environment necessary (Cherrett et al. 2012). In order to study the development and impact of RL, this assignment reviews a large variety of literature mainly in different trade publications, journals and books.