A bibliometric analysis of reverse logistics research (1992-2015) and opportunities for future research

Purpose: Interest in reverse logistics (RL) as a critical component of supply chain management (SCM) is gaining more traction with both practitioners and academics. Because of RL’s growing strategic importance, it is imperative to conduct a timely and comprehensive literature review and to identify associated opportunities for future research. Design/methodology/approach: In this paper, the researchers conduct an extensive bibliometric analysis of published academic articles on reverse logistics (RL) for the period of 1992-2015. Specifically, the CiteSpace software is utilized to conduct document co-citation analysis and burst detection analysis on 912 selected RL articles and their 22,642 references. Findings: This research identifies the most influential RL research publications/citations in each of the five periods and their research contribution. Using co-citation analysis, we are able to identify and illustrate major research themes, knowledge groups, and future research opportunities in the RL field. Originality/value: In contrast to existing literature review studies in the logistics field, our study uses impact factor as a key article selection criterion. The influential articles identified in this process well represent the core literature and RL body of knowledge and have important implications for future researc

Application of adversarial risk analysis model in pricing strategies with remanufacturing

Purpose: Purpose: This paper mainly focus on the application of adversarial risk analysis (ARA) in pricing strategy with remanufacturing. We hope to obtain more realistic results than classical model. Moreover, we also wish that our research improve the development of ARA in pricing strategy of manufacturing or remanufacturing. Approach: In order to gain more actual research, combining adversarial risk analysis, we explore the pricing strategy with remanufacturing based on Stackelberg model. Especially, we build OEM’s 1-order ARA model and further study on manufacturers and remanufacturers’ pricing strategy. Findings: We find the OEM’s 1-order ARA model for the OEM’s product cost C. Besides, we get according manufacturers and remanufacturers’ pricing strategies. Besides, the pricing strategies based on 1-order ARA model have advantage over than the classical model regardless of OEMs and remanufacturers. Research implications: The research on application of ARA imply that we can get more actual results with this kind of modern risk analysis method and ARA can be extensively in pricing strategies of supply chain. Value: Our research improves the application of ARA in remanufacturing industry. Meanwhile, inspired by this analysis, we can also create different ARA models for different parameters. Furthermore, some results and analysis methods can be applied to other pricing strategies of supply chain.Peer Reviewe

Optimal manufacturing/remanufacturing policies with fixed investment for the underdeveloped remanufacturing system

© 2017, Strojarski Facultet. All rights reserved. In an underdeveloped remanufacturing system, poor infrastructure and low technical level impede further development of remanufacturing. To overcome this obstacle, a huge amount of fixed investment is required to improve the remanufacturing system. However, this investment inevitably influences the manufacturer’s manufacturing/remanufacturing decision-making economically. The relationship between fixed investment and recycling ratio was investigated, and the two- and multi-period manufacturing/remanufacturing mixed optimization models were developed. Based on the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) conditions, the optimal manufacturing/remanufacturing and fixed investment policies were obtained in closed-form expressions. Moreover, the influences of the fixed investment were analysed. Results show that the optimal policies are significantly influenced by the degree of underdevelopment of the remanufacturing system. When the remanufacturing system is underdeveloped, the manufacturer shows a lack of enthusiasm in remanufacturing, thereby resulting in the decrease of the investment and the recycling ratio. The manufacturer raises the sale price to alleviate the loss caused by fixed investment, but the total manufacturing quantity and profit decrease. In the multi-period case, the manufacturer gradually increases the investment for continuously improving the remanufacturing system to increase the recycling ratio and obtain additional profits from remanufacturing. The proposed models can effectively provide the reference for determining the reasonable manufacturing/remanufacturing and fixed investment policies in the underdeveloped remanufacturing system

Pricing and Warranty Level Decisions for New and Remanufactured Short Life-Cycle Products

Remanufacturing has become more prominent as a recovery process to mitigate the massive disposal of short life-cycle product at its end-of-use. However, remanufactured product is often perceived to be inferior to new product, and it has lower value in consumer’s willingness to pay. To increase the perceived quality of the remanufactured product, manufacturer offers a warranty, since one of the three roles possessed in warranty is being a signal to product reliability. This paper studies the pricing decisions and warranty level decision for new and remanufactured products in a closed-loop supply chain consists of a manufacturer and a retailer. The optimization modeling is performed under Stackelberg game with manufacturer as the leader. We found that higher expansion effectiveness coefficient would increase the supply chain profit. Also, there is an interval of demand’s speed of change, where the total profit would be at its highest. The optimum warranty level can be achieved regardless the initial warranty level set at the beginning of retailer’s optimization. Furthermore, the remanufactured product’s wholesale and retail prices are influenced by the expansion effectiveness coefficient

INNOVATION PROCESS FOR HALAL PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF ITALIAN FIRMS

The Halal global market is promising a rapid and sustained growth (Berry 2008; Sungkar et al., 2008). In fact, only for Halal food industry, the amount of international trade has exceeded 2.1 trillion USD in 2006 (Berry 2008; Riaz and Chaudry 2004). The reasons of the prompt growing are multiple, but mainly due to (1) the rapid spread of the Islamic faithful worldwide, (2) the increasing spending power of the Islamic people. Despite the importance this market has on the global scene, few studies are available, discussing in-depth the phenomenon from the managerial and innovation management perspectives. Inspired by this opportunity, we attempt to explore in depth the innovation process leading companies from Haram to Halal products in the food industry. A multiple case study of four Italian companies has been developed in order to explore their innovation process and to understand how it has been reviewed to fit the Islamic requirements. The specific product and process solutions adopted by the companies have been analyzed as well as the related managerial and organizational implications and innovation changes implemented. In Italy, so far, only few isolated initiatives shed a first light on the Halal theme and the landscape appears very embryonic.Halal, Islam, New Product Development.

A game model of competition for market share between a new good producer and a remanufacturer

We analyze the hitherto unstudied duopolistic interaction between a new good producer and a remanufacturer who compete for a dominant share of the market for a particular product. Each firm i spends d_i ≥ 0 on product development to sway consumers and this expenditure increases the likelihood that firm i captures a dominant market share. The revenue to each firm from obtaining a dominant market share is r>0. Our analysis of this interaction leads to five results. First, given the two product development expenditures (d_1,d_2), we specify the expected profit for each firm i. Second, we describe the function that characterizes each firm’s best response function. Third, we compute the unique Nash equilibrium. Fourth, we show what happens to this Nash equilibrium when the revenue r increases. Finally, we study what happens to the Nash equilibrium when the remanufacturer’s revenue from capturing a dominant market share is still r but the new good producer’s revenue is θ r, where θ >1

A game model of competition for market share between a new good producer and a remanufacturer

We analyze the hitherto unstudied duopolistic interaction between a new good producer and a remanufacturer who compete for a dominant share of the market for a particular product. Each firm i spends d_i ≥ 0 on product development to sway consumers and this expenditure increases the likelihood that firm i captures a dominant market share. The revenue to each firm from obtaining a dominant market share is r>0. Our analysis of this interaction leads to five results. First, given the two product development expenditures (d_1,d_2), we specify the expected profit for each firm i. Second, we describe the function that characterizes each firm’s best response function. Third, we compute the unique Nash equilibrium. Fourth, we show what happens to this Nash equilibrium when the revenue r increases. Finally, we study what happens to the Nash equilibrium when the remanufacturer’s revenue from capturing a dominant market share is still r but the new good producer’s revenue is θ r, where θ >1

Optimising quantity of manufacturing and remanufacturing in an electric vehicle battery closed-loop supply chain

Purpose: Batteries installed on electric vehicles (EVs) should normally be removed when their capacity falls to 70-80 per cent, but they are still usable for other purposes, such as energy storage. This paper studies an EV battery closed-loop supply chain (CLSC) consisting of a battery manufacturer and a remanufacturer. The manufacturer produces new batteries by using natural resources, while the remanufacturer collects returned batteries and makes decisions based on the return quality, that is, to reuse or recycle. The purpose of this paper is to maximise the individual profits through optimising the amount of manufacturing and remanufacturing, respectively, and optimising the purchase price of returned batteries. Design/methodology/approach: Based on the Nash equilibrium, this paper develops a three-period model in the CLSC. In period 1, batteries are made from raw materials; in period 2, returned batteries from period 1 are sorted into low quality and high quality. Some high-quality returns can be reused for other purposes while those non-reusable returns are recycled into materials. In period 3, all the returns are recycled into materials. The analytical results are derived. Findings: The result of the analyses suggest that first, among the variables that affect the (re)manufacturing decision, the purchase price for returned batteries plays a critical role. In particular, the price of low-quality returns has more influence than the price of high quality returns. Second, the higher purchase price for re-usable returns does not necessarily lead to a higher return rate of reusable returns. Third, the manufacturer’s profit is normally higher than the remanufacturer’s. This suggests the need to design incentives to promote the remanufacturing sector. And finally, although it is appreciated that maximising the utilisation of batteries over the life-cycle would benefit the environment, the economic benefit needs further investigation. Originality/value: Although the CLSC has been widely studied, studies on the EV battery CLSC are scarce. The EV battery CLSC is particularly challenging in terms of the reusability of returns because used EV batteries cannot be reused for the original purpose, which complicates CLSC operations. This paper explores the interrelationship between manufacturer and remanufacturer, explaining the reasons why recycling is still underdeveloped, and suggests the possibility of enhancing remanufacturing profitability