A literature review and perspectives in reverse logistics

In recent years, reverse logistics (RL) has become a field of importance for all organizations due to growing environmental concerns, legislation, corporate social responsibility and sustainable competitiveness. RL refers to the sequence of activities required to collect the used product from the customers for the purpose of either reuse or repair or re-manufacture or recycle or dispose of it. Perusal of the literature shows that research in the field of RL is in evolving phase and issues pertaining to adoption and implementation, forecasting product returns, outsourcing, RL networks from secondary market perspective, and disposition decisions have not been reviewed extensively. This study attempts to fill the existing gap through literature review on these issues, and outline the future directions for research based on research gap analysis. Total 242 published articles were selected, categorized, analyzed, and gaps in literature were identified to suggest for future research opportunities. The review may be useful for academicians, researchers and practitioners for better understanding of RL and guidance for future research.