IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i11p4202-d182838.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Critical Barriers to Implementation of Reverse Logistics in the Manufacturing Industry: A Case Study of a Developing Country

Author

Listed:
  • Muhammad Waqas

    (School of Economics and Management, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710000, China)

  • Qian-li Dong

    (School of Economics and Management, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710000, China)

  • Naveed Ahmad

    (School of Management, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710000, China)

  • Yuming Zhu

    (School of Management, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710000, China)

  • Muhammad Nadeem

    (School of Social Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China)

Abstract

Globalization policies are encouraging manufacturing companies to produce environment-friendly products that offer a sustainable competitive advantage. Currently, product recovery and zero-waste supply chains have caught the attention of manufacturers and professionals. Reverse logistics (RL) is considered as the most significant part of supply chain management in developed countries; unfortunately, its implementation in developing countries is in the initial stages due to certain barriers. This study aims to identify and verify the barriers to implementation of reverse logistics using a two-stage methodology: the Delphi Method and Structural Equation Modeling. A comprehensive literature review was considered to identify a primary set of barriers. Using the Delphi Method, a team of experts screened out barriers after performing three iterations. A survey-based questionnaire was then sent out to supply chain and logistics employees in the manufacturing industry and relevant government authorities. Five hundred and forty-seven useful responses were analyzed in the Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) & AMOS 21 softwares using Structural Equation Modeling to verify barriers, and ranked according to their severity. The most critical barriers with respect to each category are: high cost of reverse logistics adoption (finance and economics), lack of skilled professionals (knowledge and experience), lack of government supportive policies (law and regulation), poor organizational culture (management), lack of human resources (infrastructure and technology), lack of environmental law awareness (environment), lack of community pressure (market) and company policies (reverse logistics in policy). Overall, the top five barriers found in this study include lack of initial capital, lack of skilled professional in RL, companies’ policies against RL, lack of new technologies and information systems, and lack of community pressure. Knowledge about barriers to reverse logistics allows manufacturing companies to prepare a priority list of actions for better implementation of the reverse logistics system.

Suggested Citation

  • Muhammad Waqas & Qian-li Dong & Naveed Ahmad & Yuming Zhu & Muhammad Nadeem, 2018. "Critical Barriers to Implementation of Reverse Logistics in the Manufacturing Industry: A Case Study of a Developing Country," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-25, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:11:p:4202-:d:182838
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/11/4202/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/11/4202/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gunasekaran, Angappa & Spalanzani, Alain, 2012. "Sustainability of manufacturing and services: Investigations for research and applications," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(1), pages 35-47.
    2. Zhu, Qinghua & Sarkis, Joseph & Cordeiro, James J. & Lai, Kee-Hung, 2008. "Firm-level correlates of emergent green supply chain management practices in the Chinese context," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 577-591, August.
    3. André A. de Waal & Harold Counet, 2009. "Lessons learned from performance management systems implementations," International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 58(4), pages 367-390, April.
    4. Rosa Puertas & Luisa Martí & Leandro García, 2014. "Logistics performance and export competitiveness: European experience," Empirica, Springer;Austrian Institute for Economic Research;Austrian Economic Association, vol. 41(3), pages 467-480, August.
    5. Jayaram, Jayanth & Avittathur, Balram, 2015. "Green supply chains: A perspective from an emerging economy," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 234-244.
    6. Flapper, S.D.P. & Gayon, J.P. & Vercraene, S., 2012. "Control of a production–inventory system with returns under imperfect advance return information," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 218(2), pages 392-400.
    7. Srivastava, Samir K., 2008. "Network design for reverse logistics," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 535-548, August.
    8. Antonio Chamorro & Sergio Rubio & Francisco J. Miranda, 2009. "Characteristics of research on green marketing," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(4), pages 223-239, May.
    9. Chiou, Tzu-Yun & Chan, Hing Kai & Lettice, Fiona & Chung, Sai Ho, 2011. "The influence of greening the suppliers and green innovation on environmental performance and competitive advantage in Taiwan," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 47(6), pages 822-836.
    10. V. Kumar & D. Holt & A. Ghobadian & J.A. Garza-Reyes, 2015. "Developing green supply chain management taxonomy-based decision support system," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(21), pages 6372-6389, November.
    11. von der Gracht, Heiko A. & Darkow, Inga-Lena, 2010. "Scenarios for the logistics services industry: A Delphi-based analysis for 2025," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 127(1), pages 46-59, September.
    12. Kumar, Sameer & Putnam, Valora, 2008. "Cradle to cradle: Reverse logistics strategies and opportunities across three industry sectors," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(2), pages 305-315, October.
    13. Xianbing Liu & Jie Yang & Sixiao Qu & Leina Wang & Tomohiro Shishime & Cunkuan Bao, 2012. "Sustainable Production: Practices and Determinant Factors of Green Supply Chain Management of Chinese Companies," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(1), pages 1-16, January.
    14. P. Bentler & David Weeks, 1980. "Linear structural equations with latent variables," Psychometrika, Springer;The Psychometric Society, vol. 45(3), pages 289-308, September.
    15. Govindan, Kannan & Palaniappan, Murugesan & Zhu, Qinghua & Kannan, Devika, 2012. "Analysis of third party reverse logistics provider using interpretive structural modeling," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(1), pages 204-211.
    16. Fleischmann, Mortiz & Krikke, Hans Ronald & Dekker, Rommert & Flapper, Simme Douwe P., 2000. "A characterisation of logistics networks for product recovery," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 653-666, December.
    17. Akkermans, Henk A. & Bogerd, Paul & Yucesan, Enver & van Wassenhove, Luk N., 2003. "The impact of ERP on supply chain management: Exploratory findings from a European Delphi study," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 146(2), pages 284-301, April.
    18. Ngai, E.W.T. & Lai, Kee-Hung & Cheng, T.C.E., 2008. "Logistics information systems: The Hong Kong experience," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 113(1), pages 223-234, May.
    19. V. Daniel R. Guide & Luk N. Van Wassenhove, 2009. "OR FORUM---The Evolution of Closed-Loop Supply Chain Research," Operations Research, INFORMS, vol. 57(1), pages 10-18, February.
    20. Govindan, Kannan & Kaliyan, Mathiyazhagan & Kannan, Devika & Haq, A.N., 2014. "Barriers analysis for green supply chain management implementation in Indian industries using analytic hierarchy process," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(PB), pages 555-568.
    21. Andrea Revell & Robert Rutherfoord, 2003. "UK environmental policy and the small firm: broadening the focus," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 12(1), pages 26-35, January.
    22. de Brito, M.P. & Flapper, S.D.P. & Dekker, R., 2002. "Reverse logistics," Econometric Institute Research Papers EI 2002-21, Erasmus University Rotterdam, Erasmus School of Economics (ESE), Econometric Institute.
    23. Abdulrahman, Muhammad D. & Gunasekaran, Angappa & Subramanian, Nachiappan, 2014. "Critical barriers in implementing reverse logistics in the Chinese manufacturing sectors," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(PB), pages 460-471.
    24. Heekyung An, 2008. "The Construction of Green Supply Chain Management System," International Journal of Information Systems and Supply Chain Management (IJISSCM), IGI Global, vol. 1(3), pages 70-79, July.
    25. Luthra, Sunil & Kumar, Sanjay & Garg, Dixit & Haleem, Abid, 2015. "Barriers to renewable/sustainable energy technologies adoption: Indian perspective," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 762-776.
    26. Yong‐Mi Kim, 2009. "Validation of psychometric research instruments: The case of information science," Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 60(6), pages 1178-1191, June.
    27. Gunasekaran, Angappa & Ngai, Eric W.T., 2012. "The future of operations management: An outlook and analysis," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(2), pages 687-701.
    28. W-H Tsai & W-C Chou & W Hsu, 2009. "The sustainability balanced scorecard as a framework for selecting socially responsible investment: an effective MCDM model," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 60(10), pages 1396-1410, October.
    29. Miao, Zhaowei & Cai, Shun & Xu, Di, 2012. "Exploring the antecedents of logistics social responsibility: A focus on Chinese firms," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(1), pages 18-27.
    30. Olga Chkanikova & Oksana Mont, 2015. "Corporate Supply Chain Responsibility: Drivers and Barriers for Sustainable Food Retailing," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(2), pages 65-82, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Ahmad, Naveed & Zhu, Yuming & Ullah, Zia & Iqbal, Muzaffar & Hussain, Kramat & Ahmed, Rahil Irfan, 2021. "Sustainable solutions to facilitate brownfield redevelopment projects in emerging countries – Pakistani scenario," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    2. Mohammed Alkahtani & Aiman Ziout & Bashir Salah & Moath Alatefi & Abd Elatty E. Abd Elgawad & Ahmed Badwelan & Umar Syarif, 2021. "An Insight into Reverse Logistics with a Focus on Collection Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-22, January.
    3. K. Arunprasath & S. Bathrinath & R. K. A. Bhalaji & Koppiahraj Karuppiah & Anish Nair, 2023. "An integrated approach to modelling of barriers in implementation of cellular manufacturing systems in production industries," International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, Springer;The Society for Reliability, Engineering Quality and Operations Management (SREQOM),India, and Division of Operation and Maintenance, Lulea University of Technology, Sweden, vol. 14(4), pages 1370-1378, August.
    4. Jawad Karamat & Tong Shurong & Naveed Ahmad & Sana Afridi & Shahbaz Khan & Kashif Mahmood, 2019. "Promoting Healthcare Sustainability in Developing Countries: Analysis of Knowledge Management Drivers in Public and Private Hospitals of Pakistan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-24, February.
    5. Rashmi Ranjan Swain & Swagatika Mishra & S. S. Mahapatra, 2024. "An integrated BWM–SWARA approach to identify barriers in implementing reverse logistics for an effective supply chain management: a critical study of five bottle manufacturing companies in Odisha (Ind," International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, Springer;The Society for Reliability, Engineering Quality and Operations Management (SREQOM),India, and Division of Operation and Maintenance, Lulea University of Technology, Sweden, vol. 15(9), pages 4495-4511, September.
    6. Hafiz Muhammad Shahid & Rafay Waseem & Humayoon Khan & Faria Waseem & Muhammad Junaid Hasheem & Yangyan Shi, 2020. "Process Innovation as a Moderator Linking Sustainable Supply Chain Management with Sustainable Performance in the Manufacturing Sector of Pakistan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-24, March.
    7. Raul Oltra-Badenes & Hermenegildo Gil-Gomez & Vicente Guerola-Navarro & Pau Vicedo, 2019. "Is It Possible to Manage the Product Recovery Processes in an ERP? Analysis of Functional Needs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-16, August.
    8. Jawad Karamat & Tong Shurong & Naveed Ahmad & Abdul Waheed & Kashif Mahmood, 2018. "Enablers Supporting the Implementation of Knowledge Management in the Healthcare of Pakistan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-22, December.
    9. Muhammad Hamza Naseem & Jiaqi Yang & Ziquan Xiang, 2021. "Prioritizing the Solutions to Reverse Logistics Barriers for the E-Commerce Industry in Pakistan Based on a Fuzzy AHP-TOPSIS Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-20, November.
    10. Ramanathan, Usha & He, Qile & Subramanian, Nachiappan & Gunasekaran, Angappa & Sarpong, David, 2023. "Collaborative closed-loop supply chain framework for sustainable manufacturing: Evidence from the Indian packaging industry," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    11. Shivam Goyal & Dixit Garg & Sunil Luthra, 2021. "Sustainable production and consumption: analysing barriers and solutions for maintaining green tomorrow by using fuzzy-AHP–fuzzy-TOPSIS hybrid framework," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(11), pages 16934-16980, November.
    12. Riccardo Accorsi & Giulia Baruffaldi & Riccardo Manzini & Chiara Pini, 2019. "Environmental Impacts of Reusable Transport Items: A Case Study of Pallet Pooling in a Retailer Supply Chain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-13, June.
    13. Sajid Ullah & Naveed Ahmad & Farman Ullah Khan & Alina Badulescu & Daniel Badulescu, 2021. "Mapping Interactions among Green Innovations Barriers in Manufacturing Industry Using Hybrid Methodology: Insights from a Developing Country," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-25, July.
    14. Li Zhou & Zhaochan Li & Ning Shi & Shaohua Liu & Ke Xiong, 2019. "Performance Analysis of Three Intelligent Algorithms on Route Selection of Fishbone Layout," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-17, February.
    15. Nataliia Letunovska & Felix Amoako Offei & Prince Amoh Junior & Oleksii Lyulyov & Tetyana Pimonenko & Aleksy Kwilinski, 2023. "Green Supply Chain Management: The Effect of Procurement Sustainability on Reverse Logistics," Logistics, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-17, August.
    16. Ahmed Dabees & Mahmoud Barakat & Sahar Sobhy Elbarky & Andrej Lisec, 2023. "A Framework for Adopting a Sustainable Reverse Logistics Service Quality for Reverse Logistics Service Providers: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-16, January.
    17. Dindayal Agrawal & Ashish Dwivedi & Anchal Patil & Sanjoy Kumar Paul, 2023. "Impediments of product recovery in circular supply chains: Implications for sustainable development," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(3), pages 1618-1637, June.
    18. Asif Mahmood & Rana Tahir Naveed & Naveed Ahmad & Miklas Scholz & Muhammad Khalique & Mohammad Adnan, 2021. "Unleashing the Barriers to CSR Implementation in the SME Sector of a Developing Economy: A Thematic Analysis Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-20, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Bouzon, Marina & Govindan, Kannan & Rodriguez, Carlos M.Taboada & Campos, Lucila M.S., 2016. "Identification and analysis of reverse logistics barriers using fuzzy Delphi method and AHP," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 182-197.
    2. Syed Mithun Ali & Asraf Arafin & Md. Abdul Moktadir & Towfique Rahman & Nuzhat Zahan, 2018. "Barriers to Reverse Logistics in the Computer Supply Chain Using Interpretive Structural Model," Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, Springer;Global Institute of Flexible Systems Management, vol. 19(1), pages 53-68, March.
    3. Piera Centobelli & Roberto Cerchione & Emilio Esposito, 2018. "Environmental Sustainability and Energy-Efficient Supply Chain Management: A Review of Research Trends and Proposed Guidelines," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-36, January.
    4. Geng, Ruoqi & Mansouri, S. Afshin & Aktas, Emel, 2017. "The relationship between green supply chain management and performance: A meta-analysis of empirical evidences in Asian emerging economies," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 183(PA), pages 245-258.
    5. Rakesh Kumar Malviya & Ravi Kant & Ashim Dutta Gupta, 2018. "Evaluation and Selection of Sustainable Strategy for Green Supply Chain Management Implementation," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(4), pages 475-502, May.
    6. Agrawal, Saurabh & Singh, Rajesh K. & Murtaza, Qasim, 2015. "A literature review and perspectives in reverse logistics," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 76-92.
    7. Rashmi Ranjan Swain & Swagatika Mishra & S. S. Mahapatra, 2024. "An integrated BWM–SWARA approach to identify barriers in implementing reverse logistics for an effective supply chain management: a critical study of five bottle manufacturing companies in Odisha (Ind," International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, Springer;The Society for Reliability, Engineering Quality and Operations Management (SREQOM),India, and Division of Operation and Maintenance, Lulea University of Technology, Sweden, vol. 15(9), pages 4495-4511, September.
    8. Surajit Bag & Shivam Gupta, 2017. "Antecedents of Sustainable Innovation in Supplier Networks: A South African Experience," Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, Springer;Global Institute of Flexible Systems Management, vol. 18(3), pages 231-250, September.
    9. S. Maryam Masoumi & Nima Kazemi & Salwa Hanim Abdul-Rashid, 2019. "Sustainable Supply Chain Management in the Automotive Industry: A Process-Oriented Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-30, July.
    10. Dan Wang & Ruishi Si & Shah Fahad, 2023. "Evaluating the small and medium sized enterprises motivating factors and influencing barriers about adoption of green practices," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 25(4), pages 3029-3041, April.
    11. Saghiri, Soroosh Sam & Mirzabeiki, Vahid, 2021. "Buyer-led environmental supplier development: Can suppliers really help it?," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 233(C).
    12. M. K. Dhillon & P. M. Rafi-Ul-Shan & H. Amar & F. Sher & S. Ahmed, 2023. "Flexible Green Supply Chain Management in Emerging Economies: A Systematic Literature Review," Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, Springer;Global Institute of Flexible Systems Management, vol. 24(1), pages 1-28, March.
    13. José Antonio Plaza-Úbeda & Emilio Abad-Segura & Jerónimo de Burgos-Jiménez & Antoaneta Boteva-Asenova & Luis Jesús Belmonte-Ureña, 2020. "Trends and New Challenges in the Green Supply Chain: The Reverse Logistics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-18, December.
    14. Bouzon, Marina & Govindan, Kannan & Rodriguez, Carlos Manuel Taboada, 2015. "Reducing the extraction of minerals: Reverse logistics in the machinery manufacturing industry sector in Brazil using ISM approach," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(P1), pages 27-36.
    15. Sajid Ullah & Naveed Ahmad & Farman Ullah Khan & Alina Badulescu & Daniel Badulescu, 2021. "Mapping Interactions among Green Innovations Barriers in Manufacturing Industry Using Hybrid Methodology: Insights from a Developing Country," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-25, July.
    16. Luthra, Sunil & Mangla, Sachin Kumar & Xu, Lei & Diabat, Ali, 2016. "Using AHP to evaluate barriers in adopting sustainable consumption and production initiatives in a supply chain," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 181(PB), pages 342-349.
    17. Sergio Rubio & Beatriz Jiménez-Parra & Antonio Chamorro-Mera & Francisco J. Miranda, 2019. "Reverse Logistics and Urban Logistics: Making a Link," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-17, October.
    18. Huo, Baofeng & Gu, Minhao & Jiang, Bin, 2018. "China-related POM research: Literature review and suggestions for future research," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 134-153.
    19. Agrawal, Saurabh & Singh, Rajesh K. & Murtaza, Qasim, 2016. "Outsourcing decisions in reverse logistics: Sustainable balanced scorecard and graph theoretic approach," Resources, Conservation & Recycling, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 41-53.
    20. Kalogerakis, Katharina & Drabe, Viktoria & Paramasivam, Mugundan & Herstatt, Cornelius, 2015. "Closed-Loop Supply Chains for Cradle to Cradle Products," Chapters from the Proceedings of the Hamburg International Conference of Logistics (HICL), in: Kersten, Wolfgang & Blecker, Thorsten & Ringle, Christian M. (ed.), Sustainability in Logistics and Supply Chain Management: New Designs and Strategies. Proceedings of the Hamburg International Conference of Logistics , volume 21, pages 3-34, Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Institute of Business Logistics and General Management.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:11:p:4202-:d:182838. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.