Coordination contracts for reverse supply chains: a state-of-the-art review

Various legal requirements as well as economic reasoning render the re-use of products mandatory. Hence, the field of supply chain management and coordination under the consideration of returns has constantly grown over the last decade. However, terms and definitions regarding returns and returns handling are inconsistent. Furthermore, approaches are not classified from a return-based point of view, which considerably impedes the discerning of research opportunities. We therefore provide a state-of-the-art review of the relevant literature and conduct a content and cluster analysis to propose a classification of present and future research. Furthermore, we highlight gaps in the existing literature, providing a road-map for further research. Practitioners are given an extensive overview regarding a multitude of approaches in returns management and coordination.