Barriers to the Implementation of Environmentally Oriented Reverse Logistics: Evidence from the Automotive Industry Sector

Abstract

Even though reverse logistics has existed as long as forward logistics, growing social concern for the environment has caused reverse logistics activities to become a critical function for many organizations. Yet, barriers to implementation of environmentally oriented aspects of reverse logistics still exist. The aim of the present study is to identify the barriers that impede or hinder the implementation of environmentally oriented reverse logistics practices, with a focus on the automotive industry. Empirical evidence and robust statistical analysis provide insights into the practices of environmentally oriented reverse logistics and barriers encountered in the Spanish automotive sector. Using structural equation modelling we are able identify two types of barriers, external and internal, and to study whether these barriers, previously identified in the literature, hinder environmentally oriented reverse logistics practices. The model also allows for identification of the most relevant barriers for the automotive sector.

Identifying Critical Factors in the Eco-Efficiency of Remanufacturing Based on the Fuzzy DEMATEL Method

“…Yang et al [20] analyzed factors affecting the eco-efficiency of remanufacturing on the basis of product design and the remanufacturing closed-loop supply chain. Abdulrahman et al [21] and González et al [22] made empirical analysis on critical elements of reverse logistics in Chinese manufacturing industry.…”

“…It contains information during a series of processes like scrapping end-of-life products, collecting, transport, disassembly, remanufacturing, storage, and final disposal, as well as information about stakeholders in these procedures, such as original manufacturers, core owners, recyclers, and remanufacturers [9,16,22].…”

“…Pollution control [28] F15. Social awareness of recycling and remanufacturing [8,21,22] F7. Remanufacturing equipment [9,21] F8.…”

“…Policy guidance [8,10,19,21,[34][35][36] F4. Information system [9,16,22] F13. Laws and regulations system [15,19,21,33] F5.…”

Risk and return characteristics of environmentally and socially responsible firms in Spain during a financial downturn: 2008–2011

“…However, environmental and social issues often get excluded from productive processes, perhaps because of their high financial costs and the limited financial resources available to companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) (Del Brio, Fernández & Junquera, 2001;Hillary, 2004;Nidumolu, Prahalad & Rangaswani, 2009). Another barrier to the implementation of environmental management systems (EMS) in particular relates to uncertainty that persists among practitioners about their real results (Hillary, 2004;Ravi & Shankar, 2005), such that many managers believe the costs of implementing EMS might be greater than the benefits they provide (González-Torre, Alvarez, Sarkis & Adenso-Díaz, 2010;Hassel, Nilsson & Nyquist, 2005;Walley & Whitehead, 1994).…”