Creating value through returns management: Exploring the marketing–operations interface

Abstract

a b s t r a c tManaging the return flow of product is increasingly recognized as a strategically important activity that involves decisions and actions within and across firms. We focus specifically on returns management at the marketing-operations interface, by utilizing the conceptualization of customer value and its related drivers. In order to explore the phenomenon of returns management across a multi-disciplinary, managerial spectrum, a qualitative research methodology relying on individual managers' perceptions was chosen to generate depth of understanding given the limited current understanding of the research topic under consideration. Our results suggest that functional integration at the marketing-operations interface can lead to better alignment of corporate resources and thus create higher levels of customer value. We also found the external business environment to impact how and why a firm creates customer value through the returns management process. Overall, our results suggest that when returns management is recognized as a matter of a firm's competitiveness, the joint role of operations and marketing is imperative to success.

Closed-loop supply chains: What reverse logistics factors influence performance?

“…In the last decade, studying CLSC has become a major area of SC management literature and increasing attention has been devoted to the understanding, management, and improvement of this type of SC structure (Mollenkopf et al, 2011;Adenso-Díaz et al, 2012;He, 2015;Govindan et al 2015). The focus of most studies on CLSC mainly relies on assessing their effective performance in terms of economical sustainability (Georgiadis and Besiou, 2008), environmental sustainability (Paksoy et al, 2011;Jayaram and Avittathur, 2015), and operational performance (Zhou and Piramuthu, 2013).…”

Impact of reverse logistics on supply chain performance

“…From an operations management point of view, closed-loop supply chains (CLSCs) represent one of the main supply chain (SC) structures that received great interest from both industry and academic worlds. Research on reverse logistics and CLSCs is considerably increasing because tightly linked with industrial ecology (Adenso-Díaz et al, 2012;Carter and Easton, 2011;Mollenkopf et al, 2011;Georgiadis and Besiou, 2010;Nasr and Thurston, 2006;Rubio et al, 2008) and the development of new strategies (Skinner et al, 2008). Products recovery and reuse reduce the negative effects on environment, mainly reducing waste disposal, extraction of raw materials and transport and distribution emissions.…”

A Country Perspective in Exploring the links between Hospital Pharmacies and Pharmaceutical Industry: A Case Study Application

“…The impact of returns is sometimes disregarded, or at least, not well understood in most firms. In others, returns are often considered just a necessary cost-of-doing business [34], like the pharmaceutical. During a drug product recall the company must rely on the distributors or wholesalers distribution information [11], in particular customer service, depot repair, endof-life manufacturing, IT management, recycling, refurbishing/ screening, replacement management, returns authorization, spare parts management, transportation, warehousing and warranty management [35].…”

“…During a drug product recall the company must rely on the distributors or wholesalers distribution information [11], in particular customer service, depot repair, endof-life manufacturing, IT management, recycling, refurbishing/ screening, replacement management, returns authorization, spare parts management, transportation, warehousing and warranty management [35]. In addition, reverse logistics leads to an increase of customer satisfaction and recovery of value; as well as reduces pharmacy costs, maximizing manufacturer credit benefits and/or reduce cycle times [25,34].…”