The crucial role of Design for Reverse Logistics (DfRL) and Harvesting of Information (HoI) in reverse logistics systems

The mounting environmental concerns along with the fierce competition prevailing in today’s business environment have called for utilising new paradigms in the Supply Chain Management (SCM) of organisations. As a remedial solution to the foregoing issues, organisations have started to add Reverse Logistics (RL) practices to their SCM systems encompassing the systematic process of managing the flow of materials from the point of consumption back to the point of origin. There are voluminous amount of treatises in the literature advocating for the benefits of RL for organisations specifically in terms of facilitating fulfilling the environmental concerns and enhancing the productivity level. Nevertheless, implementing RL in organisations is fraught with complications and its success largely rests on meeting the requirements prescribed by the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) of RL practices. The body of knowledge on RL in some sectors of the industry such as manufacturing is voluminous. However, operational aspects of RL have overshadowed some central strategic prerequisites of the success of RL systems in the extant literature. Drawing upon an exhaustive literature review, this paper will highlight the aforementioned gaps o fknowledge in the relevant literature. Afterwards, the central role of Design for Reverse Logistics (DfRL) and Harvesting of Information (HoI) in resolving the issues of implementing RL systems for organisations will be established and clarified. The paper will conclude by presenting the lucrative grounds for future research studies on RL field putting forward an agenda for research.