Reverse logistics goals, metrics, and challenges: perspectives from industry

Purpose – Although the importance of establishing sound metrics is often noted in the logistics literature, few research efforts have examined appropriate metrics for reverse logistics (RL) processes. Through the lens of goal-setting theory, the paper identifies and align salient RL goals and metrics, and uncover some of the most common challenges to RL professionals. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The paper used open-ended questions to gather qualitative data from 84 RL professionals from the defense industry. A content analysis method was employed to extract and categorize the goals, challenges, and metrics for RL processes. Findings – The paper identifies specific categories of goals, challenges and metrics. Several themes emerged from the study, to include customer service, disposition, costs, and process efficiencies. Using these themes, the paper matched goals to metrics and found a lack of uniformity and noted that metrics and goals often were not matched or were misaligned. Research limitations/implications – This research is limited by the defense industry sample and the research method. Caution should be used when generalizing the results, and further research is required to empirically test the validity of the findings. Nonetheless, in the context of goal-setting theory, the study contributes to the performance metrics literature by aligning RL metrics with goals and addressing challenges faced by RL practitioners. By investigating the topic from multiple perspectives, the study provides more detailed findings and demonstrates the differences between the inbound and outbound RL processes. Practical implications – This study provides insight into the metrics used to monitor and control RL processes. The findings may help firms to identify shortcomings and choose metrics that they can employ to align RL processes with firm goals. Originality/value – The study contributes to the performance metrics literature by aligning RL metrics with goals and addressing challenges faced by RL practitioners. By investigating the topic from both an inbound and outbound perspective, the study provides more detailed findings and demonstrates the differences between the inbound and outbound RL processes.