The opportunities, challenges and tendency of reverse logistics

Abstract

With the governments' emphasis on environmental issues, product resources shortage, waste materials recycling and re-using; the reverse logistics is changing its status. It is no longer "been looked upon as a necessary evil" [1]; today, more and more companies are viewing reverse logistics as a strategic activity to put it into organizational strategic consideration. Based on above reasons, this paper tried to discover the opportunities, challenges and tendency of reverse logistics. Firstly, it introduced the concept and drivers of reverse logistics; next, analyzed the opportunities and challenges of development reverse logistics; and then, displayed the practice of reverse logistics in the USA; at last, it discussed the tendency of reverse logistics management. This paper also implied that developing the third-party reverse logistics is the best solution for reverse management. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.