The thesis deals with reverse logistics in the manufacturing company German Motor Parts CZ, s.r.o. Based on the theoretical background, it carries out research and analysis of the company's activities from the logistics perspective. It examines reverse logistics activities, such as complaints and waste management, as well as conventional logistics activities from purchase to dispatch. The aim of the thesis is to suggest corrective measures that will lead to an improvement of reverse logistics in the company.

The fashion industry has been criticized due to environmental issues, such as the causation of increased scarcity of landfills, hazardous emissions, and exhaustion of non-renewable resources. At the same time, customers, and governments require organizations within the industry to be transparent, offer sustainable consumption, and take responsibility for textile waste. The proposed solution for this is called circular economy (CE), which aims to present a circular system where the value of materials, resources, and products is preserved in the economy for as long as possible. Reverse logistics, referring to managing product returns, end-of-life processing followed by recovery operations, has been stated to be the primary component of CE. Thus, there has been a research gap on how CE practice can be applied to reverse logistics within the fashion industry. To enrich the literature in the field, the purpose of this study is to describe and analyze how sampled Swedish founded fashion retailers state that they apply CE practice to reverse logistics. The methodology applied was a multiple case-study, using semi-structured interviews and official documents. Driving forces that were stated as reasons for applying CE practice to reverse logistics were categorized into three main categories: environmental, social, and economic forces. They were linked to the theory of institution. Signs of all types of isomorphism was shown in the research. This could explain why fashion retailers stated that they performed similarly causes of actions. The stated approaches were divided into four main categories: product-service system, clothing collection, direct redistribution, and reuse or recycling. These categories included the following practical activities: 1) product care and leasing service, 2) in-store clothing collection, 3) sales in outlet stores, sales in second-hand stores, and donating garments to charity and, 4) collaboration with a recycling organization, reuse, and producing and selling upcycled collections. Thus, before implementing the approaches the design and production stage had to be considered.

Currently, manufacturing companies/organizations are exceedingly focused on the reverse logistics since it has its own share in the overall profitability and development of the organization. Proper management of the product returns are considered inevitable factor for success by many companies. Warehouses are important part of the reverse logistic chain where major part of the logistic management often require. In order to manage the product returns in an efficient manner in a warehouse, it is very important to have proper planning and proficient method to deal with any uncertain situations. Along with this updating technology, better staff allocation, proper communication etc. are considered as very important for the better function of the product returns management in an organization.  The study was conducted in returns management section of a warehouse facility. The aim of the thesis is to tackle the uncertainty with the help of an efficient forecasting method to predict rate of product returns and further to understand the importance of forecasting in upbringing the performance of the warehouse. The first phase of the study also investigates through the current trend of the rate of reverse flow and proposal of the best suited method for forecasting of the future state. The second aim of the thesis is to improve the current method utilized for managing the product returns in the warehouse and improve the overall cycle time of the system under study. Second phase of the research also focuses towards lean warehousing by eliminating the warehouse wastes in the return management section. Finally, the results obtained in the study is linked with building and improving the key performance indicators (KPI’s) in the return management section of the case company.

Circularity and sustainability, these are terms that are discussed in many different ways in current research due to the climate crisis. To face the challenges of the climate crisis and new consumer behaviour, the still emerging concept of Industry 4.0 is considered in different ways. When it comes to circularity, this thesis highlights and focuses on the circularity part of reverse logistics or in other words, the reverse flow of goods in a supply chain. These themes are interrelated but not seen as a whole by research so far. This thesis analyses which Industry 4.0 technologies can be used in reverse logistics, what economic, environmental and social effects they have and how they can be measured. Methodologically, we combine exploratory and explanatory research with a deductive way of reasoning, where we analyse data of 4 interviews and 2 surveys in at total 5 Swedish and German manufacturing companies out of the mining, construction equipment, electronics, fasteners and communication industry with a multi method qualitative approach. This is done with the help of literature related to Industry 4.0, reverse logistics as well as environmental, economical and social sustainability. Our results are that the most used Industry 4.0 technologies by manufacturing companies in reverse logistics are Big Data, CPS, IoT and AI. When it comes to sustainability effects and measurements, the companies mostly are focusing on economical and environmental sustainability, while social sustainability is not observed to a similar extent. Especially environmental effects are seen and measured as these figures are important and in demand at the market right now, while economical effects are more often measured with regular KPIs and social effects are not considered as much.

A rapid change in the market context and a growing concern regarding the environment with initiatives such as Agenda 2030 and Paris Agreement is what organisations are facing today. Further, macro-factors including war, inflation and energy crisis contribute to additional concerns in the market. These conclude with a hard-to-navigate landscape for retail companies. Taking the current trend of increasing returns into consideration, this creates an expectation for organisations to manage the returns with sustainability in mind, both economic and environmental. Therefore, a specific Reverse Logistics system is crucial.To address the identified research gap the purpose of this study is to analyse how companies within the speciality retail sector can have a sustainable and effective Reverse Logistics system and if there are different opportunities in the Swedish market. To address the research question, the study is conducted as a qualitative study with an inductive approach and the interviews were held with relevant managers within the speciality retail sector, with expertise in Reverse Logistics and Sustainability.The data collected from semi-structured interviews were analysed by using thematic analysis and led us to our findings. This resulted in four main themes (1) Sustainability, (2) Reverse Logistics, (3) Motivators for Reverse Logistics and (4) Challenges with Reverse Logistic which were discussed both separately and in correlations with each other in order to arrive at the answer to our research question.The results showed that companies within the speciality retail sector have a Reverse Logistics system implemented but face challenges in how to manage it efficiently and be profitable. Their main challenges were identified as Economic and Resource Demanding, and how to remain environmentally sustainable. In contrast to the challenges, motivators for Reverse Logistics were identified. The major motivators found were Stakeholders, mostly referred to as customers, Economic opportunities and Environmental benefits, and how they can remain profitable. Further, we developed an adjusted version of the theoretical model for how Reverse Logistics could be managed from our empirical findings.Lastly, our findings indicate that the most sustainable option in terms of Economy and Environment is for the organisations to work with the prevention of returns, both with customer awareness and supporting in-store returns. Additionally, a finding shown from the research is that in order to have Economic sustainability, Environmental sustainability needs to be integrated as well as this affects the stakeholders.

In this thesis, we analyze the effect that price postponement has on the performance and coordination of a two-stage supply chain facing consumer returns. In an extended news-vendor setting with a single product, a single manufacturer and a single retailer who faces stochastic and price-dependend demand, we allow the retailer to postpone his decision on the retail price until after demand uncertainty is resolved. A certain percentage of sold products is returned, which results in reverse logistics costs and a full refund for both consumer and retailer. In this setting we conduct an extensive computational study to investigate the value of considering returns in the optimization approach if the decision on the retail price is postponed. Moreover we analyze the value of the additional information gained by price postponement both if returns are considered or ignored. We present the impact on the equilibrium values of profits and decision variables for both the centralized and decentralized system and consider different incentive schemes to find out whether coordination is possible.

E-commerce has increased gradually and continues to increase in both the global and Swedish markets. Shopping online has never been easier, where time savings along with a lower price makes it tempting to order products online. But the ever-increasing orders should not only be delivered to the consumer, in many cases they will also be returned. These returns create both financial difficulties for companies and ecological difficulties for the environment. To reduce this, the consumers who make these returns must be analyzed in depth, which is why the purpose of this study will be to understand the consumer's return behavior in relation to their attitude. To do this, eight qualitative interviews were conducted with consumers of different ages, which had made returns from e-commerce orders. A common way of analyzing consumer behavior is through classical attitude theory where the attitude is divided into three components which are, cognition, affect, and behavior. When the consumers' responses then are analyzed with the attitude theory, their return behavior differs, while the attitude is primarily still negative towards returns. This seems to be based a lot on the various factors that consumers bring from the cognitive component of the attitude. Finally, it leads to suggestions that future research should focus more on change in the actual consumer. / E-handel har ökat successivt och fortsätter att öka på den globala och svenska marknaden. Att handla på nätet har aldrig varit enklare, där bekvämlighet och tidsbesparingar tillsammans med ett lägre pris gör det lockande att beställa hem produkter. Men de ständigt ökade beställningarna ska inte bara levereras till konsumenten, de ska i många fall även tillbaka därifrån. Dessa returer skapar både ekonomiska svårigheter för företag och ekologiska svårigheter för miljön. För att minska detta måste konsumenterna som gör dessa returer analyseras på djupet varför syftet för rapporten är att förstå konsumenternas returbeteende i relation till deras attityder. För att göra detta har åtta intervjuer av kvalitativ sort genomförts med konsumenter i olika åldrar, som har gjort returer från e-handelsbeställningar. Ett vanligt sätt att analysera konsumenters beteende på, är genom klassisk attitydteori där attityden delas in i tre komponenter vilka är, kognition, affekt och beteende. När konsumenternas svar sedan analyseras med attitydteorin går det se att deras returbeteende skiljer sig åt, medan attityden till stor del fortfarande är negativ till returer. Vilket verkar grunda sig mycket i de olika faktorerna som konsumenterna har med sig från den kognitiva komponenten i attityden. Det leder slutligen till förslag på framtida forskning, där fokus borde läggas på förändring hos konsumenten.

Background: Closed-loop supply chains are a concept in sustainability that refers to reusingraw materials and reducing waste to fulfill the global demands for sustainable action.While profit-driven organizations’ interest in closed-loop supply chains has increased, there arefinancial barriers that limit the integration of the economic and the environmental dimension of sustainability. This study investigates profitability factors along with the closed-loop supplychain activities in their potential for overcoming the financial barriers within the context ofSwedish furniture manufacturers. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine closed-loop supply chains in their integrationof forward and reverse flows to achieve sustainability. The forward and reverse flows are investigated for factors of closed-loop supply chain profitability, within the context of the Swedish furniture industry. Method: This explorative study follows an inductive approach using a qualitative case studymethod. Data is triangulated from primary and secondary sources in the form of semi-structuredinterviews with purposefully chosen case companies, and secondary reports. Following a content analysis, data is coded and analyzed within and across cases. Findings: The study revealed seven financial barriers and a large range of profitability factorsthat help overcome financial barriers in closed-loop supply chains. The study generated a framework to show how profitability can be integrated along the closed-loop supply chain. The studyalso disclosed that product design and collaborative relationships offer the most potential forovercoming barriers among and between supply chains and for achieving a profitable CLSC.

Background: Although reverse logistics becomes more important nowadays to reach organisation goals, organisations are still plagued by data uncertainty and low supply chain visibility. In an attempt to remove those barriers to reach an effective reverse logistics operation, organisations have started to integrate industry 4.0 technologies among themselves and their reverse logistics partners. However, the introduction of industry 4.0 influence collaboration among reverse logistics partners posing a threat to successful implementation of industry 4.0 and to solving current reverse logistics operational problems. Purpose: The primary aim of this study is to provide insights what factors influence the facilitation of collaboration between supply chain partners through adopting Industry 4.0 within reverse logistics. Additionally, this study's secondary aim is to provide insights in how the concepts of industry 4.0, collaboration and reverse logistics relate to each other. Method: This study is performed as qualitative inductive research with a relativist ontology and a constructionist epistemology. The research design consists of an explorative multiple case study in which data has been collected through semi-structured interviews which have been found through purposive sampling. The data analysis of this research has been performed with a thematic analysis. Conclusion: The results show that three distinct factors have emerged from this study. General perception (1) in which a negative feeling towards reverse logistics has been described. Relationship-based collaboration (2) that describes that trust is the single-most important factor in relationships. Collaborative network 4.0 (3) which displays four stages of technological adaptations in reverse logistics streams.

Unlike most of the existing literature on reverse supply chains, that focuses on product recovery or waste management, in this thesis we consider reverse supply chain operations for an independent retailer. The latter have forward and reverse supply chains that are independent of the manufacturers. We study three major problems related to Retail Reverse Supply Chains (RRSC) for independent retailers. In RRSCs, each retail store holds some products that are not selling (and/or under-selling) and wishes to salvage them optimally. We refer to these products as Ineffective Inventory. Salvage can be in many forms and take place by relocating a product within the reverse supply chain (RSC), such as sending the product from a franchise store back to a Distribution/Return Center (RC) and then forward to another franchise store, or returning it to a vendor, liquidation, etc. The RRSC network may includes system members such as stores (retailer owned and/or franchise), RCs, warehouses, vendors and liquidators. Each of the stores carries some inventory that is underselling, and it is important to reduce the inventory of such products in order to refill the space with inventory that is more likely to sell. In the first problem, we consider a basic RRSC with retail stores, vendors and a warehouse. The retail company allocates a budget for its RRSC activities. We refer to this budget as a Profit-Loss budget, due to lost income from the items that will be removed from the stores that was a part of the gains resulting from the previous year tax calculations. The objective is to use this Profit-Loss budgetary limitation as effectively as possible with the most suitable products to relocate products within the supply chain and/or return them back to their vendor. A heuristic algorithm is developed to solve this problem, by making use of the problem structure, and results are compared with the solutions of an exact state-of-the-art commercial solver. In the second problem, we consider a network optimization model with inventory decisions. The goal is to optimize ineffective inventory levels in stores and the disposition of their returns. We model a comprehensive RRSC network with multiple stores that could be Company-Owned or Franchise Stores, multiple warehouses, multiple RCs, multiple vendors, and liquidators. The objective of the retailer is to minimize costs for relocating some of this ineffective inventory within the network or scrapping. However, individual franchise stores have their own goals of how their excessive inventory should be handled. The franchisee goals may be conflicting with those of the franchisor in terms of how much inventory should be chosen from each store to be relocated. In return, this conflict may lead to a conflict among franchise stores. This issue is addressed and resolved through inventory transparency among all the supply chain members. The tactical decision making process of which RC should be used for handling returns is incorporated into the model. In order to overcome the complexities of the large size problem, a multi-stage heuristic is developed to solve this problem within reasonable times. The results are then compared with the solutions of state-of-the-art commercial solver. In the third problem, we focus on the strategic decision of developing optimal vendor contract parameters for the retailer, using optimization models. Specifically, we identify optimal return penalties and associated return thresholds, between an independent retailer and its vendors. This model will support the retailer in their contract re-negotiation for its RSC activities. Vendors use a multi-layered penalty structure that assigns higher penalties to higher returns. The objective is to find the optimal penalties and/or optimal return thresholds that should be negotiated with the vendors in order to pay a lower penalty in the upcoming return cycles compared to existing penalty structures. We first design a Mixed Integer Non-Linear Program (MINLP) where the model makes the decision of vendor penalty fees and return thresholds simultaneously for each vendor. We generate small size to large size problems and solve them via MINLP solvers such as DICOPT and ANTIGONE. In order to gain insights to the inner workings of the MINLP, the decision variables, vendor penalty fees and return thresholds, are considered as parameters and hence, two models are designed to find the optimal penalty structure and optimal return thresholds, respectively. Useful insights from both of the models’ solutions are derived in order to generate rule-of-thumb methodologies to find approximate solutions close to optimal penalty percentages and return thresholds via identifying all possible scenarios that can exist in the problem structure. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This thesis deals with Retail Reverse Supply Chain (RRSC) management. We consider an independent retail company's and its franchise stores' ineffective inventory which may be constituted of unsold, under-selling, slow-moving, customer-returned, end-of-life, end-of-use, damaged, and faulty products within their inventory. We take into account the retailer's reverse supply chain structure and investigate the following problems: 1) How to manage a store's product returns under a given budgetary limitation for financial planning and taxation reasons, due to lost income from returned items, 2) Inventory optimization by taking into account the reverse supply chain structure of the retailer, and 3) Providing insight to the retailer on how it can best re-negotiate its vendor (buy-back) contracts for its product returns. The thesis covers decision making in all three levels: day-to-day operational decisions such as which products to be returned and where to allocate them within its reverse supply chain options, mid-term tactical decisions such as which Return Centers (RC) to be activated for the Reverse Logistics (RL) activities, and long-term strategic decisions such as what should be the optimal contract terms to re-negotiate with the vendors in order to cut future return costs.