As the power of consumers is growing, the product return for customer service and customer retention has become a common practice in the competitive market, which propels the recent practice of reverse logistics in companies. Many firms attracted by the value available in the flow, have proactively participated in handling returned products at the end of their usefulness or from other parts of the product life cycle. Reverse logistics is the flow and management of products, packaging, components and information from the point of consumption to the point of origin. It is a collection of practices similar to those of supply chain management, but in the opposite direction, from downstream to upstream. It involves activities such as reuse, repair, remanufacture, refurbish, reclaim and recycle. For the conventional forward logistics systems, the flow starts upstream as raw materials, later as manufactured parts and components to be assembled and continues downstream to reach customers as final products to be disposed once they reach their economic or useful lives. In reverse logistics, the disposed products are pushed upstream to be repaired, remanufactured, refurbished, and disassembled into components to be reused or as raw material to be recycled for later use.

Personal selling is a major element in the marketing communication program of a business firm. This article describes in a theoretical way the scope and significance of personal selling in marketing, it outlines the stages of the selling process. Personal selling is the most effective marketing communication tool because it allows salespeople to adapt their presentation to each potential or current client. They use their knowledge of the customer’s buying process to choose effective sales strategies. An effective sales presentation is usually the most important element of a sales job. Most well-managed companies want their salespeople to go through the following sequence in making a presentation: locating and qualifying prospects, a pre-approach, the presentation itself, closing the sale and follow-up. Finding the best prospects may be the key step in this sequence, but the close may be the hardest part.

This article is a theoretical approach on the importance of using public relations in helping an organization to project a positive image.

A press conference is an important tool of public relations. The primary role of public relations is to manage a company’s reputation and help build public consent for its enterprises. The goal of PR is to develop and maintain goodwill with most, if not all, of its publics. Failure to do so may mean loss of customers and revenues, time lost dealing with complaints or lawsuits, and loss of esteem. A company’s publics change constantly. Well-executed public relations is an ongoing process that molds good long-term relationships and plays an important role in relationship marketing and integrated communications. Companies often call press conference when they have significant news to announce, such as the introduction of a new product or advertising campaign. Although used less often by organizations and corporations, this form of delivery can be very effective. The topic must be of major interest to a specific group before it is likely to gain coverage.

In the face of higher costs of operation and increasing pressures from customers for better service, the logistics organization must adapt to meet the challenge. An understanding of the factors that make organizations effective, and a knowledge of how these factors interrelate, are the first steps towards developing the system for a firm’s customers. Logistics organizations must of necessity become more cost and service efficient. An understanding of the factors that affect a firm’s organizational effectiveness, along with strategies to reveal weaknesses or deficiencies, can help create more efficient logistics systems. Organizational changes form the basis for procedural modifications that can reduce costs or improve service. Many firms have shown significant improvements in their logistics cost-service mix as a result of organizational changes. Logistics organizations are generally structured along the following lines: strategic versus operational, centralized versus decentralized and line versus staff, in various combinations. There is no single ideal organizational structure, but there are important elements that comprise an effective organization. In general, the factors contributing to organizational effectiveness can be categorized as organizational characteristics, environmental characteristics, employee characteristics, and managerial policies and practices.