Reverse supply chain issues in Indian electronics industry: a case study

Abstract

Achieving a sustainable consumption and production pattern is one of the United Nation's sustainable development goals for 2030. To achieve this, it is necessary to consider the environmental burden from a product life cycle and the quality of life of the consumer. In this study, a systematic approach for connecting basic human needs and the product development process, called the living-sphere approach, is proposed. This approach is intended to encompass the complete relationship between region-specific basic needs and durable products. In this approach, value graphs, which visualize the value system of products, are connected to satisfiers fulfilling the basic needs set out by Max-Neef. A value graph links satisfiers and the traditional product development process. The significance of the proposed approach is twofold. First, improving quality of daily life and traditional product development are combined in the same framework. Second, the design of single products and the total optimization of multi-products are supported at the requirement level.

Analyzing present and future availability of critical high-tech minerals in waste cellphones: A case study of India

“…With the trend of computerization, telecommunication and mobile phone technology innovation worldwide, the Indian electronics industry has become one of the fastest growing industries in the country ( Agrawal et al, 2018 ). In particular, cellphones have become a near-necessary item in approximately a decade ( Borthakur and Govind, 2019 ); they have become one of the fastest growing products in the electronics industry.…”

Measuring customer-oriented product returns service performance

“…Past research examining product returns or reverse logistics in this context used existing measures or those from logistics practitioners (e.g. Agrawal et al, 2018;Autry et al, 2001;Daugherty et al, 2001;Huscroft, 2010) rather than those from customer data. Therefore, this study contributes to the services marketing and reverse logistics fields, both theoretically and practically.…”

“…Gap 1: prior studies on product returns do not incorporate marketing concepts, whereas some scholars suggest coordination between marketing and operations management efforts to improve product returns systems Bernon et al (2013), Ferguson et al (2006, Lambert and Enz (2017), Mollenkopf et al (2011) Gap 2: product returns management is mainly firmoriented, while the reverse flow starts from customers Agrawal et al (2014Agrawal et al ( , 2018 Agrawal et al (2014Agrawal et al ( , 2018, Hess et al (1996), Potdar (2009); Scariotta (2003), Srivastava and Srivastava (2006) Gap 4: prior research largely ignores measures of customer service or the effectiveness of the returns process Hall et al (2013), Huscroft, Hazen, Hall, Skipper, and, Skapa and Klapalova (2012) Gap 5: existing measures do not apply directly due to the unique features of the returns service, that is, the service offering exists in the reverse flow, which requires the integration of marketing initiatives and reverse logistics processes Bienstock et al (1997), Cronin andTaylor (1992), Parasuraman et al (1985Parasuraman et al ( , 1988, Mentzer et al (1999) Gap 6: existing measures of product returns and reverse logistics were not developed from actual customer expectations or co-created by customers Ahsan and Rahman (2016) Developing the definition and domain of the new construct Consistent with Churchill's (1979) procedure to develop better marketing measures, the initial stage was conceptualising the construct. The study followed the process to develop a construct definition in Ambulkar et al (2015) and Gilliam and Voss (2013).…”

“…Additionally, as the COPRS performance construct was developed based on the concepts of customer orientation, co-creation and a service-centred view, such notions could similarly apply to managing product returns in various B2C settings. Other industries that also face substantial problems with product returns include electronics (Agrawal et al, 2018;Yang et al, 2017), technology and automobiles (Espinosa, 2016). These industries could use the 12 dimensions of COPRS performance and their measurement scales.…”

“…Although the fundamental processes of the backward flow of products starts from unhappy customers (Potdar, 2009) and this process is one of post-purchase customer support (The Supply Chain Council, 2001), existing literature in product returns management focuses mainly on the firm's process and economic operations (e.g. Agrawal et al, 2014Agrawal et al, , 2018Scariotta, 2003) instead of a customer-based and relational approach. It is important to note that end customers initiate returns requests and customer returns are legitimate (Anderson et al, 2009).…”