Business orientation policy and process analysis evaluation for establishing third party providers of reverse logistics services.

The degradation of the environment, caused in part by end of life and end of used products, necessitates the set-up of recovery networks. These networks may be owned by the manufacturer or they can be outsourced to third parties. Most manufacturers prefer outsourcing, so this study proposes a benchmarked recovery process for third party reverse logistics providers (3PRLP) by evaluating design criteria, implementation criteria, process control characteristics, and business orientation policies. Expertise efficiency of third party providers dictates their competitiveness and/or survival. In an effort to help third parties enhance value recovery from the process in the market, this paper seeks to establish a meaningful benchmark that will dictate best practices through quality function deployment (QFD). In particular, the paper offers a theoretical background to measure the relative importance among the various types of criteria. The proposed technique also helps to establish guidelines by which to prioritize the various characteristics. This study finds that the main driving factor regarding waste management centers on mandatory laws. It also concludes that when government relaxes its policies, environmentally oriented businesses are able to strengthen their systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]