1,720,993 research outputs found
Creating value through returns management: Exploring the marketing–operations interface
No full textManaging the return flow of product is increasingly recognized as a strategically important activity thatinvolves decisions and actions within and across firms. We focus specifically on returns management atthe marketing–operations interface, by utilizing the conceptualization of customer value and its relateddrivers. In order to explore the phenomenon of returns management across a multi-disciplinary, managerialspectrum, a qualitative research methodology relying on individual managers’ perceptions waschosen to generate depth of understanding given the limited current understanding of the research topicunder consideration. Our results suggest that functional integration at the marketing–operations interfacecan lead to better alignment of corporate resources and thus create higher levels of customer value.We also found the external business environment to impact how and why a firm creates customer valuethrough the returns management process. Overall, our results suggest that when returns management isrecognized as a matter of a firm’s competitiveness, the joint role of operations and marketing is imperativeto success
The returns management process in supply chain strategy
Full text linkTheory development related to returns management within supply chain strategy. We investigate the marketing/logistics relationship relative to the returns management process.Grounded theory qualitative methodology. We interviewed managers in five Italian firms, across marketing and logistics roles, at strategic and operational levels.Three key findings emerged: 1) strong evidence exists that strategic goals and policies are being implemented; 2) cross-functional integration within the firms is broader than was expected; 3) the more integrated firms deal better with external factors influencing the returns management process.Firms were pre-selected for participation, due to researcher’s time constraints. Additionally, given the pan-European approach to many supply chains, this Italian research needs to be replicated in other [western and eastern] European settings to determine the robustness of the factors posited to be important to the returns management process. Finally, other functional areas beyond marketing and logistics are involved in returns management, and will be more formally incorporated into future research.Returns management — increasingly being recognized as affecting competitive positioning — provides an important link between marketing and logistics. The broad nature of its cross-functional impact suggests that firms would benefit by improving internal integration efforts. In particular, a firm’s ability to react to and plan for the influence of external factors on the returns management process is improved by such internal integration.Returns management has been under-represented in much of the logistics and supply chain literature. This paper represents the first stage of an on-going research project aimed at providing a theoretical framework for understanding the returns management process within a firm’s supply chain strategy
Il processo di gestione dei resi in alcune imprese italiane
No full textL’obiettivo del lavoro è quello di sintetizzare le principali implicazioni manageriali di una recente ricerca svolta presso alcune imprese italiane sulla gestione dei prodotti ritorni o resi; si è cercato di individuare le implicazioni e le opportunità in termini di marketing e logistica per la gestione di tutti i flussi fisici e non che per qualche ragione tornano lungo la supply chain
The challenge of functional integration and the returns management process: an international perspective
No full textAs supply chain management has grown as a discipline, research and practitioner emphasis has increasingly focused on managing business processes across extended —global— supply chains with the objective of providing value for the entire supply chain (Lambert et al. 1998). One of these processes—returns management—focuses on the reverse supply chain, and effective management can be complicated by the boundary spanning nature of this process within a firm and across the entire supply chain (Rogers et al. 2002). Successful boundary spanning requires cross-functional integration, within and across firms. Effective functional integration is important because poorly managed returns can erode profitability for a firm. It can also negatively impact relationships with customers and end-users, as well as a firm’s reputation with its stakeholders (Linton et al. 2005; Rogers et al. 2002).The growing emphasis on returns management, the role of functional integration, and value creation are being challenged by the concept of sustainability, which encompasses environmental, social and economic performance considerations. Despite the recent increased interest in all three topics, there has been limited research attention to their combination, particularly within the context of international supply chains. Due to this lack of exploration, a qualitative research methodology was chosen for investigation. Such an approach is appropriate for generating depth of understanding when a phenomenon is poorly understood (Flint et al. 2002) and over which the researcher has limited or no control. Thus, in seeking to understand the role of returns management within a global firm, we adopted an in-depth case-study approach (Ellram 1996; Yin 2003) to examine a single firm’s global returns management process, as it stretches from Asia to Italy and the United States.Specifically, the purpose of this paper is to address the following research questions:(1) What role does functional integration play in managing the returns management process?; (2) What role does the returns management process play in managing an international supply chain across multiple operating regions?; and (3) What external factors affect a firm’s ability to integrate functions related to returns management?Our findings suggest four important characteristics of the firm’s returns management process which could be instructive for other global firms. First, the returns management process is increasingly impacted by global supply chain design, as evidenced primarily by offshore production in this situation. Second, functional integration with respect to returns management appears to have beneficial economic performance outcomes. Third, external factors (such as socio-political issues concerned with sustainability) may explain some of the differences between the U.S. and Italian subsidiaries regarding management of returns and the ability to functionally integrate the returns process. Fourth, whereas retail power and consumer demands are just beginning to be felt in Europe, the U.S. subsidiary provides a good example of finding opportunity in what could be considered a challenging marketplace. One question for the future, among others, relates to the extent that learning and best practices can be transferred across operating regions of global firms: specifically, even though cost structures and customer relationships will differ, can the underlying philosophy of integrated returns management be transferred from one subsidiary to another subsidiary for overall corporate benefit
Returns Management as a Supply Chain Process: A Look at Marketing/Logistics Integration in Italian Firms
No full textAttention to theory-based research in the returns management arena has been largely ignored in the literature (Carter and Ellram 1998; Daugherty et al. 2001), and more specifically the nature of the relationship between marketing and logistics as it relates to the returns management process remains unknown. Because marketing strategy and policy decisions can have a significant impact on the type and timing of product returns (Mollenkopf et al., 2005), there would seem to be a corresponding influence on the nature and extent of returns management logistics activities a firm will have to undertake. We investigate the phenomenon of managing returns as part of a firm’s overall supply chain processes (Rogers et al., 2002). Due to the exploratory nature of the research, we utilize the qualitative methodology of grounded theory (Ellram 1996; Strauss and Corbin 1990) to investigate the above issue in five Italian firms, at multiple organizational levels, in highly diverse industries. The participant pool consisted of three manufacturing firms and two distributors of international parent firms, representing consumer durable goods; auto parts; books; pharmaceuticals; and transmission and propulsion systems for marine applications
In trying to better understand the nature of marketing and logistics involvement in returns management, we focus on three specific research questions: 1 what is the role of the returns management process in the firm’s overall supply chain strategy? 2. How are the marketing and logistics functional areas integrated into the returns management process? 3. What factors (internal or external to the firm) influence the returns management process within the firm?
Three key findings emerged from the interviews: despite the fact that the role of the returns management process is a lower priority than other initiatives in firms’ overall supply chain strategy, there is strong evidence that significant strategic goals and policies are in place and being utilized; the nature and impact of cross-functional integration within the firms is broader than was expected; and external factors that influence the returns management process are better dealt with by firms that are more highly integrated internally.
Based on this work, we posit a preliminary theoretical model that may guide future research on returns management. This model needs to be further developed, but we believe this to be an important goal, as theory will become increasingly important to guiding research and providing valuable insight to firms managing return flows within their supply chains
Effective Returns Management: Enhancing Retailer – Supplier Relationships
Full text linkManaging the return flow of product is increasingly recognized as a strategically important activity that is cross-functional within and across firms. We employ the theoretical grounding of a customer value and service-dominant logic perspective to examine such business relationship activity. In order to explore the phenomenon of returns management across a multi-disciplinary, managerial spectrum, a qualitative research methodology was chosen to generate depth of understanding given the current limited understanding of the research topic.Our results suggest that functional integration can lead to better corporate resource utilization as well as create higher levels of both firm and customer value. We also found the external business environment to be important in how a firm creates such value
Integrating Product, In formation and Financial Flows in the Returns Management Process
No full textThe strategic importance of managing return goods is gaining attention in
the academic literature. Poorly managed processes can impact a company’s brand
reputation, sustainability i
mpact and profitability. Returns represent a business
conundrum: on the marketing side, returns policies are part of the sales assurance
process
—
promising liberal returns allowances reduces the purchase risk for the
buyer, and thus enhances sales. But on t
he operations side, liberal returns policies
mean more returns, more processing, and thus more expenses incurred. Yet many
firms fail to manage the reverse flow of products well because they do not
understand the value
-
creating potential of effective and e
fficient returns
management. In exploring the cross
-
functional nature of returns management, we
take a systems approach to evaluating the product, information and financial flows
that encompass returns management. The Logistics literature has long highligh
ted
these channel flows in the forward supply chain, but has yet to assess the
integration of these flows in the reverse supply chain. A qualitative methodology
was employed, utilizing multiple sources of evidence including in
-
depth interviews,
site visits
, printed materials provided by the participating firms, and secondary
sources. Six U.S.
-
based firms participated; all firms supply retailers and/or business
customers. A total of 54 managers across the companies participated, reflecting
diversity along mu
ltiple dimensions such as function and job level, in particular. The
results highlight the challenges firms experience in managing these three critical
flows in the reverse supply chain, and simultaneously, how critically important an
integrated approach i
s to successful returns management processes. The results
add to the emerging body of knowledge in the returns management, integration, and
value creation literatures and suggest insights for both theory development and
improved managerial practic
SELL RIGHT, NOT MORE Understanding Internal Integration
No full textDemand and Supply Integration (DSI) refers to the ability of an organization to effectively coordinate the demand functions with the supply functions in order to co-create maximum value with key customers and the firm itself. Researchers suggest that effective DSI requires the right organizational mindset, knowledge, motivation, and incentive structures to actually create an integrated firm . Through our own research on returnsmanagement over the past decade, we’ve seen the importance of integrating demand and supply functions within a firm, and even across organizations within a supply chain. In this chapter on internal integration, we specifically address the returns management process to highlight both the need for, and the benefits of, internal integration in firms managing complex activities within and across both forward and reverse supply chains
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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