James D. Abbey

Closed-Loop Supply Chains

There are numerous examples and cases available of products that are being reused via remanufacturing or recycling, or combinations of reuse activities (Thierry et al. 1995, Krikke et al. 1999, Guide 2000, Toktay et al 1999, Fleischmann 2000. However, these products and their supply chains are not all the same with respect to a number of critical dimensions, including product acquisition, reverse logistics, inspection, testing and disposition, remanufacturing, and distribution and selling of the remanufactured product. In the following sections we document a number of diverse products that are presently being remanufactured and describe their supply chains. After each case, we summarize and discuss the distinguishing features of the supply chains. Finally, we discuss the management of each of the different supply chain systems, and identify the key research issues.

Consumer Markets for Remanufactured and Refurbished Products

Consumer product returns in the United States are approaching three-hundred billion dollars annually. In the majority of cases, the returned products are perfectly functional convenience returns. Managers have a multi-billion dollar profit opportunity to reuse the products by strategically employing remanufacturing. Yet, remanufacturing has multiple barriers that must be understood and addressed. This article addresses several key managerial issues regarding remanufactured consumer products. First, will consumers buy remanufactured products? Second, will the green consumer segment desire remanufactured products? Third, will remanufactured product sales cannibalize new product sales? Finally, this article provides guidance regarding pricing and cannibalization mitigation strategies.

Is discounting the answer to declining occupancies

Abstract Room rates in United States hotels and lodgings rose rapidly prior to the present recession. Growth has now slowed and demand for rooms has slackened. However rate cutting is not necessarily the answer to the problem of low occupancy, and some industry leaders are concerned that it may prove detrimental to the long term good of the industry. The real test of any pricing policy is whether it will bring new demand to the industry. Operators should base their pricing policies on sound market research and a thorough understanding of the economics of price changes, rather than on intuitive judgements of what the market will bear.

Closed-Loop Supply Chains: A Strategic Overview

Managers who consider a closed-loop supply chain just another environmental initiative need to update their thinking. Modern firms that use closed-loop supply chains as a competitive strategy receive many benefits—particularly higher profitability and control over a product’s entire lifecycle. In fact, the market for multiple lifecycle products continues to grow, with current estimates holding that remanufactured product sales exceed

A typology of remanufacturing in closed-loop supply chains

100 billion per year. As a result of analyzing the ever-growing remanufacturing sector through years of working with managers in numerous industries, various levers and themes surrounding effective closed-loop supply chain strategies became apparent. This chapter presents these findings and shows how firms in multiple industries experienced both successes and failures of their closed-loop supply chain strategies.

Strategic design of multiple lifecycle products for remanufacturing operations

This manuscript defines a typology of remanufacturing based on multiple decades of direct observations across various remanufacturing industries. The manuscript also details how managers adapt their remanufacturing operations and strategies to the idiosyncrasies of the varied remanufacturing industries. The typology identifies four distinct typological groupings based on the dimensions of a firm’s strategic focus and product design philosophy. Before delving into typology and implications on strategic and design issues, the manuscript provides recent information on the current state of the remanufacturing industry based on governmental and industry reports. To assist readers who may be less familiar with the remanufacturing industry and closed-loop supply chains, the discussion also provides a brief overview of remanufacturing processes and the overall remanufacturing industry.

Consumer Markets in Closed-Loop Supply Chains

ABSTRACT Based on observations from practice, this study analytically investigates product design philosophies for remanufacturing original equipment manufacturers to determine how the optimal design choice depends on market conditions. Though designing to increase the level of remanufacturability can yield increased profitability by lowering remanufacturing costs, several complicating factors exist. We examine how these market factors—industry clockspeed, the level of competition, and the product’s original market value—interact with characteristics whose values are determined by the choice of design paradigm: time-to-market, manufacturing cost, and remanufacturing cost. A key determinant of the optimal design choice is the number of profitable lifecycles that each design choice provides under specific combinations of values for the market factors.

Remanufactured Products in Closed-Loop Supply Chains for Consumer Goods

Though product reuse through closed-loop supply chains has many benefits for firms, as outlined throughout this book, consumers may not fully appreciate the benefits of buying previously used products. This conjecture led to a series of studies related to how consumers perceive reused products produced in a closed-loop supply chain. Specifically, this chapter summarizes the results from a series of studies that examined how consumers perceive remanufactured and refurbished products. The studies ranged from measuring simple reactions to remanufactured products through experimental manipulation of discount levels and brand equity as a means to determine the appeal of remanufactured products in the general U.S. consumer market. The findings breakdown into multiple levers that prompt consumer interest in remanufactured products including the usually assumed consumer greenness, quality perceptions, discounts, and brand equity. However, the studies also revealed the issue of aversion toward remanufactured products through both disgust and a segment of consumers who only desire new products.