Sergio Rubio

Characteristics of the research on reverse logistics (1995–2005)

This paper aims to describe and analyse the main characteristics of articles on reverse logistics published in the production and operations management field, in order to determine the evolution of this current research over recent years and improve our understanding of this issue. We built up a database with the articles on reverse logistics published in the most relevant journals within the period 1995–2005, and we have explored the topic, the methodology and the techniques of analysis, as well as other relevant aspects of the research. We have evaluated the first decade of research on reverse logistics, observing what has been done and how, where and by whom it has been carried out. The result is an extensive review of the research works that have created and developed the reverse logistics concept, outlining some directions of research for the near future and offering practical help to those who begin to research on this topic.

Optimal manufacturing-remanufacturing policies in a lean production environment

This study analyses a production-management model that considers the possibility of implementing a reverse-logistics system for remanufacturing end-of-life products in a lean production environment (as opposed to models that use EOQ approaches). Decision variables are identified (including manufacturing and remanufacturing capacities and return rates and use rates for end-of-life products) and optimal policies are determined. Moreover, the structure of these optimal policies is analysed. The conclusion drawn is that, in many realistic scenarios, mixed policies (that is, with return rates and use rates strictly between 0 and 1) can be optimal. This conclusion is contrary to results published in earlier studies, which are based on more restrictive assumptions.

The region-of-origin (ROO) effect on purchasing preferences

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse the “region-of-origin” effect in the purchase of cava, a sparkling wine. Cava is a multiregional designation of origin: although it is a product typical of a particular Spanish region (Catalonia), it is also produced in other regions in Spain. Design/methodology/approach – The technique of conjoint analysis is used to identify the structure of the preferences of cava consumers, and to evaluate how that structure is affected by the inclusion of a message that highlights the regional origin of the product. A survey was conducted among 473 wine buyers in the region of Extremadura (Spain). Findings – The main findings show that the “region-of-origin” effect is significant for the regional buyer of this type of wine, and that the sales of regional brands of cava would be greater if their regional origin were emphasized by indicating the location of the producer in a prominent place on the label. Moreover, three segments of purchasers differentiated by their pre...

Professional Sports Teams on Social Networks: A Comparative Study Employing the Facebook Assessment Index

Professional sports teams are increasingly using social networks to better connect their sports and businesses to fans and the general public with the aim of providing team-related information, fostering fandom, and building team reputation. However, few, if any, studies have been done that analyze and evaluate the efficacy of this important portion of the professional sports business model from an informationmanagement perspective. This study employs the Facebook Assessment Index (FAI) to effectively compare, assess, and rank the Facebook sites of top European and North American professional teams. The study also shows how information artifacts in sports can be systematically analyzed, evaluated, and compared. In more general terms, the findings and analysis demonstrate how the information perspective can serve as a novel theoretical lens and important dimension in sport management. The results of the study show large differences between teams in the 3 FAI dimensions and a great improvement opportunity i...

Reverse Logistics: Overview and Challenges for Supply Chain Management

This paper is aimed at introducing the concept of reverse logistics (RL) and its implications for supply chain management (SCM). RL is a research area focused on the management of the recovery of products once they are no longer desired (end-of-use products, EoU) or can no longer be used (end-of-life products) by the consumers, in order to obtain an economic value from the recovered products. This way, RL has become a matter of strategic importance, an element that companies are considering in their decision-making processes related to the design and development of their supply chains. In addition, a description of the implications of RL for SCM will be discussed and, finally, an analysis of some of the opportunities and challenges that RL implies for SCM will be presented.

Implementing a reverse logistics system: a case study

This paper is based on the results of a research project developed in an important Spanish industrial group to analyse if a reverse logistics system can be implemented in some of its companies. The business activity of this group is focused on the steel industry and the aim of the project was to design and evaluate a recovery system for packaging materials used for galvanised steel coils. Up to now, this type of packaging is disposed of because the current structure of the packaging system is not appropriate from a reverse logistics point of view. For this reason, we propose a new packaging system that can be recovered through a reverse logistics system generating economic and environmental advantages.

The Web as a marketing tool in the Spanish foodservice industry: evaluating the websites of Spain's top restaurants.

The quality and recognition of Spanish cuisine are fostering the development of culinary tourism, both domestic in origin and from abroad. Another detected trend is that an ever-greater proportion of tourists are using the Internet to obtain information and make decisions about activities to include in their trips. Given this context, the present work describes a comparative analysis of the websites of Spanish restaurants which have at least one Michelin star in order to assess the quality of those webpages and provide some guidance to their designers to facilitate their use as a marketing tool. The instrument used is the Web Assessment Index. This has been validated in other studies, and measures the quality of a website based on four dimensions: visibility, speed, navigability, and content. The results showed the quality of the website to be positively correlated with the category of the corresponding restaurant.

Methodological elements of supply chain design

After a discussion of the methodological proposals for supply chain (SC) design published so far, we describe a hierarchical method consisting of five stages, as well as related concepts and tools. The aim of this method, named SC outline process, is to provide a frame for the decision-making about the SC configuration. This approach is applicable for all types of SCs.

Customer Loyalty in the ADSL Services Market in Spain: Background and Moderating Effects

It is important for asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) service operators to maintain a stable and lasting relationship with customers. They thus need to know which are the factors influencing customer loyalty, and how those relationships of influence are established. In the present study, structural analysis applied to data from a sample of 525 ADSL users showed the variables perceived quality, perceived value, and satisfaction to act as antecedents of loyalty. A novel finding of the study was the importance of the users attitude and aptitude with respect to Internet as variables moderating the relationships of the model.

Facebook as a Marketing Tool: An Analysis of the 100 Top-Ranked Global Brands

Social networks are one of the more notable sociological phenomena of the last years. Moreover, its apparition and acceptance by majority of the citizens also suppose an important challenge for the firms. Social networks are a new and relevant channel of communication and interaction with their consumers. For this, firms have to create their own place in the social network and actively manage the content that shares and the dialogue that is supported by their followers. In the first part of this paper, the authors explain the creation of an index to evaluate the presence of the companies in the social network more used to international level, Facebook. The Facebook Assessment Index FAI is formed by several indicators grouped in three dimensions: popularity, interactivity, and content. In the second part, the authors applied this index to the 150 largest firms according to Fortune 2011 ranking. At present, only 44% of these firms tested had an international official Facebook page. The results showed that the larger firms are those that in general terms best manage their presence on Facebook, have the greatest number of followers and a high degree of interactivity with them. However, the most interesting contribution of this work lies not in identifying firms that achieve higher scores on the FAI, but in comparing the pages with each other and making suggestions of ideas and practices that may improve a firms Facebook presence as a marketing tool.