Governance Mode in Reverse Logistics: a Research Framework

As the reverse supply chain for sustainability reasons has been attracting increasing attention, this theoretical work focuses on the governance mode of reverse logistics. It is a less explored sub-field in the reverse supply chain literature where manufacturers, distributors, and retailers have important roles in the chain governance. Manufacturers often engage professional third-party logistics (3PLs) firms to manage their products due to the complexity, variety, and trade compliance of such products. While such engagement can reduce the burden of product management for the manufacturers, the potential loss of competitive advantage or a conflict of interest can affect the manufacturers' reputation and profitability. Based on the literature as well as our initial fieldwork in several industries, we develop a research framework to explore the governance choice of manufacturers for reverse logistics, and examine the factors affecting the preference between self-governance and the outsourcing to third parties such as the 3PLs.