Dear Sriyogi,

We have just concluded a project titled ‘Designing for reverse logistics (DfRL) within the building life cycle: practices, drivers and barriers’ at the University of South Australia, and as part of the project (which has resulted in a number of publications as well as ongoing papers), we have examined a number of issues associated with RL from both the manufacturing and construction industries context.

In responding to your question, the ‘how to measure’ assumes that the RL has been contextualised, defined and the ‘performance criteria’ defined. If not, then first and foremost, you would have to ensure that some aspects of ‘reverse logistics’ are being implemented in those organisations. The second bit would be the measurement of a set of predefined ‘performance metrics’ such as savings in inventory carrying transportation; waste disposal costs, other financial indicators such as increased revenue, gaining market share.

The following publications might also assist you in quantifying and understanding different types of performance criteria:

Daugherty, P.J., Myers, M.B. and Richey, R.G. (2002), “Information support for reverse logistics: the influence of relationship commitment”, Journal of Business Logistics, Vol. 23, No. 1, pp. 85-106.

For example Daugherty et al. (2002) refers to increased revenue & gaining market share among the benefits of implementing reverse logistics, hence would be worth of inclusion in your ‘performance evaluation metrics’. Similarly, Dowlatshahi (2000) has pointed to ‘cost savings’ and ‘environmental improvements’ among the benefits of implementing or adopting reverse logistics, hence that would also be included in the performance metrics.

Dowlatshahi , S. (2000), “Developing a theory of reverse logistics”, Interfaces, Vol.30, 3 May – June, pp. 143-155.

The above two citations are just examples as numerous studies have identified other performance metrics, hence that should be your focus in identifying those measures. From a research point of view, you might wish to collect the relevant data which would capture the existence and levels of ‘reverse logistics’ prevalent in whatever context and assessing the impact of the reverse logistics practices on the identified performance metrics through different types of modelling techniques, for example, structural equation modelling. You could also employ regression analysis.

You should nevertheless be wary of the ‘time-lag’ aspects associated with the implementation of ‘reverse logistics practices’ and associated ‘performance’ outcomes. Therefore, some correct type of studies (i.e. cross sectional versus longitudinal) would need to be taken into consideration. Please note that there are quite a number of existing studies in literature which would provide you with existing reverse logistics measurement frameworks. This also includes performance metrics.

Good luck with this interesting area of research.

Nicholas

Dear  Prof. Nicolas  thanks a lot  Your answer gave some valuable inputs to my forth  comming paper on Performance evaluation of Reverse Logistics: A Case  of LPG Agency. Thanks for your wishes.

Dr.Kottala Sriyogi

Dear Sriyogi,

I look forward to reading your research paper once published.

Sincerely,

Dr Chileshe