Strategic and Tactical Aspects of Closed-Loop Supply Chains

Abstract

Today's common business practice of extracting non-renewable raw materials from the earth, processing them, turning them into products, selling the products to customers, and then having the customers dispose of the products in a landfill or through incineration is not sustainable. Eventually, the basic raw materials that are used to build most of the products our economy is based on will run out, or become prohibitively expensive to extract more of. Cognizant of this fact, many firms are taking a closer look at their supply chain practices and exploring ways to reduce (or at least prolong the timing of) the amount of their product that ends up in landfills. They do so by finding profitable ways to recover their used products for remanufacturing, refurbishing, or recycling. The study of these efforts has been termed Closed-Loop Supply Chains.