Looking for someone is very specific with information and gives great detail within their writing. Need good quality work. No plagiarism, honesty, and A++ work. Someone who will take their time to understand and follow given instructions carefully. Deliver work ahead of time and not have me asking and looking for expected assignment. If you have any questions about the assignment or unsure about something please ask. Instructions attached.
I have provided the two sources that need to be used in the attached PDF files. Please use those two sources. If you have any questions, please ask. I’ve also included a sample of how the work is to be done.
Student Name
COLL 300
Evaluating Sources: CMS (Chicago)
Bjelopera, Jerome P. “Combating Homegrown Terrorism: Enforcement Activities,”
Congressional Research Service, Report (November 15, 2011): 36-53. International
Security & Counter Terrorism Reference Center, EBSCOhost .
Credible Author: Jerome P. Bjelopera is recognized as a specialist in organized crime and terrorism by his peers. A Google search revealed numerous hits for him. The hits on the first page were for reputable sites ending with .edu and .org. Also, a search of his name on the Amazon website revealed he has authored a couple of books in addition to some other articles.
Reliable Publisher: The Congressional Research Service (CRS) is a reliable organization. The CRS falls under the Library of Congress, and they provide policy and legal analysis to Capitol Hill members. This service is provided to all parties and is unbiased in nature. The CRS has existed for almost 100 years.
Accuracy: The article appears to be accurate in its facts. I could not find any errors or conclusions that did not add up. The author had a section on the Newburgh Four case as well as the Liberty City Seven case. These cases are well known and the facts can be easily verified through other websites if a reader was not already familiar with the cases. Bjelopera’s article is reasonable and balanced, and he backs up his assertions with credible sources. He also presented the reader with some of the existing policies in this post 9/11 world. An example of this is a quote he used from Deputy Attorney General, Paul McNulty letting the reader know what the Justice Department’s policy is regarding preventive policing. . The information he has presented in this article is pretty consistent with other information I have read on the topic.
Currency: This article was published in 2011 and is therefore, very current. The author addresses topics that are very relevant in this post 9/11 world. Two examples are the section titled “The Role of State and Local Law Enforcement” and the section called “Detecting the Shift from Radical to Violent Jihadist.”
Objectivity: Jerome P. Bjelopera’s article appears to be unbiased. It is obvious he believes that we need to do everything in our power to prevent future terrorist attacks, and he writes from this perspective. However, he does bring up opposing views. An example of this is in the section called “The Capone Approach.” He acknowledges that this method has come under attack by the media.
Byman, Daniel. “Strategic Surprise and the September 11 Attacks.” Annual Review Of Political Science 8, no. 1 (June 2005): 145-170. Academic Search Premier,
EBSCOhost
Credible Author: Dr. Daniel L. Byman is a professor at Georgetown University in the School of Foreign Service. He was a member of the 9/11 Commission and the Joint 9/11 Inquiry Staff of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees. He is highly respected in topics related to terrorism, international security, and the Middle East. In addition, he had numerous hits come up after conducting a google search on him.
Reliable Publisher: Annual Reviews is a nonprofit scientific publisher. Annual Reviews has been in existence since 1932. It was created by scientists and its mission is to publish scientific reviews in 40 different scientific fields. It is managed by scientists and is considered a reliable organization.
Accuracy: The information is very accurate and backed up with numerous, credible sources. It is filled with a lot of useful, factual information that can be easily verified. The report appears to be well balanced and complete. Byman offered six examples of missed opportunities for intelligence in regards to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. These aren’t just his assumptions, these are facts that were uncovered by the 9/11 Commission. They are all well documented.
Currency: This report was published in 2005 and the information is still accurate and current today in this post 9/11 world.
Objectivity: The author was unbiased in his report. He presented ideas that were backed up by facts. Although this report discusses the failure to anticipate the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the points he brought up are widely agreed upon by various government officials and organizations.
4
3
Assignment Instructions
This assignment will give you an opportunity to analyze the strength of your sources and to practice citing two of your sources in the documentation style you have chosen for your paper. Remember, your final paper must include a minimum of 7 sources with at least 4 sources coming from peer-reviewed journals taken from the APUS library database.
Source Evaluations: After completing this week’s required readings, select 2 of the sources you will use in your paper and compose a minimum one page evaluation of each source. Ensure that 1 of those sources is from a peer-reviewed journal at the APUS Library. Be sure to include your documentation style in your heading. After formatting the source information according to your documentation style, use the headings below to create your evaluation.
First Source (including proper citation and URL)
From Peer-reviewed Journal at APUS Library?
Credible Author: Explain how/why the author should be considered an expert on your chosen topic.
Reliable Publisher: Who is the publisher? What is the publisher’s reputation? Has this source been published by a scholarly or peer-reviewed press? Is this source available in trusted archives, such as subscription databases? If this is from a website, how stable is that website?
Accuracy: Does the information seem to be accurate? Does the information correspond with or contradict information found in sources known to be reliable? Has the information been peer-reviewed? Is there a reference list available so you can verify the information? Are there any factual errors, statistical flaws, or faulty conclusions?
Current Information: Is the material up to date? If it is from a website, when was it last updated?
Objectivity (Bias): Are all sides of the issue/topic treated fairly? Do you detect any bias? (For instance, is the author connected to any institution or foundation that might be paying him, which could suggest bias?)
Second Source (including proper citation and URL)
From Peer-reviewed Journal at APUS Library?
Credible Author: Explain how/why the author should be considered an expert on your chosen topic.
Reliable Publisher: Who is the publisher? What is the publisher’s reputation? Has this source been published by a scholarly or peer-reviewed press? Is this source available in trusted archives, such as subscription databases? If this is from a website, how stable is that website?
Accuracy: Does the information seem to be accurate? Does the information correspond with or contradict information found in sources known to be reliable? Has the information been peer-reviewed? Is there a reference list available so you can verify the information? Are there any factual errors, statistical flaws, or faulty conclusions?
Current Information: Is the material up to date? If it is from a website, when was it last updated?
Objectivity (Bias): Are all sides of the issue/topic treated fairly? Do you detect any bias? (For instance, is the author connected to any institution or foundation that might be paying him, which could suggest bias?)
Strategic orientations,
sustainable supply chain
initiatives, and reverse logistics
Empirical evidence from an emerging market
Chin-Chun Hsu and Keah-Choon Tan
Lee Business School, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, and
Suhaiza Hanim Mohamad Zailani
University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Abstract
Purpose – Global outsourcing shifts manufacturing jobs to emerging countries, which provides new
opportunities for improving their economic development. The authors develop and test a theoretical
model to predict first, how sustainable supply chain initiatives might influence reverse logistics
outcomes and second, the impact of eco-reputation and eco-innovation orientation strategies on the
deployment of sustainable supply chain initiatives. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach – The proposed new model of antecedents and outcomes of
sustainable supply chain initiatives underwent a rigorous empirical test through structural equation
modeling with samples from an emerging market.
Findings – The results show that firms that implement sustainable supply chain initiatives can realize
positive reverse logistics outcomes; the study also provides new insights into eco-innovation and
eco-reputation strategic orientations as theoretically important antecedents of sustainable supply
chain initiatives.
Research limitations/implications – Though the authors identify three components of sustainable
supply chain initiatives, other components could exist, and ongoing research should investigate them.
Practical implications – The findings have important implications for managers in emerging
markets seeking to initiate ecologically friendly business practices. The authors offer strong evidence of
the benefits obtained from reverse logistics in sustainable supply chain initiatives. Policy makers and
firms attempting to nurture sustainable supply chain initiatives should not overlook the important role of
eco-reputation and eco-innovation strategic orientations, which the results identify as important enablers.
Originality/value – This study offers evidence of the critical role of eco-reputation and
eco-innovation strategic orientations in deploying sustainable supply chain initiative programs, as well
as of their mutual effects. This study also offers empirical evidence that implementing sustainable
supply chain initiatives leads to reverse logistics, creating value, and a new source of competitive
advantages.
Keywords Eco-innovation, Emerging market, Strategic orientation, Eco-reputation,
Reverse logistics, Sustainable supply chain initiatives
Paper type Research paper
1. Introduction
Outsourcing trends since the early 1990s have transformed emerging countries into
significant players in the global economy. Global outsourcing thus has reshaped global
supply chain systems in significant ways, such that the globalized manufacturing
network has shifted manufacturing jobs to emerging countries, which providing
new opportunities for improving the economic development of emerging markets. But a
globalized manufacturing network also poses significant risks to individual health
and safety, national economies, and local, regional, and global environments
International Journal of Operations
& Production Management
Vol. 36 No. 1, 2016
pp. 86-110
©EmeraldGroup Publishing Limited
0144-3577
DOI 10.1108/IJOPM-06-2014-0252
Received 20 July 2014
Revised 10 December 2014
29 January 2015
24 February 2015
Accepted 26 February 2015
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0144-3577.htm
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(O’Rourke, 2005). Thus the question of whether manufacturing firms in emerging
countries can manage their profit growth and environmental sustainability goals
effectively has important implications at both national and global levels.
Sustainable business practices can help create wealth for firms and raise the standard
of living in emerging markets; unsustainable economic activities lead to environmental
degradation that can threaten an emerging country’s long-term prosperity and economic
competiveness (Schmidheiny, 1992). Firms in emerging countries might adapt ecologically
friendly strategies and guidelines from their business clients or competitors in more
advanced economies, though rapid business development and continuous environmental
deterioration also have increased the emphasis on environmental sustainability.
In particular, environmental concerns have prompted the governments of some
emerging economies to regulate business practices and set broad environmental
improvement objectives (Child and Tsai, 2005). On the flip side, profit pressures and weak
ecological traditions can decrease firms’ incentives to address the broader range of
stakeholder interests associated with sustainable practices.
In this context, we note three pertinent knowledge gaps. First, many studies have
focussed on green business approaches in advanced economies, but much less research
has addressed the antecedents or outcomes of ecologically friendly business practices in
emerging markets (Blome et al., 2014; Fabbe-Costes et al., 2014). Second, despite the
ongoing debate about the potential outcomes of ecologically friendly supply chain
activities (Prajogo et al., 2014), the benefits or outcomes of sustainable supply
chain initiatives are poorly understood (Roehrich et al., 2014), though outcome measures
are essential for managing and navigating competitive global markets. In a related sense,
surprisingly few empirical studies examine the impacts on reverse logistics (Aitken and
Harrison, 2013), despite their promise for creating new value and providing competitive
advantages ( Jayaraman and Luo, 2007). Third, even when ecologically friendly supply
chain commitments make sense, managers lack guidelines for how to start greening their
firms’ supply chain efforts. A few prior studies identify external “enablers,” derived from
institutional or stakeholder theory (Zailani et al., 2012), but relatively few cite strategically
relevant factors. That is, research into sustainable supply chain initiatives tends to
pertain to organizational capabilities, not the strategic orientation antecedents that
precede the adoption of sustainable supply chain initiatives. By focussing on
sustainability practices, definitions, and decision frameworks, these studies ignore the
need for insights into how to develop sustainability strategies from an organizational
perspective (Zhu and Sarkis, 2007). The fragmented, incomplete knowledge in this area
thus fails to address adequately which key strategic orientation forces will drive
sustainable supply chain initiatives.
In attempting to fill these knowledge gaps, this study makes three primary
contributions. First, we study emerging economies. Some manufacturing firms identify
and target segments of ecologically conscious buyers, in an effort to position themselves
as favorable green suppliers, but most companies refuse to abandon their existing
operations and production processes, regardless of the growing interest in sustainability
(Größler et al., 2013). Thus, manufacturing firms in emerging countries must find ways to
execute existing supply chain strategies through sustainable initiatives that implement
more ecologically friendly programs than appeared in their past supply chain efforts.
In particular, we study Malaysia, which is a member of Association of Southeastern
Asian Nations and an integral part of the global economy; Malaysian suppliers have
critical roles in global supply chains. The country represents an important
manufacturing hub for global firms that seek to outsource the manufacture of
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component parts. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
reports that foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to Malaysia increased from
US$9.1 billion in 2010 to US$11.9 billion in 2011, an increase of 30.8 percent
(World Investment Report, 2013), which also raised Malaysia’s rank to 13 from 16 in the
list of Top Prospective Host Economies for 2013-2015 (World Investment Report, 2013).
Thus, the UNCTAD report affirms Malaysia’s attractiveness as a FDI destination. In this
emerging economy, sustainable development remains at an early stage, whereas profit
maximization is the priority for most manufacturing firms.
Second, we examine the reverse logistic effects of ecologically friendly purchasing,
manufacturing, and packaging programs (De Leeuw et al., 2013; Hsu et al., 2013).
Sustainable supply chain initiatives can deliver reverse logistic benefits; our empirical
evidence even shows that firms can create competitive advantages for new value
creation (Chavez et al., 2013). Reverse logistics refers to returns of products or
packaging, after their use, for reuse, recycling, or reclamation of materials
(Kapetanopoulou and Tagaras, 2011). By engaging in reverse logistics, firms can
recycle remanufactured parts or components, as well as dispose properly of those
components that cannot undergo remanufacturing or recycling (Lo, 2014). In turn, they
constitute a substantial cost-driving area and may result in greater profitability and
customer satisfaction, as well as benefitting the environment (Hsu et al., 2013).
Third, this study considers specific strategic orientation drivers that engender
success in sustainable supply chain initiatives. Specifically, we identify and empirically
examine two new strategic orientation factors that have been overlooked:
eco-reputation and eco-innovation, both of which integrate environmental concerns
into the firm’s business strategies. This study thus offers evidence of the critical role of
eco-reputation and eco-innovation strategic orientations in deploying sustainable
supply chain initiative programs, as well as of their mutual effects. Both antecedents
may be important for understanding how firms respond to ecological challenges and
derive sustainable supply chain initiatives, but neither has been the subject of prior
research. We show that firms wishing to sustain their firm’s supply chain initiatives
should develop their eco-reputation and eco-innovation strategic orientations first.
In the next section, we present a theoretical framework for the strategic orientation
antecedents and reverse logistics outcomes of sustainable supply chain initiatives.
Our research hypotheses reflect input from a wide array of literature. We discuss the
research methodology and the results of the data analyses. Finally, this paper
concludes by delineating the findings, their managerial implications, and limitations.
2. Literature review
2.1 Strategic orientations
Strategic orientation originally stemmed from the market orientation notion, which
was a popular means to measure firm performance. According to Manu and Sriram
(1996, p. 79), strategic orientation refers to “how an organization uses strategy to adapt
and/or change aspects of its environment for a more favorable alignment.” Extended
versions focus on customer or technology orientations, and Narver and Slater (1990)
argue that strategic orientation is an critical component of profitability for both
manufacturing and service businesses, such that an orientation influences business
decisions through its effects on business profitability (Schniederjans and Cao, 2009).
According to strategic choice theory (Child, 1972), strategic decisions also have a
determining role in a firm’s business survival, and the fundamental issue is the strategic
orientation, with a foundational assumption that firms can enact and actively shape their
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environments. Strategic choice theory centers on decision making in organizations
designed to achieve well-defined goals. Thus, managerial discretion, interpretation,
and perspective have great influence in strategic decision making, over the span of
shared organizational actions. To achieve organizational effectiveness, firms must
make appropriate strategic choices that “represent the competitive strategy implemented
by a firm to create continuing performance improvements” (Morgan and Strong, 1998,
p. 1055). Ultimately a strategic orientation is a firm’s overall direction and objectives,
oriented toward an external business environment and driven by top management
(Voss and Voss, 2000). Strategic choice theory focusses on managers’ strategic choices
when their firms face external challenges (Child, 1972). If they have a strategic orientation,
firms choose to leverage their strategy to adapt or change aspects of their external
environment to ensure more favorable alignment. It also helps explain why firms take
proactive and committed actions to address urgent issues such as sustainability.
Firms do not interact with their operating environments in identical ways. For
example, in the same industry, some firms focus on a narrow, limited, product-market
domains, in an effort to protect their market share. Others search continuously for new
market opportunities through innovation and new product development. Responses to
the operating environment reflect firms’ strategic orientations; strategic orientations
largely their choices, establish their strategic positioning, affect their performance,
involve multiple functions, are highly complex and ambiguous, and demand
substantial resource commitments. In addition, a strategic orientation choice refers
to the process of choosing one course of action rather than another. Thus a strategic
orientation offers a means to comprehend the actions that firms take to enhance their
profitability and competitive advantage. This pattern of past, or intended, decisions
guides a firm’s ongoing alignment with its external environment and shapes strategic
policies and procedures (Hill and Cuthbertson, 2011; Minarro-Viseras et al., 2005).
From a sustainable supply chain perspective, firms’ strategic orientations are
critical, because sustainable business practices demand substantial firm resources and
are technically complex, such that they require diverse skills contributed by technical
experts, organizational experts, and top management (Saeed et al., 2014). From a
strategic choice theory perspective, Sharma (2000) examines how firms use freedom of
choice (discretion, interpretation, and perspective) to create strategies that influence
firms’ orientation toward adopting sustainability initiatives. Ketchen and Hult (2011)
cite strategic choice theory as appropriate for studying strategic supply chain
management. With its focus on the best value, strategic choice theory seeks to identify
supply chain models that can affect organizational outcomes and enact the
environment. Strategic choice theory centers on the intra-organizational level and the
provision of certain strategic capabilities (Ketchen and Hult, 2011). It also seeks to
answers questions and challenges in extant supply chain management research.
Finally, a strategic orientation toward sustainable business practices is influenced by
various external agents, including suppliers, governments, regulatory organizations,
green social groups, and rapidly changing technology (Shrivastava and Grant, 1985).
We examine two particular ecological strategic orientations: eco-reputation and
eco-innovation. An eco-reputation is a stakeholder’s overall perception of a company’s
efforts on environmental protection over time. This evaluation reflects each
stakeholder’s experience of the ecological commitment of the company, as well as
images based on the company’s actions, beyond simple compliance with government
regulations (e.g. Chen, 2010). This definition is consistent with Banerjee (2001),
Banerjee et al. (2003) and Esty and Winston (2009). Eco-innovation instead refers to the
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development of products and processes that explicitly account for concerns about
the natural environment in pursuit of the goal of sustainable development and
ecological improvements (e.g. Menon et al., 1999). Thus eco-innovation constitutes a
firm’s strategic resources, from ecologically friendly technological advances to socially
acceptable innovative paths, consistent with the view that product development and
process improvement can be designed and executed in ways that are less harmful to the
natural environment (Fussler and James, 1996; Segarra-Oña et al., 2014).
Hong et al. (2009) define an ecological strategic orientation as a firm’s long-term
commitment to producing environmentally sound products and services by
implementing environmental improvement goals. Environmentally sound products
can promote a firm’s overall economic performance, through internal integration and
external coordination with both major stakeholders, such as customers and suppliers.
Moreover, to ensure a sustainable orientation for the supply chain, the firm must
maintain its successful past practices while promoting and encouraging the
implementation of consistent environmental innovative initiatives that reinforce its
long-term sustainability (Hong et al., 2009; Awaysheh and Klassen, 2010). The adoption
of sustainable supply chain initiatives depends on the firm’s strategic orientation
(Baines et al., 2005). An ecological strategic orientation, such as eco-reputation or
eco-innovation, influences strategic choices, such that each ecological strategic
orientation can influence the impact of the firm’s decision makers on the adoption of
sustainable business practices throughout the firm (Chiang et al., 2012).
2.2 Sustainable supply chain management
Supply chain management encompasses “a set of three or more entities directly
involved in the upstream or downstream flows of products, services, finances, and/or
information from a source to a customer” (Mentzer et al., 2001, p. 4). This definition sets
the boundaries of the supply chain with the final customer. Traditional supply chains
also are based on the production paradigm (Doran et al., 2007). In contrast, sustainable
supply chains is an inter-disciplinary, cross-cutting issue. The 2005 world summit on
social development (www.un.org/ga/59/hl60_plenarymeeting.html) identified three
pillars of sustainability: economic development (profit), social development (people),
and environmental protection (plant). These pillars are not mutually exclusive but can
be mutually reinforcing. In the contemporary accounting framework, the triple bottom
line provides the measure of business sustainability, in terms of financial, social, and
environmental performance. In addition, Peter Senge, in an interview by Harvard
Business Review, identifies sustainable supply chains as the core enablers of the next
industrial revolution (Prokesch, 2010). The United Nations Global Compact recently
launched a guide for advancing sustainability in global supply chains in four key areas:
human rights, labor, environment, and anti-corruption (www.unglobalcompact.org).
With this study, we focus on the environmental perspective of sustainable supply
chain practices. Specifically, firms must to partner with members throughout their
supply chains to improve energy efficiency while reducing natural resource usage,
waste, and adverse environmental impacts, which together lead to a stronger bottom
line. Sustainable supply chains account for the environmental impacts of products and
services as they flow throughout the supply chain. These environmentally friendly
extensions of traditional supply chains include activities to minimize the negative
environmental impacts of a product or service throughout its entire life cycle.
Sustainable supply chains deal with environmental issues in both forward and reverse
versions (Rao and Holt, 2005). A sustainable forward supply chain would address
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www.un.org/ga/59/hl60_plenarymeeting.html
www.unglobalcompact.org
environmental issues both upstream and downstream (Geyer and Jackson, 2004).
Upstream, sustainable supply chains can have significant effects in terms of improving
suppliers’ environmental performance (Sarkis, 2006). Downstream, these sustainable
supply chains focus on reducing the environmental impacts of the products produced
during their use and disposal. Such reductions often offer significant environmental
benefits, because products generate most of their environmental emissions and waste
during their use, such that these detrimental impacts may exceed those generated during
the manufacturing stage. Through these outcomes, sustainable supply chains provide
both economic and environmental benefits (Carter et al., 2000; Rao and Holt, 2005).
2.3 Sustainable supply chain initiatives
Supply chains encompass all activities associated with the process flow for
transforming raw materials into goods for end users. The process cycle begins with
purchasing, including raw material purchasing activities by suppliers. Manufacturing
activities follow, after which the product must be distributed to customers or retailers
(Hill et al., 2012). According to sustainability literature, the potential green elements in
this cycle include vendor assessments, environmental purchasing policies, green
production policies, waste management, training, cross-functional integration, effective
coordination between companies and suppliers, performance evaluation processes,
the selection of suppliers, and leveraging relationships between suppliers and
customers (Giovanni, 2012). We therefore conceptualize sustainable supply chain
initiatives as those designed to accomplish the firm’s strategic supply chain functions –
purchasing, manufacturing, and packaging – in ways that minimize their negative
impacts on the natural environment. This conceptualization is line with prior
definitions of sustainable supply chains (e.g. Hsu et al., 2013).
Green purchasing refers to an ecologically conscious purchasing initiative that aims
to ensure procured materials or components meet the firm’s eco-friendly goals. The
purchasing process can manifest the firm’s environmental preferences if it includes
green purchasing criteria (Saghiri and Hill, 2014). Carter and Ellram (1998) argue
that green purchasing also should reflect efforts to reduce, reuse, and recycle materials.
Thus, purchasing decisions have significant influences on the sustainable supply chain
(Yang et al., 2013) through the procurement of raw materials and components.
Green manufacturing entails the environmentally conscious production of a
product, with the goal of minimizing its negative environmental impacts throughout its
entire life cycle, as well as promoting positive ecological business operation practices,
such as recycling and reusing products (Dam and Petkova, 2014). That is, green
manufacturing considers environmental impacts in every stage of the product lifecycle
(Giovanni, 2012), in an effort to minimize the environmental impacts of manufacturing
processes, generate minimum waste, and reduce environmental pollution. Pursuing
green manufacturing also helps firms lower their raw material costs, gain production
efficiency, reduce environmental and occupational safety expenses, and improve their
corporate image (Zhu and Sarkis, 2007). Thus, green manufacturing helps firms
achieve profit growth and increase their market share.
Finally, green packaging is environmentally conscious packaging of a product, to
minimize the associated negative environmental impacts. Packaging contributes directly
to product success in supply chains, because it can enable the efficient distribution of
products, as well as lower environmental impacts due to spoilage or waste. Increased
attention to global climate change has made green packaging a primary focus area, to
reduce waste and improve air quality, because different packaging characteristics
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initiatives
(e.g. size, shape, materials) have different impacts. Hsu et al. (2013) indicate that green
packaging includes considerations of cost (materials and shipping), performance
(adequate protection of the product), convenience (easy to use), compliance (with legal
requirements), and environmental impact (Liu et al., 2013; Lin et al., 2013).
2.4 Reverse logistics and competitive advantage
Dowlatshahi (2000) define reverse logistics as activities by which a producer retrieves
products and components to recycle, rebuild, or dispose of them properly. Reverse
logistics also might refer to the actual process of return or take-back, after the
consumer has used the product or packaging, to reuse, recycle, or reclaim materials,
or else provide safe refills (Carter and Ellram, 1998). Using reverse logistics as a supply
chain performance measure suggests how companies can obtain competitive
advantages by quantifying the efficiency and effectiveness of their actions (Lehtinen
and Ahola, 2010). Thus reverse logistics differentiate a firm, leading to a market
advantage and opportunities to build competitive advantages.
Specifically, reverse logistics create tangible and intangible value by helping firms
first, extract value from used/returned goods instead of wasting manpower, time, and
to procure more raw materials, second, create additional value through increasing
product life cycles, third, improve customer satisfaction and loyalty by paying more
attention to faulty goods and merchandise repairs, and fourth, obtain feedback to
suggest improvements and enhance understanding of the real reasons for product
returns, which should lead to future product improvements or new product designs
(Aitken and Harrison, 2013). Through reverse logistics, manufacturing firms not only
receive products back from the consumer but also collect unsold merchandise for the
manufacturer to take apart, sort, reassemble, or recycle (Yu et al., 2012). Alternatively,
the returned product might be re-sold in secondary channels and thus generate
revenue (Aitken and Harrison, 2013). Reverse logistics also might enhance customer
loyalty, because customers respond positively to environmentally responsible
actions by the firm, so goodwill generated by reverse logistics could be a source of
firm competitiveness.
3. Hypotheses development
We depict the key study constructs in Figure 1. The two strategic orientation
antecedents, eco-innovation, and eco-reputation, precede sustainable supply chain
initiatives. Sustainable supply chain initiatives then relate to the firm’s reverse logistics.
3.1 Relationship of eco-reputation and eco-innovation strategic orientations
According to strategic orientation literature and strategic choice theory, a firm’s
strategic orientations are critical, because they involve the commitment of a large
amount of firm resources (De Toni and Tonchia, 2003). They also tend to be
technically complex, demanding diverse skills gathered from technical experts,
organizational experts, and top management. Furthermore, strategic orientations
depend on external agents, such as suppliers, organized labor unions, and rapidly
changing technology (Shrivastava and Grant, 1985). Strategic orientation choice
involves a process of choosing a particular course of action, which helps explicate the
actions that firms take to achieve enhanced profitability and competitive advantage.
Because a strategic orientation is a pattern of past or intended decisions, guiding
the firm’s ongoing alignment with its external environment and shaping internal
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procedures and policies, a firm may apply multiple orientation decisions at the same
time to fulfill its strategic goals.
Testa and Iraldo (2010) introduce two strategic orientations that favor the adoption
of green supply chain management practices by firms. We consider an eco-reputation
strategic orientation, a strategy designed to make all stakeholders (customers,
suppliers, society) aware of the firm’s efforts to implement eco-friendly systems
and thus enhance its corporate image. We also note an eco-innovation strategic
orientation, a strategy that guides companies to develop innovative products and
operational processes that can improve their environmental performance. Companies
that are frontrunners in developing eco-friendly product and process innovations have
an opportunity to strengthen their leadership and differentiate themselves more from
their competitors.
An organization’s ecologically friendly strategic orientation thus comprises all
positioning strategies associated with a particular issue, such that greater integration
Strategic Orientations
(SO)
Eco-reputation SO
Eco-innovation SO
Sustainable Supply Chain
(SC)
Upstream SC
Green Purchasing
Downstream SC
Green Manufacturing
Green Packaging
Outcome
Reverse SC
Reverse Logistics
Strategic Choice Theory
• Firms have freedom of choice when formulating and implementing strategies.
• Strategic orientation focusses on firms’ strategic choices when facing external challenges.
• Strategic choice theory centers on the intra-organizational level and the provision of certain strategic capabilities.
• Firms use freedom of choice to influence firms’ orientation toward adopting sustainability initiatives.
• Ecological strategic orientation can influence the adoption of sustainable business practices.
Sustainable SCM Literature
• Sustainable SCs account for the environmental impacts
of products /services as they flow throughout the SC.
• Using reverse logistics as a SC business/environment
performance measure.
• Reverse logistics create tangible and intangible …
lable at ScienceDirect
Journal of Cleaner Production 129 (2016) 608e621
Contents lists avai
Journal of Cleaner Production
journal homepage: www.elsevier .com/locate/ jc lepro
Critical success factors for reverse logistics in Indian industries: a
structural model
Sachin Kumar Mangla a, Kannan Govindan b, *, Sunil Luthra c
a Department of Mechanical Engineering, Graphic Era University, Dehradun, India
b Center for Sustainable Engineering Operations Management, Department of Technology and Innovation, University of Southern Denmark, Denmark
c Department of Mechanical Engineering, Government Polytechnic, Jhajjar, Haryana, India
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 22 February 2015
Received in revised form
22 February 2016
Accepted 16 March 2016
Available online 12 April 2016
Keywords:
Reverse logistics (RL)
Critical success factors (CSFs)
Sustainability
AHP
DEMATEL
Indian manufacturing industries
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: [email protected] (K. Govindan).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.03.124
0959-6526/© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
a b s t r a c t
Industries face significant pressures to enact eco-friendly practices in their supply chain due to the
constraints of natural resources and growing ecological awareness among customers. Reverse logistics
(RL) has been considered as a systematic approach for industries to improve their environmental impacts
and to ensure sustainability in business. Industries are enthusiastic to adopt RL activities in their busi-
nesses, but they also face challenges such as insufficient knowledge and resources regarding RL imple-
mentation. Therefore, we seek to evaluate the critical success factors (CSFs) linked to the implementation
of RL in manufacturing industries in India. In this work, a structural model is proposed by using
Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL)
methods to evaluate the CSFs in RL adoption. The AHP methodology assists in establishing the priorities
of the CSFs, while the DEMATEL approach categorizes the causal relationships among them. The findings
of this work shows that the Global competitiveness main factor is highly prioritized, and thus, needs to
be focused greatly in order to increase the effectiveness of RL adoption in business. The relative priority
of the remaining main factors through AHP analysis is given as Regulatory factors – HR and organizational
factors -Economic factors – Strategic factors. The findings also indicate that Global competitiveness;
Regulatory; HR and organizational main factors are classified under cause group, while Economic and
Strategic main factors belong to effect group. This model will help business analysts and supply chain
managers formulate both short-term and long-term, flexible decision strategies for successfully man-
aging and implementing RL adoption in the supply chain scenarios.
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Conservation of the environment has taken a prime position
among areas of concern for managers and practitioners all across
the globe. Likewise, customers are more environmentally
conscious, which creates a demand for industries to adopt clean,
green, eco-friendly processes for their businesses (Millet, 2011;
Sarkis et al., 2011; Almeida et al., 2013; Seuring and Gold, 2013;
Luthra et al., 2014a, 2015a; Gandhi et al., 2015). Growing
competitive and financial pressures, diminishing product life cy-
cles, and stringent environmental rules have increased the
attention paid to green and Reverse Logistics (RL) activities that
industries embrace to improve their environmental impacts
(Subramoniam et al., 2009; Chan et al., 2012; Mangla et al., 2013;
Zhu and Geng, 2013). RL comprises all operations related to the
recovery and reuse of products and materials, and proves to be a
rational instrument for industries to improve their firms’ sus-
tainability in terms of ecological, economic, and social gains
(Schwartz, 2000; Sarkis, 2003, 2010; Zhang et al., 2011; Nikolaou
et al., 2013; Abdulrahman et al., 2014). In addition, RL opera-
tions and its related practices are also proven to be crucial in
reducing operational expenses (PricewaterhouseCoopers’ report,
2008). RL has gained attention among business organizations as
an effective, strategic approach to improving profitability, product
lifecycles, supply chain complexity, consumer preferences, and
reducing environmental impact (Thierry et al., 1995; Fleischmann
et al., 1997; Carter and Ellram, 1998; Van Hoek, 1999; Stock, 1998,
2001; Toffel, 2003; Neto et al., 2008; Tsai et al., 2009; Hu and
Bidanda, 2009; Gunasekaran and Spalanzani, 2012; Govindan
et al., 2015).
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S.K. Mangla et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 129 (2016) 608e621 609
However, the adoption and implementation of RL practices is
relatively difficult from industrial viewpoints. Many industries are
comparatively less familiar with how to initiate RL and what ben-
efits could be realized through implementing RL practices (Chan
and Kai Chan, 2008). To deal with this uncertainty, scholars and
practitioners have tried to isolate the important determinants of
initiation and implementation of RL among industries (Vijayan
et al., 2014).
Several factors are vital to the successful implementation of RL
in business, such as management commitment, globalization, reg-
ulations, consumer requirements, financial resources, competi-
tiveness, and benchmarking (Jindal and Sangwan, 2011; Chio et al.,
2012; Mangla et al., 2013). Given that these factors are critical for
industries in order to adopt RL efficiently (Chio et al., 2012), we
need to identify and evaluate the various Critical Success Factors
(CSFs) required for the implementation of RL practices in the in-
dustrial supply chain.
The goal of this work is to evaluate the CSFs related to initiation
and implementation of RL on tactical (or operational) and strategic
levels in business. It is no surprise that different industries may
exhibit different perceptions in adopting RL practices in their
respective businesses (Srivastava and Srivastava, 2006). To
acknowledge these considerations and to achieve the above
formulated objectives, a two phase-methodology is introduced and
used in this work. In the first phase, various CSFs that assist in the
implementation of RL from the industrial viewpoint are deter-
mined. For this phase, several different industries operational in the
western region of India were examined. A literature survey and
discussions from industrial experts resulted in a collection of the
most commonly accepted RL implementation CSFs. In the second
phase, the finalized common RL implementation CSFs were sub-
jected to evaluation, using Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and
Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL)
methods, through the input of industry and field experts. The AHP
method (Saaty, 1980) helps to prioritize or to identify the essential
RL implementation CSFs. On the other hand, the DEMATEL method
(Gabus and Fontela, 1972) is used to study the interrelationships
between the RL implementation CSFs with the help of a causal map.
It assists practicing managers and policy makers to prepare both
short-term and long-term flexible decision strategies that will
prove beneficial for performance improvements of RL imple-
mentation from an industrial perspective.
The remainder of the paper is arranged as follows. Literature
relevant to this work is discussed in Section 2. Section 3 provides
detail on the proposed research methods. The proposed research
framework is given in Section 4, and its application to Indian
manufacturing industries is presented in Section 5. Next, Section 6
identifies results obtained from the research and their implications.
Finally, research conclusions are presented in Section 7, along with
limitations and scope for future work.
2. Relevant literature
The present section includes the literature on RL implementa-
tion in industries in Indian context, RL implementation factors, and
draws the research gaps for this study.
2.1. Industrial RL implementation in India
RL can be expressed as the process of planning, implementing,
and regulating the efficient and cost effective flow of rawmaterials,
in-process inventory, finished goods, and related information from
the point of consumption to the point of origin for the purpose of
recapturing value or proper disposal (Rogers and Tibben-Lembke,
2001; De Brito and Dekker, 2004; Blumberg, 2005; Meade et al.,
2007; Wadhwa et al., 2009). With regard to the adoption and
implementation of RL initiatives, Abdulrahman et al. (2014) argued
that RL literature in developing countries context is still in its in-
fancy state. India accounts for approximately 17.5% of the world’s
population. Due to industrialization, manufacturing industries are
growing at a rapid pace, leading to the generation of a huge amount
of hazardous and non-hazardous waste. According to Comptroller
and Auditor- General’s (CAG) report, over 7.2 MT of industrial or
hazardous waste was generated in India in 2000, out of which 1.4
million tonswas recyclable, 0.1 million tons was incinerateable, and
5.2 million tons was destined for disposal on land (MoEF, 2000). In
addition, India Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB, 2000)
documented that some 41,523 industries in the country generate
about 7.90 million tons of hazardous/industrial waste every year, of
which recyclable hazardous waste is 3.98 million tons (50.38%),
landfill waste is 3.32 million tons (42.02%), and incinerateable
waste is 0.60 million tons (7.60%). The waste sector in India has
evolved greatly in last 15 years (from 2000 onwards) and waste is
generated in several forms such as industrial waste, e-waste, and
bio medical waste, municipal waste. According to the report of
Novonous waste management market in India is expected to be
worth US$ 13.62 billion by 2025. It is expected that. E-waste
management market is likely to grow at a compound annual
growth rate (CAGR) of 10.03% by 2025. Bio medical waste man-
agement market may grow at a CAGR of 8.41% (Novonous, 2014). In
addition, the generation andmanagement of Municipal SolidWaste
(MSW) is also becoming a serious problem for India. Indian MSW
management market is likely to grow at a CAGR of 7.14% by 2025.
Based on the latest report of CPCB (CPCB, 2014) 1, 27,486 Tons per
day (TPD) of MSW was generated in India in 2011e12. Of which,
only 15,881 TPD (12.50%) was processed for eco-friendly disposal
(MoEF, 2012e13). Recently, Kannan et al. (2016) suggested that
formal recycling of e-waste could contribute to sustainable society.
From these numbers, we can conclude that there is a substantial
scope of RL implementation within Indian industries that, if
implemented, would be crucial not only in reducing the amount of
waste but also in improving organizational, ecological, financial,
and competitive performance levels (MoEF, 2012e13).
RL is distinguished as a crucial means to lower the waste gen-
eration and to prevent pollution by managing the environmental
burden of products after their end-of-life (Ravi, 2012). However, the
concept of RL is not as popular among Indian business organiza-
tions (Ravi et al., 2005; Hung Lau and Wang, 2009; Sharma et al.,
2011). In India, this hesitance may be due to lack of support from
top management and other business partners; these decision
makers are often not ready to spend more money to implement RL
solutions after investing large amounts of capital to set up the fa-
cility and infrastructure (Ravi et al., 2005). Also, governmental
support has an influence on the strategic decision of RL imple-
mentation for any organization. Analyzing some RL studies relevant
to Indian contexts, Jindal and Sangwan (2011) listed and analyzed
sixteen barriers to the implementation of RL through their litera-
ture studies. They find that RL practices can play an important role
in achieving sustainability in Indian business contexts. In their
study, Sharma et al. (2011) analyzed barriers in context to Indian
industries for RL implementation and segregated factors into
driving factors and driven factors. Srivastava and Srivastava (2006)
examined several categories of products in order to make a sys-
tematic understanding of the possibility of implementing RL in
Indian context. Ravi et al. (2005) described the management of RL
operations by investigating a paper industry. Pati et al. (2008)
presented a mixed integer goal programming model to help in
the appropriate management of the RL system through paper
recycling in India. Govindan et al. (2012) analyzed third party RL
providers with the help of interpretive structural modeling by
S.K. Mangla et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 129 (2016) 608e621610
taking a case study from a tire company. Diabat et al. (2013)
examined the interaction among major barriers hindering the
implementation of third-party logistics in Indian manufacturing
industries. Lack of qualification for employees in third-party lo-
gistics provider and fear of employees of the firm have been found
as the most hindering barriers in implementation of third-party
logistics. Mangla et al. (2013) recognized and analyzed fourteen
variables related to the handling and returning of products by
closing the loop of a green focused supply chain in paper mill in-
dustries in an Indian perspective. Researchers have determined
that the different variables associated with the initiation and or
implementation of product recovery activities (i.e., RL initiatives)
are important to distinguish, and their subsequent analysis may
help the decision makers to achieve higher ecological-economic
benefits (Mangla et al., 2012).
In addition, in the 12th Five Years Plan (2012e2017), it appears
that RL is being practiced in India, but it is still in unorganized
sectors and not much consideration is given to improving envi-
ronmental performances. Under these considerations, Critical
Success Factors (CSFs) of RL implementation need to be identified
and analyzed more rigorously. This step would help industries in
India to implement RL in their respective businesses, and to
approach RL in a more organized chain. It will further assist Indian
industries to improve their economical, social, and environmental
performances, and it should strengthen sustainability in business
(Jindal and Sangwan, 2011).
2.2. RL implementation factors
Gonz�alez-Benito and Gonz�alez-Benito (2006) confirmed that
pressure from stakeholders and the values and beliefs endorsed by
the manager’s environmental awareness leads more quickly to the
implementation of eco-friendly practices in logistics operations. It
also reveals the fact that the organizations with environmentally
aware managers tend not to follow a reactive approach; instead,
they are more proactive towards eco-friendly requirements. How-
ever, in accordance with the study conducted by Chio et al. (2012),
the successful implementation of RL leads to improvisation in the
organization’s performance, financial position, and competitive
advantage. In the same work, these authors also insist that a suc-
cessful implementation of RL is only possiblewith topmanagement
support and commitments. The foremost requirement of all is the
integration of every function for a smooth flow of material in both
(forward and reverse) directions.
Nevertheless, there are several external and internal factors
governing the effective and efficient implementation of RL prac-
tices in the supply chain. Some of the external and internal factors
suggested by researchers are government regulations, customer
demand, policy entrepreneurs, support of top management,
stakeholder commitment, incentive systems, quality of inputs, and
vertical integration (Srivastava, 2008; Hung Lau and Wang, 2009;
Tsai et al., 2009; Rahman and Subramanian, 2012; Dowlatshahi,
2012). Ho et al. (2012) concluded that internal and external fac-
tors significantly influence RL. They suggest that financial and hu-
man resources play an important role in companies’
implementation of RL, whereas tangible resources do not have
much influence on the practice. They also declare that companies
with excellent collaboration and relationship with other business
partners can make use of RL more effectively and efficiently (Ho
et al., 2012). Rogers and Tibben-Lembke (1999) identified several
key RL management elements, including asset recovery, compact-
ing disposition cycle time, centralized return centers, gate keeping,
zero returns, negotiation, RL information systems, remanufacture
and refurbishment, financial management, and outsourcing. Carter
and Ellram (1998) listed some critical RL implementation factors
given as regulations, customer demand, policy entrepreneurs, and
so forth.
It has been stated that the critical (key) success factor theory
enables managers to know the importance of process improvement
for their company (Grimm et al., 2014). The theory of critical suc-
cess factors is primarily based on strategy research, which recog-
nizes the functions, activities, and measures to improve a
company’s competitive advantage from an organizational supply
chain context (Dinter, 2013; Vasconcellos and S�a, 1988). Hence, it is
important to align Critical Success Factors (CSFs) with the firm’s
desired outcome. However, constant supervision is required to
recognize CSF and its relevant activities to support decision making
and to develop high performance management systems, especially
in supply chains (Bai and Sarkis, 2012). Therefore, the identification
of CSF in terms of both how and why is important steps in adopting
and implementing RL initiatives from a supply chain context.
2.3. Research gaps
The benefits of RL implementation are not yet fully realized in
some of the world’s emerging economies. The adoption and
implementation of RL practices is also relatively difficult frommany
industrial viewpoints (Prakash and Brua, 2015). While a lot of
attention has been paid to the implementation of RL practices in
developed countries, there is still a lot to do in a developing country
like India (Jindal and Sangwan, 2011; Sharma et al., 2011;
Subramanian et al., 2014). Govindan et al. (2015) suggested in
their research that multi objective decision making is still a gap in
different studies as compared to single objective analyses in the
area of RL/CLSC. As real world problems are rarely single objective
only, it is necessary for researchers to pay more attention to multi
objective functions instead of single objective ones (Govindan et al.,
2015).
From the extensive literature, we observed that several enablers
and barriers exist to implement RL activities in the business (Jindal
and Sangwan, 2011; Chio et al., 2012; Bouzon et al., 2016). To the
best of our knowledge, the specific consideration of CSFs in the
implementation of reverse logistics to maximize sustainable ad-
vantages is not covered in the literature. Business organizations face
many complexities and challenges in implementing RL activities.
Thus, this work aims to identify the RL implementation CSFs to
provide a theoretical ground for the managers by showing the role
of identified CSFs in RL implementation initiatives. The identified
CSFs can help in understanding the realistic issues to adopting RL
practices from an organizational supply chain perspective. Hence,
within the framework and understanding of the theory of CSFs, the
present research seeks to identify and analyze CSFs to contribute to
successful implementation of reverse logistics from the Indian
manufacturing industry perspective. Tomeet the above highlighted
research gap, the AHP and DEMATEL methods have been used;
other details about the application of AHP and DEMATEL are given
in next section.
3. Research methods
This section presents the description of the proposed and uti-
lized research methods. The AHP method has been used to rank
factors according to their significance on the basis of industry ex-
perts’ opinion. However, there is a need to determine the causal
interactions between factors useful for managers in framing short-
term decision making strategies (Najmi and Makui, 2010). DEMA-
TEL is recognized as a powerful tool in dealing with the issue; it
portrays a basic concept of contextual relation among the elements
S.K. Mangla et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 129 (2016) 608e621 611
of the system. The DEMATEL method can evaluate decision ele-
ments by signifying the interdependence between them, which
may help policy makers to frame long-term decision strategies
(Chio et al., 2012). Thus, the AHP and the DEMATEL methods when
applied together will give a clearer illustration of use for industries
to plan both the tactical or operational and the strategic decision
strategies. However, the details of the research methods are given
in the following sub-sections.
3.1. AHP method
AHP, first introduced by Thomas L. Saaty (1980), is a flexible
multi criteria decision analysis technique, designed to solve un-
structured decision problems. The AHP technique is based on the
fundamentals of the decomposition of the problem, of the pair-
wise assessments, and finally of the generation and synthesis of
priority vector (Ho, 2008; Sarmiento and Thomas, 2010; Luthra
et al., 2015b). In contrast to the analytic network process (ANP),
AHP is a linear evaluation technique. On the other hand, it needs to
develop several pair-wise assessment matrices in ANP, and in
addition, it involves a complex survey process for non-expert’s
viewpoint (Harputlugil et al., 2011). The methodology of AHP en-
ables the managers to analyze the complicated system more easily
(Vaidya and Kumar 2006; Talib et al., 2011; Govindan et al., 2014;
Mani et al., 2014; Kumar et al., 2015; Mangla et al., 2015c). How-
ever, AHP has several limitations as well, given as (Ishizaka and
Labib, 2009):
� Rank reversal (i.e. changes in the importance ratings whenever
criteria or alternatives are added-to or deleted-from the initial
set of criteria or alternatives compared).
� The assumption of criteria independence.
� The use of judgment scales whilemaking pair-wise comparisons
may involve ambiguity and human bias.
The steps involved in employing the AHP methodology (Chang
et al., 2007; Madaan and Mangla, 2015) for this research are
described as below:
Step 1: To define the goal: The goal of this research, i.e. to
evaluate the success factors in implementation of RL, is defined.
Based on this, the factors and sub-factors are established that
help in structuring a decision hierarchy. The sources of literature
and expert judgments will be crucial for this.
Step 2: To collect data and form the pair-wise evaluations: In
this step, data is collected to frame the pair-wise evaluations
among factors. A judgment matrix (designated as ‘A’) is formed
which is used for calculating factor priorities. Let A1, A2 … An, be
the set of stimuli. The computed judgments on a pair of stimuli
Ai, Aj, are denoted as,
A ¼ �aij
�
where; i; j ¼ 1;2;&;n: (1)
The survey instrument in terms of questioners’ evaluation can
be used to collect data. Based on the data collected, the rating or
pair-wise evaluations among the factors are acquired by means of a
nine rating Saaty’s scale, which assists to achieve numerical
quantities representing the values of aij (elements of the pair-wise
comparison matrix) transformed from verbal judgments.
Step 3: To attain the Eigen values and Eigen vectors: In this step,
the framed pair-wise evaluation matrices were operated in or-
der to obtain the importance weights of the factors. Based on
obtained importance weights, the priority for the respective
factor is attained.
3.2. DEMATEL method
DEMATEL approach was developed by Science and Human Af-
fairs Program of the Battelle Memorial Institute of Geneva some-
where in 1972 and 1976 (Gandhi et al., 2015). This method relies on
graph theory, and enables an analysis of complicated problems by
means of visualization techniques (Lin, 2013). Compared to inter-
pretive structural modeling (ISM), the methodology of DEMATEL, on
the other hand, assists in capturing the contextual relations be-
tween elements in the system and defining the strength of their
interrelationships, as well (Wu, 2008). The procedural steps of
DEMATEL methodology (Tzeng and Huang, 2011; Jia et al., 2015)
with regard to this work is given as follows:
Step 1: To define the goal and factors to be evaluated: In this
step, a critical review of literature is required to explore and
gather relevant data. The expert’s judgment is also crucial in this
step for discussion on the issue to achieve the goal. The probable
factors associated with the effective implementation of RL are
selected and finalized as factors to be evaluated from the in-
formation gathered and expert judgments.
Step 2: To form the initial direct relation matrix and average
matrix (M): An initial relation matrix is formulated based on the
direct influence between any two factors and is obtained
through the expert’s judgment by asking them to score the
factor on the basis of scale given as, 0e ‘No influence’; 1e ‘Little
influence’; 2 e ‘High influence’; 3 e ‘Very high influence’.
If ‘n’ be the number of factors and ‘k’ be the number of re-
spondents with 1 � k � H, then for each respondent (n � n) non-
negative matrices can be established as Xk ¼ [xkij]. The notation
‘xij’ indicates the degree to which the expert conceives that factor i
affects factor j. Based on this, it can be possible to construct X1, X2,
X3 …, XH matrices given by H respondents respectively (H repre-
sents the number of experts). To incorporate all opinions from H
respondents, the average matrix or the average direct relation
matrix A ¼ [aij] is constructed by means of Eq. as follows:
mij ¼
1
H
XH
K¼1
xkij: (2)
Step 3: To compute the normalized direct-relation matrix (D):
The average matrix (M) is transformed into a normalized direct-
relation matrix by using the Eq. given below,
D ¼ M � S (3)
where, S ¼ min
2
6664
1
max
Pn
j¼1jmijj
; 1
max
Pn
i¼1jmijj
3
7775 .
Step 4: To attain the total relation matrix (T): The total relation
matrix (T) is computed by using the Eq. given below:
T ¼ DðI � DÞ�1 (4)
where ‘I’ is the identity matrix, after attaining the Matrix
T ¼ [tij]n�n, the summation of all the rows and columns are
calculated.
Let [ri]n�1 and [cj]1�n be the vectors representing the sum of
rows and sum of columns of the total relationmatrix respectively. ri
S.K. Mangla et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 129 (2016) 608e621612
summarizes both direct and indirect effects imparted by factor ‘i’ to
the other factors, whereas, cj depicts both direct and indirect effects
received by factor ‘j’ from the other factors. Sum (ri þ cj) known as
‘Prominence’ demonstrates the total effects given and received by
factor ‘i’, whereas the difference (ri – cj) known as ‘Relation’ dem-
onstrates the net effect through which factor ‘i’ impacts the system.
Specifically, if the value (ri – cj) is positive, factor ‘i’ is in the net
cause group, while factor ‘i’ will be in the net receiver group if the
value (ri – cj) is negative (Tzeng et al., 2007).
4. Proposed research framework
The research framework for evaluating the CSFs in effective
adoption and implementation of RL practices, based on the AHP
and DEMATEL methods, consists of three phases. Phase 1: identi-
fication of the most common RL implementation CSFs from litera-
ture resources and from industrial and field expert inputs. Phase 2:
prioritizing the CSFs to develop the short-term, flexible decision
plans in order to adopt RL practices using the AHPmethod. Phase 3:
analyzing the causal interactions among CSFs to formulate the
long-term, flexible decision strategies in order to adopt RL practices
using the DEMATEL method. The research framework for evalu-
ating the CSFs in implementation of RL in Indian manufacturing
industries is shown in Fig. 1.
5. An application example of the proposed model to
manufacturing industries in India
5.1. Data collection
The main source of the data collection is manufacturing com-
panies operational in the western region of India. A total of 50
manufacturing companies were targeted for the data collection.
These companies were covered under convenience sampling, not
Fig. 1. Proposed Rese
random sampling. Companies were selected on the basis of prior
experience and using personal contacts. There is no formula for
taking sample size in convenience sampling. It all depends upon
the on cost and resources needed for data analysis and time limits
to complete the project. Due to cost and resources and time con-
straints, it is assumed that the considered sample size would be
sufficient and representative of the population under analysis.
Further, after frequent phone calls, e-mails and meetings, 42
companies agreed …
