The optimization of Reverse Logistics activities: A Literature Review and Future Directions

Given the changing consumer, business, and government attitudes toward consumption and the environment, firms look poised to adopt Reverse Logistics strategies. Reverse logistics (RL) is a research area focused on the management of the product returns for the purpose of recapturing value through reuse, remanufacturing, recycling or proper disposal. This topic has attracted the attention of not only professionals of the corporate sector but also academics who have addressed different issues of RL over the last three decades. A perusal of the literature shows that various issues related to RL decision making have been reviewed extensively, namely RL networking, outsourcing, adoption and implementation. Owing the importance of RL Forecasting, this paper provides a comprehensive and structured literature review of the RL Forecasting issue. Indeed, a total of 70 papers published from 1986 to 2018 were selected, categorized and analyzed using content analysis method. The research gaps were then identified, discussed and suggestions were made for future research opportunity.