Title: Third-party reverse logistics service provider selection approaches and criteria: a literature review

Authors: Duy Tai Nguyen; Raufdeen Rameezdeen; Nicholas Chileshe; Jeremy Coggins

Addresses: School of Natural and Built Environments, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia 5001, Australia; Faculty of Construction Management, University of Transport and Communications, No. 3 Cau Giay Street, Lang Thuong Ward, Dong Da District, Hanoi, Vietnam ' Natural and Built Environments Research Centre (NBERC), School of Natural and Built Environments, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia 5001, Australia ' Natural and Built Environments Research Centre (NBERC), School of Natural and Built Environments, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia 5001, Australia ' School of Natural and Built Environments, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia 5001, Australia

Abstract: Although selection of third-party reverse logistics service providers (TPRLSP) is considered as a strategic decision of firms and the number of papers regarding their selection is increasing, a review about aspects associated with TPRLSP selection is lacking. The aim of this paper is to review the existing literature of approaches and criteria for TPRLSP selection. Content analysis method is applied to examine 50 articles published from 2002 to 2019 to answer two following questions: 1) Which selection approaches are prevalently applied?; 2) Which selection criteria are popular? The results indicate that the most prevalent integrated approach is that of analytic hierarchy process (AHP) with individual methods. Additionally, the most widely used individual approach is data envelopment analysis. In terms of criteria, it is found that organisational performance is the most commonly utilised criterion for evaluating TPRLSPs. Based on discussion of the results and further analysis, future directions are proposed.

Keywords: third party reverse logistics; reverse logistics outsourcing; service provider; decision making process; selection; criteria; literature review; content analysis.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLSM.2021.120252

International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management, 2021 Vol.40 No.3, pp.396 - 422

Received: 10 Jul 2019
Accepted: 13 Oct 2019
Published online: 13 Jan 2022 *

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