Title: Coordination of perishable product returns with imbalance information

Authors: Jiaqin Yang, Zhaoqiong Qin, Huei Lee

Addresses: Georgia College & State University, Department of Management, Milledgeville, GA 31061, USA. ' Department of Manufacturing Systems, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Greensboro, NC 27411, USA. ' Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI 48197, USA

Abstract: The speed of processing product returns is an important issue for a supply chain with perishable items. Especially, more manufacturers have recently started outsourcing the reverse logistics to third-party logistics (3-PL) providers. This paper proposes a model for such a supply chain with a single manufacturer and single 3-PL provider. The proposed model suggests a way of coordination between the manufacturer and its 3-PL provider with an optimal processing speed of product returns and allocation of total profits between the two parties. Specifically, the model provides the optimal coordination strategies for the manufacturer when both parties have the imbalance information about the processing cost of the 3-PL provider.

Keywords: coordination strategies; enterprise development; imbalance information; perishable products; reverse logistics; supply chain management; product returns; third-party logistics; 3PL; profit allocation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMED.2009.026080

International Journal of Management and Enterprise Development, 2009 Vol.7 No.3, pp.281 - 298

Published online: 26 May 2009 *

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