Title: Research on fourth party reverse logistics based on nonprofit organisation

Authors: Qiong Liu, Jingjing Ye

Addresses: State Key Laboratory of Digital Manufacturing Equipment and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, P.R. China. ' State Key Laboratory of Digital Manufacturing Equipment and Technology, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074, P.R. China

Abstract: In order to help reverse logistics service providers to reach economies of scale, share facilities and reduce investments, fourth party reverse logistics based on nonprofit organisation is proposed. As one of advanced logistics modes, fourth party logistics (4PL) can consolidate the scattered demands of returns and resources of logistics on the bases of the data pool. Putting the interest of 4PL outside the interest group can avoid the competition between third party logistics providers and 4PL and might promote application of 4PL. Three nonprofit organisations which are potential fourth party reverse logistics are yielded. The collaborative relationships among their participators and application fields are submitted. At the end, Wuhan logistics market in China is studied to validate the feasibility of proposed fourth party reverse logistics based on nonprofit organisation. Some conclusions are presented.

Keywords: fourth party logistics; 4PL service providers; third party logistics; 3PL; reverse logistics; logistics alliances; nonprofit organisations; collaboration; China.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLEG.2010.032428

International Journal of Logistics Economics and Globalisation, 2010 Vol.2 No.2, pp.118 - 128

Published online: 02 Apr 2010 *

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