Title: Logistics network structure and design for a closed-loop supply chain in e-commerce

Authors: Weixin Yao

Addresses: Department of Information Management, Glorious Sun School of Management, Donghua University, Shanghai 200051, People's Republic of China

Abstract: Product recovery is increasingly being recognised with the awareness of environment protection and sustainable development. In the past, many researchers paid more attention to reverse logistics only. In e-commerce, a noticeable ratio of product enters the reverse supply chain. It is urgent to design a closed-loop supply chain by integrating the forward supply chain and reverse supply chain. After having an optimal closed-loop supply chain, enterprises can hold strong adaptability to compete in the changing market. This paper introduces an ||extended continuous approximation|| method to help design a logistics network in a closed-loop supply chain as a unique strategy for enterprises to gain a competitive advantage.

Keywords: forward logistics; network structures; closed-loop supply chain; strategy; e-commerce; electronic commerce; reverse supply chain; reverse logistics; forward supply chain; logistics networks; competitive advantage; product recovery; supply chain design; supply chain management; SCM.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBPM.2005.007364

International Journal of Business Performance Management, 2005 Vol.7 No.4, pp.370 - 380

Published online: 13 Jul 2005 *

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