Title: Barriers to reverse logistics practices in pharmaceutical supply chains: an ISM approach

Authors: Haidar Abbas

Addresses: Department of Business Administration & Accounting, Al Buraimi University College, Near University of Buraimi, P.C. 512, Al-Buraimi, Sultanate of Oman

Abstract: The essence of supply chain management lies in delivering the right product in the right quantity with the right quality to the right customer at the right time, right cost and at the right place. The product may return for customers' dissatisfaction, defect, non-performance, servicing etc. Having attracted the stakeholders' attention long back, practice of reverse logistics still faces issues related with financial resources, technological advancement, commitment of top management, awareness about the legislative measures etc. Identification, classification, and preparation of suitable strategies become the responsibility of the top management. Researchers have tried to establish the impediments of reverse logistics practices in the context of Indian pharmaceutical supply chains. Using the Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM), researchers tried to establish driving barriers and independent barriers. Based on the degree of driving power and dependency, researchers extracted some crucial barriers that require more attention than others.

Keywords: supply chain; logistics; product returns management; reverse logistics; backward supply chain; interpretive structural modelling; ISM.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBEX.2018.094574

International Journal of Business Excellence, 2018 Vol.16 No.1, pp.47 - 60

Received: 23 Mar 2017
Accepted: 23 Jul 2017
Published online: 07 Sep 2018 *

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