Barriers to the implementation of Environmentally Oriented Reverse Logistics: Evidence from the Automotive Industry Sector

Gonzalez-Torre, P., Alvarez, M., Sarkis, J., and Adenso-Diaz, B.

British Journal of Management,  Vol. 21, No. 4, pp. 889-904, 2010.

Even though reverse logistics (RL) has existed as long as forward logistics, growing social concern for the environment has caused RL activities to become a critical function for many organizations. Yet, barriers to implementation of environmentally oriented aspects of RL still exist. The aim of the present study is to identify the barriers that impede or hinder the implementation of environmentally oriented RL activities, focusing on the auxiliary automotive industry. Empirical evidence and robust statistical analysis provide insights into the practices of environmentally oriented RL and barriers encountered in the Spanish auxiliary automotive sector. Using structural equation modeling we are able identify two types of barriers, external and internal, and to study whether these barriers, previously identified in the literature, hinder environmentally oriented RL practices. The model also allows for identification of the most relevant barriers for the automotive sector. 

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