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The purpose of this paper is to explore, describe and categorise practices of managing product returns empirically in internet retailing.

A multiple case study was conducted involving 12 e-commerce firms and 4 logistics service providers. An integrative data collection approach of semi-structured interviews, documentation and observations was used to gain comprehensive managerial and operational descriptions of returns management (RM) processes.

The findings show inconsistent RM processes, with a plethora of practices implemented and organised differently across firms. RM processes are ambiguous; their design is a result of incremental changes over time, lacking strategy and goals. There is a mismatch between how they are described and understood in the literature and how they are actually used. Practices in gatekeeping, avoidance and reverse logistics are defined and categorised. These serve as a typology of practices for managers to (re)consider, along with 15 propositions on how RM is practised.

The range of RM practices and the processes reflect a lack of scholarly attention and strategic view. Research is needed to develop clear goals on how the RM process can be better aligned with business strategies.

The typology of practices is a benchmark for internet retailers in their design of efficient RM processes.

Systematic and empirical research on RM is scarce compared to forward management. The study bridges this gap as one of the first to describe RM practices in depth, define service as a key activity, and identify a mismatch between theory and practice.

Changes over the last 30 years have given companies increased flexibility and control over their logistics activities. During this same period of time, financial markets have embraced stock options, which allow buyers the right but not the obligation to purchase a stock at a specified price in the future. Recent technological developments could enable the trading of formalized options around transportation and logistics services. This paper aims to propose a framework for enabling managers to extend the use of options to the future use of logistics resources.

Presents a conceptual model that is based on research within the field.

This paper presents a framework for using transportation options in a similar manner to stock or commodity options: a shipper would buy a transportation option from a carrier, or a carrier's agent, which would give the shipper the right but not the obligation to send a shipment in a particular freight lane at a specified future time, for a specified future cost.

The paper provides a new method for structuring future logistics shipments.

From a synthesis of empirical findings and literature, the aim of this paper is to present a conceptual framework for managing retail reverse logistics operations. The framework is designed to assist both practitioners and academics in better understanding the key management aspects involved. The paper also identifies some future research directions that are derived from this conceptual framework.

The study was exploratory and motivated by a grounded theory approach aimed at providing a conceptual framework for managing retail reverse logistics.

Retail reverse logistics operations are multi‐faceted and need to be managed as an integrated supply chain activity. Three overarching management dimensions are proposed; operational performance, organisational integration and management reporting and control.

This is an inductive piece of research and it is important to recognise that only analytical generalisation is claimed rather than any statistical generalisation. Also, the study was undertaken in the context of the UK retail sector and therefore further comparative work could be undertaken in different international contexts.

The adoption of the framework will have impact on practitioners by assisting them in reducing the volumes of products being returned, lower their reverse logistics operational costs and increase their product asset recovery values.

Although there is a growing body of literature relating to retail reverse logistics it is fragmented by multiple perspectives. There is little in terms of frameworks that embody the management aspects involved. Having reviewed the literature the authors' empirical results show that, in some areas, practice leads theory and therefore the findings will add to academic discourse.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the influence of collaboration and information technology (IT) on the reverse logistics competency of firms. Through collaboration firms can improve their ability to handle returns, but this research introduces IT as providing a moderating influence over the impact of collaboration in the advancement of a reverse logistics competency.

A survey was administered to employees involved with supply chain relationships. Empirical evidence from 267 respondents is analyzed with structural equation modeling.

Support is found for the positive moderating influence of an IT competency on the relationship between collaboration and a reverse logistics competency. Additional benefits for logistics performance are also realized.

This research provides theoretical implications for the development of a reverse logistics competency through an application of resource-based theory/resource-based view of the firm. The study is limited to the selected research questions and sample of predominantly US firms.

This research assists managers as they attempt to develop a reverse logistics competency to address the growing problem of returns through collaboration with supply chain members and the development of an IT competency.

The framework developed in this research provides insights regarding the handling of product returns. Specifically, the moderating influence of an IT competency is addressed as it enhances the impact of collaboration on the development of a reverse logistics competency.

The purpose of this research is to provide a systematic insight into corporate social responsibility (CSR) and corporate citizenship (CC) in supply chain development, by analyzing the current literature, contemporary concepts, data and gaps for future discipline research.

This research identifies information from existing academic journals and investigates research designs and methods, data analysis techniques, industry involvement and geographic locations. Information regarding university affiliation, publishers, authors, year of publication is also documented. A collection of online databases from 2001 to 2018 were explored, using the keywords “corporate social responsibility”, “corporate citizenship” and “supply chain” in their title and abstract, to deliver an inclusive listing of journal articles in this discipline area. Based on this approach, a total of 164 articles were found, and information on a chain of variables was collected.

There has been visible growth in published articles over the last 18 years regarding supply chain sustainability, CSR and CC. Analysis of the data collected shows that only five literature reviews have been published in this area. Further, key findings include 41% of publications were narrowly focused on four sectors of industry, leaving gaps in the research. 85% centered on the survey and conceptual model, leaving an additional gap for future research. Finally, developing and developed nation status should be delineated, researched and analyzed based on further segmentation of the industry by region.

This research is limited to reviewing only academic and professional articles available from Emerald, Elsevier, Wiley, Sage, Taylor and Francis, Springer, Scopus, JSTOR and EBSCO containing the words “corporate social responsibility”, “corporate citizenship” and “supply chain” in the title and abstract.

This assessment provides an enhanced appreciation of the current practices of current research and offers further directions within the CSR and CC in supply chain sustainable development.

This paper aims to investigate overlaps, complementarities and divergences between the literature on circular economy (CE) models and related literature in non-linear production models and frameworks, including CE, reverse logistics, closed-loop, industrial symbiosis and industrial ecology.

A systematic literature review was conducted focussing on the benefits of non-linear modes adoption.

The results show a high degree of convergence in findings, gaps and weaknesses of these literatures. Negative environmental, economic and operational impacts are understudied. There is a scarcity of studies identifying practices resulting in empirically tested benefits. The business and society case for non-linear production is still largely built upon conceptual studies, modelling and a few case studies. Despite a normative focus, there is very little use of theory, in particular, management theories.

First, the authors use only one, albeit highly recognized database, Scopus. This database may have omitted some relevant research, journals such as the Journal of Cleaner Production and Resources Conservation & Recycling that are more likely to publish such research and also have a more interdisciplinary approach. This is an important gap and interesting result to claim for more interdisciplinary research. Second, the filtering process used and the focus on Association of Business Schools top journals may have also omitted some relevant research, such as a large stream of literature in specialist journals such as Resources Conservation and Recycling and the Journal of Cleaner Production.

There are contradictions, tensions and epistemological ambiguity that needs to be critically addressed. Such tensions may be associated with the knowledge field that gave rise to these different non-linear production approaches. Many of them appeared at the same time, but from different sciences and disciplines with their own perspectives. Then in doing so, they create confusion in the definitions of CE, assumptions underlying modelling and business choices arising from this complexity. This can be minimized through the critical interpretation of knowledge to elucidate epistemological quandaries to improve the understanding of the economic, social and environmental impacts of practices.

In some way, this result makes sense, as the authors have limited the search to management, business and accounts journals, especially talking about Operations Management journals. This is an important gap and interesting result to claim for more interdisciplinary research.

In addition to gaps previously described, the authors identified areas of tensions where the literature offers inconclusive – often contradictory – findings requiring further exploration. A better understanding of these tensions is required to understand the impacts of non-linear production and develop policy guidelines for industry and policymakers to scale-up CE.

For many innovative organisations, Industry 4.0 paves the way for significant operational efficiencies, quality of goods and services and cost reductions. One of the ways to realise these benefits is to embark on digital transformation initiatives that may be summed up as the intelligent interconnectivity of people, processes, data and cyber-connected things. Sadly, this interconnectivity between the enterprise information technology (IT) and industrial control systems (ICS) environment introduces new attack surfaces for critical infrastructure (CI) operators. As a result of the ICS cybersecurity risk introduced by the interconnectivity between the enterprise IT and ICS networks, the purpose of this study is to identify the cybersecurity capabilities that CI operators must have to attain good cybersecurity resilience.

A scoping literature review of best practice international CI protection frameworks, standards and guidelines were conducted. Similar cybersecurity practices from these frameworks, standards and guidelines were grouped together under a corresponding National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) cybersecurity framework (CF) practice. Practices that could not be categorised under any of the existing NIST CF practices were considered new insights, and therefore, additions.

A CI cybersecurity capability framework comprising 29 capability domains (cybersecurity focus areas) was developed as an adaptation of the NIST CF with an added dimension. This added dimension emphasises cloud computing and internet of things (IoT) security. Each of the 29 cybersecurity capability domains is executed through various capabilities (cybersecurity processes and procedures). The study found that each cybersecurity capability can further be operationalised by a set of cybersecurity controls derived from various frameworks, standards and guidelines, such as COBIT®, CIS®, ISA/IEC 62443, ISO/IEC 27002 and NIST Special Publication 800-53.

CI sectors are immediately able to adopt the CI cybersecurity capability framework to evaluate their levels of resilience against cyber-attacks, given new attack surfaces introduced by the interconnectivity of cyber-connected things between the enterprise and ICS levels.

The authors present an added dimension to the NIST framework for CI cyber protection. In addition to emphasising cryptography, IoT and cloud computing security aspects, this added dimension highlights the need for an integrated approach to CI cybersecurity resilience instead of a piecemeal approach.