Sorting third party reverse logistics providers with a multi-criteria approach

In today's competitive business environment, companies are driven to reduce costs and increase efficiency. In this context, logistics activities-particularly reverse logistics-have gained strategic importance. Although the significance of reverse logistics has increased due to economic, environmental, and legal imperatives, the inherent uncertainties in this field make it difficult for firms to manage their processes effectively. Consequently, many companies outsource their reverse logistics operations to Third-Party Reverse Logistics (3PRL) providers. This situation necessitates the evaluation of 3PRL providers based on multiple criteria. Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) techniques are among the most widely used methods for evaluating 3PRL providers. Nearly all studies in the literature focus on ranking and/or selecting 3PRL providers using MCDM techniques. However, studies addressing the classification of 3PRL providers through MCDM techniques are quite limited. In this study, a sequential classification methodology, called MARCOS-SORT, was developed based on the MARCOS method, a multi-criteria decision-making technique. This methodology was used to classify 3PRL firms from which a textile company receives service. A series of sensitivity analyses were conducted to analyze the effects of changes in limit profile values on the classification results. Furthermore, the results obtained using an alternative sequential classification method were compared with those of MARCOS-SORT, and the degree of similarity between the two methods was analyzed. Finally, suggestions and comments were presented regarding the use of MARCOS-SORT results in the management of 3PRL firms.