Information systems and applications in pharmaceutical reverse logistics

Reverse Logistics and reverse logistics operations have attracted increasing attention in recent years not only by businesses but also the academic world. The growing importance of recycling and re-production issues, the rise in regulations also made reverse logistics activities to become a significant factor of supply chains. Developing environmental consciousness in parallel, consumers are making different evaluations when choosing between alternatives for meeting their needs. Today, consumers prefer to use or buy environmentally friendly, recyclable products that give the least damage to the environment. Therefore, reverse logistics operations are becoming an important part of the business world today and the social life. However, compared to forward logistics, reverse logistics management is a new business process and by its nature, separated from the forward supply chain, and relatively unexplored research area. Healthcare is one of the industries with great potential to contribute further towards the economy. The pharmaceutical industry, which is the third largest sector in the world, is expected to continue to grow at a high rate in the coming periods. The pharmaceutical businesses depend more on logistics and operational management to compete in the global business environment. Therefore, looking into the determinants which will improve the performance of pharmaceutical supply chain is important. Keywords: Reverse Logistics, Reverse Logistics activities, Returns, Pharmaceutical supply chain, Reverse Logistics Information Systems, Reverse supply chain integration