Determining Reverse Logistics Motivation Factors and Barriers: Multiple Criteria Decision Making Application on Pipe Manufacturing Company

In a climate of scarcity of natural resources and growing populations, changing and increasing demand for products has brought a new perspective to supply chain and business management. Governments and customers demand to know how raw materials are extracted, where and how they are delivered, how they are produced and how they are distributed. As a result, businesses experience pressure on how conform to environmental regulations and standards and consumers and shareholders have questions about environmental responsibility. Green and closed-loop supply chains, which are also related to the subject of reverse logistics, are linked to industrial ecology and are considered a prerequisite of sustainability. As a subject of this paper, reverse logistics are viewed as a part of environmental sustainability that is gaining increased attention. In reverse logistics practices there are motivation factors that affect business but also some problems that need to be addressed. Not all the driving factors and problems have equal importance and power, so it is a necessity to unearth which factors are important or dominant as drivers and barriers. In this study, after implementing AHP in pipe manufacturing company, obligatory reasons, customer demand and enhancing corporate image were found to be the most primary drivers that enable reverse logistics practices. Legal issues, lack of trained human resources and low product quality were identified as the most important problems/barriers in practice and so provide a road map and solutions that can be implemented on a priority basis.