Pubblicazioni

Autori:

Russo, Ivan; Cardinali, S.

Titolo:

Customer Value Perspective in Managing Returns: A Case Studyfrom the Italian Footwear Industry

Anno:

2011

Tipologia prodotto:

Contributo in atti di convegno

Tipologia ANVUR:

Contributo in Atti di convegno

Lingua:

Inglese

Formato:

A Stampa

Titolo del Convegno:

Value Chain Management Conference - Modelling Value

Luogo:

Steyr - Upper Austria University of Applied Sciences

Periodo:

May 4th-5th

Casa editrice:

Shaker Verlag GmbH

ISBN:

9783844000412

Intervallo pagine:

227-245

Parole chiave:

customer value; managing retuns; footwear industry

Breve descrizione dei contenuti:

In the footwear industry, we see a vast array of products and more and more frequent outsourcing of production activities by many firms in order to achieve supply chain’s competitive efficiency, which however generate more perils for the quality of products. It should also be noted that the intangible components of the products, such as image and post-sale service, become competitiveness elements among different firms. One of the complexity elements that we have found, and that is becoming increasingly more relevant, is the management of returns, that is, the whole of material flows connected to financial and information flows that for any reason travel back along the supply chain. The interest in this sector and phenomenon also stems from the observation of a few current trends: sales predictions that are increasingly more difficult to make, given the variability and unpredictability of the market; a difficult integration between marketing and logistics/ production; the unavoidable need of the firms carrying recognized and prestigious brands to control the flow of returns, and the need to guarantee a high valueadded post-sale service. From a practical perspective, Jayaraman and Luo (2007) noted that overall customer returns are estimated at 15% of sales for mass merchandisers and up to 35% for catalog and e-commerce retailers in the United States. Further, the Reverse Logistics Executive Council (RLEC, 2010) estimates that RL costs account for approximately one-half of one percent of total GDP. In view of this transformation in the distribution and supply area, we have observed therefore an increased complexity in market management issues (sales predictions, orders management) which make the relationship between the marketing, sales, logistics and production functions more critical. Managing the flow of product returns is increasingly recognized as a strategically important activity that spans different functions within and across firms, particularly marketing and operations. We focus specifically on managing commercial returns in the shoes industry. Returns management includes several activities characterized by an interfunctional logic. These activities are return avoidance (activities aiming at minimizing upstream the number of returns) and gate-keeping (activities for the control of returns flow) as well as reverse logistics (collection, transport, receipt, sorting) and, last, the activities to redirect and allocate returns. There are many types of returns, Rogers et al. (2002) grouped in five categories: consumer returns, marketing (commercial) returns, asset returns, product recalls and environmental returns. We focus our paper on commercial/marketing returns, for example unsold products or job-outs or product quality reasons that retailers return to manufacturer. By its own nature, a returned product involves several functions inside an organization: from customer service to sales/marketing, production, from logistics to management control/administration. Therefore it requires a coordination between these areas to afford efficient and effective management. Analyzing the role played by the returns management process within the customer value creation is certainly of some interest not just for the inter-functional aspect but also for the role it plays in relationship management strategies. We have seen that the various contributions on customer value hold that many factors may influence this parameter. We make no distinction between consumer-originated returns (e.g., defective product and/or buyer’s remorse) or customer (retailer) originated returns (unsold product being returned from the retailer). Thus, we want to understand how a shoemaking manufacturer can manage commercial returns in order to improve customer value. Many are the causes that make returns management inefficient (and not effective), such as a lack of coordination among the various actors of t

Note:

Value Chain Management seeks to understand, to design and to control the entire network of relevant business partners in order to provide superior customer value and to ensure sustainable economic development of those partners as well as other interest groups. According to a recently developed Delphi study, the most important key challenges which the world economy is facing in the near future are the following: Meeting short term economic needs but at the same time taking care to ensure that the environment is exploited in such a way that future generations have the same opportunities and chances as we have. Coping with the following contrasting issues: the massive gulf between rich and poor; stable versus tense political conditions; well educated and illiterate populations; countries with high debt and countries lending money. Coping with the unbalanced availability of rescources and demographic and socio-economic developments and environmental changes. The Value Chain Management initiative tries to contribute to meeting these challenges by addressing essential open questions in Value Chain Management, in particular: How to manage the shift from self-interest of stakeholders to customer perceived value and sustainable economic development of all relevant partners; how to measure value chain performance and how to share the reward among the partners. How to coordinate, control and monitor networks, actors and processes including aspects to volatility, risk, complexity, hyper competition and the pace of market change. How the decision making process works in a network which bears in mind the interplay of individual behavioral aspects. A double blind review is applied. The paper has been voted as best paper at the International Conference

Pagina Web:

http://www.vcm-conference.com

Id prodotto:

61132

Handle IRIS:

11562/356993

depositato il:

7 luglio 2011

ultima modifica:

1 novembre 2022

Citazione bibliografica:

Russo, Ivan; Cardinali, S., Customer Value Perspective in Managing Returns: A Case Studyfrom the Italian Footwear Industry  in Modelling Value , Shaker Verlag GmbH , Atti di "Value Chain Management Conference - Modelling Value" , Steyr - Upper Austria University of Applied Sciences , May 4th-5th , 2011 , pp. 227-245

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