How to operationalize producer responsability principle in open-loop supply chains: a theoretical framework

Most industries have traditionally referred to supply chain as a one-way process in which raw materials are converted into final products to be delivered to customers. In recent times, the paradigm of the green economy, given the need to turn environmental and economic challenges into opportunities, has contributed to raise the attention paid to developing sustainability-oriented strategies for supply chain management. To this end, effectiveness and efficiency of extended and reversed supply chain are critical and timely topics that capture increasing concerns over the way firms can adapt their business models to interlinking technical, socio-economic and environmental frameworks. By performing a critical review of the scientific literature on this field, this research describes nine elemental factors that impact on the overall resource efficiency of open-loop supply chains and the different patterns that can be generated by introducing self- and induced corrections into firms’ strategies. The arising conceptual model, its relevance for designing extended producer responsibility (EPR) tools and the implications for further research on sustainable supply chain adaptation are discussed.