Adoption of emerging technologies and the impact on reverse logistics: comparative analysis between companies from Brazil and Canada

• Grant number: 18/01978-8
• Support type: Regular Research Grants
• Duration: May 01, 2019 - April 30, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Production Engineering - Production Management
• Principal researcher: Juliana Veiga Mendes
• Grantee: Juliana Veiga Mendes
• Home Institution: Centro de Ciências em Gestão e Tecnologia (CCGT). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). Campus de Sorocaba. Sorocaba , SP, Brazil
• Assoc. researchers: Luis Antonio de Santa Eulalia

Abstract

The environmental issues have increased awareness of the importance of reverse logistics among organizations and the same time motivated the investment in resources, as technological, to make the reverse logistics companies more efficient. With the advent of the Industry 4.0, the impacts caused by technologies on the design and management of the reverse logistics systems need to be investigated as they can modify the current infrastructure as well as provide new business configurations and important competitive advantages. In this context, it is proposed to develop this research whose objective is to analyze comparatively the technological resources adopted in logistics reverse companies and the perceived strategical and operational impacts. In order to analyze these impacts, three stages are scheduled, and this project intends to support the activities scheduled to the second and third stages. The first stage was developed between Aug/16 and Jul/17, by the proponent at Université Sherbrooke in Canada, as a visitant professor with the collaboration of prof. Luis Antonio de Santa-Eulália, Ph.D., who will work on this project as an associate researcher. This initial stage comprehended an exploratory study of literature and included themes as reverse logistics, reverse logistics technologies, industry 4.0, culminating in the conceptual model that is presented in this project. The second stage corresponds an exploratory empirical study of the model through multiple case studies with content analysis. Finally, the third stage which is a pre-confirmation of the model performed with the development of comparative analyses among Brazilian and Canadian companies. It has been applied for this analysis the QCA - Qualitative Comparative Analysis that permits the development of comparative analyses with small samples, i.e., from ten companies. In this process will be used quantitative-qualitative hybrid approach. It will be examined in the perceptions of the operational and IT managers of the Brazilian and Canadian companies related to the technological resources and the impacts. The data collection in Brazil will be supervised by the proponent, and in Canada, it will be overseen by prof. Santa-Eulalia. Using QCA, it is intended to identify the best combination of technological resources adopted by reverse logistics companies and to maximize the positive impacts in terms of sustainability. In terms of scientific contributions, this research aims to propose a conceptual model in order to identify and to relate the technological resources used in LR companies. Considering the applicability context, this research aims to analyze the technological scenario of Brazilian and Canadian reverse logistics companies and to discuss the impacts related to the adoption of traditional and emerging technologies (this last one resulting from industry 4.0) which has been gaining prominence in the society and in the academy, due to their importance to lifecycle management. Related to future research, it is aimed at the validation of conceptual model proposed by structural equations modeling. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

ALESSANDRO SILVEIRA FIRMINO; GUILHERME XAVIER PERLES; JULIANA VEIGA MENDES; JOÃO EDUARDO AZEVEDO RAMOS DA SILVA; DIOGO APARECIDO LOPES SILVA. Rumo à Indústria 4.0: uma análise SWOT para empresas situadas na Região Metropolitana de Sorocaba (SP, Brasil). Gestão & Produção, v. 27, n. 3, 2020-08-07. (18/01978-8)