Sustainable supply chain operations driven by ‘remanufacturing + product sharing’: operation mode selection and decision optimisation

Abstract

Consumers’ attention to sustainable production and consumption is promoting innovation in sustainable supply chain operations. We build an extended sustainable supply chain with remanufacturing (and/or) product sharing, and consider three operation modes: Sustainable supply chain operation with remanufacturing but No product Sharing mode (SNS), Sustainable supply chain operation with product sharing but No Remanufacturing mode (SNR), and Sustainable supply chain operation with both product Sharing and Remanufacturing mode (SSR). How does sustainable consumption (i.e. product sharing) affect sustainable production decisions and how to choose the optimal operation mode? Our findings: The SSR mode positively reinforces the sustainability-oriented market segmentation and can be globally optimal with an integrated value-added effect of ‘remanufacturing + product sharing’. From the perspective of total benefit optimisation, when the commission rate of a sharing platform and the proportion of service consumers are higher (lower), the transformation from the SNS mode to the SSR mode (from the SNR mode to the SSR mode) can be the best operational strategy. Maximising total benefits may have a compression effect on product sharing, which can be effectively adjusted by improving consumers’ perceived value of remanufactured products. This study provides guidance for selecting combination strategies for sustainable supply chains in the context of carbon emission reduction.

KEYWORDS:

• Sustainable supply chain
• product sharing
• remanufacturing
• mode selection
• operational decision optimisation

Acknowledgments

The authors express their sincere gratitude to the editors and anonymous referees for their constructive comments and suggestions, which greatly improved the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, [YJLI], upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant numbers 72002114, 72132007, and 72261147707), Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province (grant number ZR2022QG068), Fundamental Research Funds of Shandong University (grant number 2020GN044), and 2020 Qingdao Social Science Planning Project (grant number QDSKL2001032).

Notes on contributors

Shuiye Niu

Shuiye Niu is an Associate Professor at Shandong University in China. She gained her PhD degree in Management Science and Engineering from Nankai University in 2017 and worked as a Postdoctor at Tsinghua University from 2017 to 2020. Her research interests include Sustainable Supply Chain Management, Cutting-edge Technology Innovation and Operations Management. More than 10 academic papers have been published in academic journals, including International Journal of Production Research. She has undertaken several scientific research projects as a PI, such as Youth Project of National Natural Science Foundation of China, the General project of China Postdoctoral Science Foundation, etc.

Yujuan Xi

Yujuan Xi is an Assistant Professor at Shandong University in China. Born in 1991, she received her Ph.D. degree in Business Administration from Jilin University, China. She also has come to the University of Queensland for one year as a visiting Ph.D. student. And more than 10 academic papers have been published in well-known academic journals, including Journal of Knowledge Management and Technological Forecasting & Social Change. Her main research interests include knowledge management, innovation ecosystem and innovation management. She has undertaken several scientific research projects as a PI, such as Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province in China and Social Science Planning Research Project of Shandong Province in China.

Yongjian Li

Yongjian Li is currently a professor of Operations and Supply Chain Management and serves as Chair of the Department of Management Science and Engineering at Business School of Nankai University, China. He received his PhD degree from Nankai University, China in 2002. His research interests include Logistics and Supply Chain Management, Operations Management in Platform Economics, and interface of Marketing and Operations Management. He has published more than 100 papers in many well-known academic journals, including Production and Operations Management, Decision Sciences, International Journal of Production Research, IEEE Transactions, OMEGA-The International Journal of Management Science, and European Journal of Operational Research, etc.