Priority model for critical success factors in reverse flow inventory management

Reverse logistics is gaining prominence in a global, economic, social, and political context due to the increasing number of disposable products, a higher environmental concern, and the pursuit of competitive advantage. Thus, reverse flow inventory management is necessary for efficient operational control. However, many organisations are not able to identify and manage all their critical success factors (CSF) simultaneously. Thus, this paper proposes an integrative decision model to identify and prioritise CSFs. This model combines soft and hard operation research methods. The priority model can aid DMs to think creatively about their values in messy situations and express them in a structured way, requiring less cognitive effort because it uses partial information in its elicitation procedure. A case study in a Brazilian steel company was conducted to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed model. This model was able to generate practical, managerial, environmental, and social results.