Do the Collaboration Dimensions Pay in Manufacturing Reverse Supply Chain? An Empirical Approach

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine empirically the enablers and practices of collaboration in relation to reverse supply chain. The research method used in this research was a quantitative method using a survey approach to empirically test if the following collaboration enables and practices are applicable. The statistical approach was AMOS 26. The findings revealed that, the relationship building and management for implementing collaboration was ranked highest, resource investment and development in reverse supply chain was ranked the next. Furthermore, quick response on returned goods and information sharing with suppliers on the returned products were highest ranked. The research was limited because the study was based in the Gauteng region, which means that a generalised statement cannot be made of the finding, as well there is a need for the study to be industry specific such as electronics, online retailers. The practical implications of the findings are that the enablers and practices are needed for reverse supply practices to achieve its aims. There is lack of research in the reverse collaboration space, this has paper has fulfilled the following gap.

1. Introduction

In the recent decades, environmental considerations, cost reduction, and consumer pressure have become significant concerns worldwide [1] with the intensifying calls for environmental concerns, namely depletion of resources, landfills exhaustion in many countries, and several legislative measures by governments to take back the end of life products, issues like reverse logistics, product recovery, remanufacturing, and reusing have come across as significant areas for development [2]. For this paper, the discussion is around reverse supply chain (RSC).

Rural development is a very key driver in the bid to achieve sustainable development. Development of economic activities in rural areas plays a significant role not just in South Africa, but every country. This cannot be achieved without the preservation of the environment. Sustainable rural development is a mixed developmental concept which is created by an integral merging of sustainable and rural developments and represents a particular combination of their basic elements. In this study the basic elements is reverse supply chain, as reverse supply chain will drive the rural development in South Africa as the concept of sustainable rural development includes social and economic dimensions in the South African context. The economic dimension of rural development refers to the economic growth through the achievement of vitality, efficiency and effectiveness of the economic activity in the rural areas. The social dimension of rural development refers to the social progress through the improvement of the human potential and the creation of equal opportunities for a living in rural areas.

The reverse SC is known as reverse logistics (RL) in most of the literature; however, reverse SC and RL are used interchangeably in this paper. However, logistics is central to the supply chain. The reverse SC is an emerging business practice that supports sustainable production and consumption. Further, the importance of RSC has gained prominence in recent years, as there are high returns by customers due to the expansion of product choices and shorter product life cycles [3].

Reverse Supply Chain (RSC) is the collaborative responsibility of both the producers and consumers to reduce the waste by recycling, remanufacture, reusing, and adequately to dispose unacceptable products or items to enhance environmental sustainability [4, 5]. Globalisation has driven companies to become more flexible and productive by rapidly developing new products and reducing delivery times to meet customers’ needs resulting in supply chains collaborating entirely with supply chain partners to reach short delivery times and shorten product release time. Collaboration is a term primarily used by the forward supply chain organisation. Collaboration works in conjunction with different parties to complete tasks and accomplishes mutual goals. It is a mechanism by which several individuals or organisations work collectively. It includes just over the unification of mutual goals, as in cooperative organisations, and a mutual willingness to fulfil a common aim [6].

One of the most often discussed terms in supply chain management has been cooperation in the forward supply chain. Over the past decades, organisations have seen the need to look beyond their organisation for opportunities to work with partners to ensure that the supply chain is efficient and responsive to dynamic market needs [6]. There is little or no research in collaboration in the reverse supply chain since most collaborative studies have been on the forward supply chain.

Supply chain cooperation is a powerful tool for achieving productive and receptive supply chain management (SCM) [7, 8]. Therefore, extended to the reverse supply chain since the literature revealed that the reverse supply chain is inefficient and unpredictable. Reverse supply chain collaboration is a relationship between partners in the reverse supply chain that aim to share information among themselves to jointly improve the performance of the reverse supply chain and improve the profit margin by redesigning business practices [9].

Supply chain collaboration (SCC) has different definitions. This study considers several definitions by authors such as [8, 10, 11]. The definition from Simatupang and Sridharan [12] defined SCC as “two or more independent companies work jointly to plan and execute supply chain operations with greater success than when acting isolation.” SCC can take on two different relationships: vertical collaboration, the relationship between a manufacturer and a client, or horizontal collaboration, which is the relationship between companies at the same echelon of a supply chain, including between rivals [13].

This study adopts the approach taken by Barratt [14] and Lafferty and van Fossen [15] to classify Supply Chain Collaboration since it does not cover the same dyadic associations among supply chain partners that fit this aim study. This study concentrates on the organisation’s vertical collaboration with its partners, i.e., suppliers, organisations, and customers.

Collaboration in supply chain if well thought out, could be central to successful business operations [16] and brings about competitive advantage [17]. It has become a buzzword in the business sphere in recent times [18]. Nonetheless, a survey was conducted, which revealed that 35 per cent of collaborative initiatives were moderately successful [19]. In practice, however, studies have shown that most attempts to introduce cooperation do not meet the participant’s standards and end in failure [20]. Literature has shown that a collaboration record of accomplishment of execution finds all management strategies in the supply chain unsatisfactory [21]. In the light of this awareness, collaboration must be effective in the RSC.

Successfully implementing collaboration in the RSC and recognising the causes of collaboration failure is the product of a limited understanding of the elements required to implement the company’s collaborative initiatives [22, 23]. Ho et al. [24] developed steps and processes (as shown below in Table 1) necessary to implement and strengthen collaboration for the RSC. These steps and processes are necessary to implement vital collaborative activities effectively in the reverse supply chain. Organisations need to collaborate moving forward as a necessary activity [25, 26], as well as including the prerequisite activities as a backdrop to building the capacity and competence to collaborate in main activities and to help and enhance activities [27] (Table 1).

Antecedents	Collaboration dimension
Managerial support	Information sharing
Internal alignment	Resource sharing
Resource investment and development	Decision synchronisation
Relationship building and management	Goal congruence
Free information flow & system integration	Incentive alignment
Formalisation	Collaborative communication
Rationalisation	Joint knowledge creation

Table 1.

Antecedents and collaboration dimensions.

Hence for reverse supply chain to achieve its full potential of been included in the reverse supply chain process as seen in the forward supply chain. It is important that, collaboration is the centre of the reverse supply chain process. Furthermore, studies have shown that there is little, or no research carried out in the reverse supply chain literature, this poses a significant issue in the reverse supply chain domain as there is little or no research to back findings in collaboration as it pertains to reverse supply chain. Lastly, to the best of the researcher knowledge, this is the first of a kind where collaboration dimensions will be empirically analysed in the reverse supply chain domain.

1.1 Benefits of collaboration in reverse supply chain

1.1.1 Improving performance operationally

SCC improves the performance of the companies [28, 29]. Through working closely, organisations boost the outcomes of working with supply chain partners [30]. The benefits of working closely with supply chain stakeholders consist of a higher responsiveness level and changes in service levels from their joint supply chain projects [22, 28, 29]. The reverse supply chain’s performance came into question because of the uncertainty in the return of goods, the volume of return goods, and other instances.

1.1.2 Increasing service quality

Organisational performance is dependent on exact and timely SC information [8, 23]. Organisations expect a better degree of service level development from the supply chain partnership initiatives. An added benefit of supply chain cooperation is that it contributes to supply chain cost reductions often associated with intercompany transactions, output and inventory [29].

1.1.3 Improving logistical performance

Several investigations have shown that an advanced level of collaboration in the supply chain can improve a firm’s performance [31], in logistics activities [32], which could lead to the future to more collaborative actions because of the success of collaboration [33].

1.1.4 Mitigating risks

In addition, collaboration in the supply chains could also reduce gaming and rationing. It is one of the bullwhip effect’s primary triggers [34]. Additional benefits may well be a higher level of cooperation, which can be attributed to removing the bullwhip effect, reducing inventory levels, the efficient use of transport capacity, and risk mitigation [22].

Collaborative strategies such as information sharing, reward coordination, and decision synchronisation explored in several dimensions [35, 36, 37]. Simatupang and Sridharan [17] reported that partnership dimensions could be prioritised using several measures, such as mutual objectives, information sharing and reward alignment, among many. When organisations work together, they manage their inventory and ordering policies effectively [22]. In a bid to achieve a solution where everyone benefits, collaboration can be applied to pricing strategies [38]. Reducing supply chain costs through a decentralised supply chain approach is one of many reasons why businesses are partnering with their suppliers.

1.1.5 Information sharing

The sharing of information is one of the leading collaborative activities; it is described as necessary [39], foundation [40] and a fundamental prerequisite [23]. Any relationship must have a flow of information [39]. Information sharing decides the direction and extent of the flow of material from product returns and end-user repairs. Therefore, the flow of information involves transactional data exchange and customer feedback on product research and development problems, which is critical for the movement of information flowing from customers to manufacturers through the suppliers.

The sharing of information, as said by Hudnurkar et al. [40], is the glue that binds the relationships between partners, allowing the RSC to be more reactive in addressing competitive advantage issues. Moreover, as supply chain partners are increasingly growing and practising across various parts of the globe, organisations must share accurate and factual time information among partner organisations to achieve common goals. Additionally, this will lead to proper handling among supply chain partners of returned goods.

Crook et al. [41] advocated that small firms must collaborate and share information. They can attain advantages from what accomplished in exchanging information when adopting an adversarial relationship. Nonetheless, companies are worried about sharing information that is so important within their supply chain, as there is worry about the leakage of important information such as demand projections, adoption of emerging technology and new product innovations, and returning to their rivals for goods. Consequently, the interaction between the collaborative RSC should help lessen the likelihood of information leakage. Trust between SC associates plays a vital role in sharing information via the supply chain [42].

1.1.6 Goal congruence

The combining of supply chains with individual preferences has recently been considered [43, 44]. Goal congruence is the level at which SC participants are satisfied with supply chain targets [40, 45]. The goal congruence consists of the definition of the roles and responsibilities of an individual partner, the establishment of goals, specific targets, performance measures, IT standardisation, mutual knowledge formalisation and the joint implementation of the strategy [26].

True partnership is defined as one of the target congruence responsibilities [46] and requires an understanding of the needs and competencies of each member of the RSC to ensure to focus the efforts of individuals working in the supply chain. As a result of specific strategic goals. Moreover, the value of the organisation’s strategic direction and vision raised concerns, as reported by Lambert et al. [47]. Lambert et al. [47] suggested that RSC members buy into the RSC vision and critical business processes. Collaborative relationships should be a key focus for achieving changes and incentives through industries [48]. Lastly, the desires and requirements of the RSC members must consider the RSC strategies and operations to best benefit each member, cash flow and return on investment [49].

1.1.7 Decision synchronisation

Decision synchronisation was conceptualised by Simatupang and Sridharan [12], where the researchers described it as “the extent to which the chain members are able to coordinate critical decisions at planning and execution levels for optimising supply chain profitability. It occurs when the forward and reverse chain partners orchestrate supply chain decisions and combine RSC with operations that create better RSC benefits [12]. Planning decisions are crucial to deciding the most efficient and effective ways of managing the enterprise’s resources to achieve the targets set. These decisions are as follows: strategy planning, demand management, production planning and scheduling, procurement promise delivery and distribution management [50]. Joint planning aligns collaborative partners and makes organisational decisions.

1.1.8 Incentive alignment

This collaborative concept refers to cost-sharing, risk, and the benefits of the supply chain among partners [51]. The alignment of incentives involves assessing the cost, risks, benefits, and designing incentives. Successful SCC requires each member’s ability to share profits and losses equally, and the collaborative result must be quantifiable [52]. Incentive alignment entails a careful interpretation of gain-sharing arrangements, ensuring profits are proportionate to risk and investment [53].

1.1.9 Resource sharing

Resource planning is the utilisation of the supply chain members’ abilities and assets and the supply chain members investing in the capabilities and assets. Physical resources such as manufacturing equipment, return facilities, and technologies are those assets in which participants of the reverse supply chain need to invest [54]. Activities such as vendor-managed inventory (VMI) allow suppliers to take stock-level data through electronic data interchange (EDI) and take the required top-up action in sectors such as retail [55].

1.1.10 Collaborative communication

This process is the process of communication and transmission of messages between SC partners about the duration, direction, mode, and strategy of control. Two-way communication is usually an indicator of close inter-organisational relationships [56, 57]. This research examines communication patterns from the mechanistic perspective of communication theory. They fit with the term ‘collaborative communication strategy,’ which refers to the main communication attributes, including frequency extent of bidirectional flows, informal modes and indirect content.

1.1.11 Joint knowledge creation

SC partners can develop improved market knowledge and response and the competitive environment through working together [58]. The two kinds of knowledge creation activities are knowledge exploration (searching and acquiring new and essential knowledge) and knowledge exploitation (integrating and applying relevant knowledge) [59]. Capturing, exchanging, and assimilating knowledge (e.g., process, technology, or market knowledge) among supply chain partners enables innovation and the supply chain to be competitive in the long term [54].

1.2 Reverse supply chain and sustainable development goals

The review of literature reveals that there has been a lack of study that comprehensively discussed issues in relation to reverse supply chain and cover the market, workplace, environment, and society. These areas are found within the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). The integration of RSCM practices into the SDG will enable entrepreneurs to develop an advanced and complex reverse supply chain management which could lead to a more efficient and ethical reverse supply chain. It is well to note that the goals of sustainable development (SD) have been designed to interact with organisations and stimulate economic effects [60]. While the SDGs do represent a different approach, their potential for transforming the dominant governance approaches to sustainability remains an open question. Thus, global collective action does not end when decisions are reached, but these decisions introduce new practices in a complex political process that can bring in new actors, new ideas, and new action for sustainability in rural developments [61]. It seems, therefore, that the role of RSCM may be decisive in the successful implementation of SDGs in rural development, if development goals are understood as a process in which all components interact with each other [62]. In a similar vein, [63] emphasise the key role of the links that co- create supply chains are embedded within the SDGs. In turn, Russell et al. [64] suggests that SDGs have undoubtedly been successful in broadening the awareness of entities co- creating supply chains, yet their implementation in the reverse supply chain may be problematic due to their very wide scope, hence the need for collaboration among all stakeholders to try to narrow the scope. It should therefore be emphasised that due to the complexity of SDGs, management decision makers may encounter many barriers and limitations at the stage of implementation of objectives in supply chains, this can be eliminated if there is adequate collaboration among the stakeholders in the reverse supply chain, one of the challenges faced is that everyone in the supply chain want to work independently forgetting that they are all interlinked. This situation is influenced by the fact that the development of an integrated supply chain management system aligned with the SDGs is a highly complicated undertaking and requires significant involvement, thus bringing about collaboration in this process of these to achieve the goals to attain the SDG goals.

2. Research design and methodology

According to Denzin and Lincoln [65], paradigms are a broad framework of perceptions, beliefs, and feelings with which theories and practice operate. For Guba and Lincoln [66] research philosophies are the set of feelings about how the world works (ontology) and how it should be understood (epistemology) and studied (methodology). Whereas ontology raises questions about the nature and form of reality to be known, epistemology raises questions about the nature of the Knower (researcher) relationship and what can be known (the problem under investigation). Finally, methodology refers to general principles that underline how we investigate the social world and demonstrate that the knowledge generated is valid [67, 68, 69].

According to Guba and Lincoln [66], positivism, post positivism, critical theory and constructivism or interpretivism are the four schools of thoughts that underline the significant paradigms that structure social science research. For this paper, a positivism paradigm was selected, this approach was selected based on the following points. Quantitative research was adopted for this study, the criterion for selecting is as follow, to test the following collaboration strategies, more extensive and randomly selected respondents, numbers and statistics, Single reality; Objectivity is critical (precise measurements using validated data-collection instruments), the researcher cannot influence the participants. The characteristics of the participants are hidden intentionally from the researcher. The scientific method is confirmatory. A survey research approach was selected to use for this study; this was selected for the following reason: The survey approach is associated with the research using positivist quantitative methodologies [70]. Since a large amount of data is being collected using the survey approach, the findings are generalised to the entire population. The study examines collaboration strategies and confirms them to be used for a confirmatory analysis within the South African manufacturing industry, which involves collecting data from many participants, especially when using structural equation modelling (SEM) technique in data analysis, employing another research approach will be costly and time-consuming [71]. The data was collected using the google forms survey; the following reasons were behind the use such as data can be collected from many participants simultaneously in a quick, easy, efficient and economical way compared with other methods such as interviews [72, 73, 74], It is designed and administrated.

For example, interviews usually require much administrative skills [69], Higher privacy of respondents because issues such as anonymity and confidentiality were dealt with in the cover letter, collecting the questionnaires at once after being completed will assure a higher response rate [75].

2.1 Research design

According to Nachmias and Nachmias [76], research design supplies overall guidance and framework for the data collection and analysis of the study. It is critical to link the theory and the empirical data collected to answer the research questions [77]. A choice of a suitable research design will influence the use and type of data collection, sampling techniques, and the budget [71]. Additionally, when designing a study, the researcher should make a sequence of rational decisions about the purpose of the study, location of the study, the investigation type, role of the researcher, time horizon and the level of data analysis [75]. Before going ahead to the data collection process, the sampling technique is considered a critical concern to the research to be the targeted population and eliminate the bias in the data collection methods and thus generalise the results [76, 77]. According to Tharinger et al. [78], there are four critical issues to be considered when designing the sample as follows; (1) the choice of probability or non-probability sample technique; (2) the sample frame; (3) the size of the sample; (4) the response rate. The choice of probability or non-probability sample technique selected for this study was the non-probability sampling technique, the convenience sampling method was selected for this study, as the convenience sampling methods allow the researcher to select the sample subjects from the targeted population based on who is willing and easily accessible to be recruited and included in the research. This method is the least expensive, least time-consuming among all other techniques. Convenience sampling method is the most used in behavioural and social science studies. The justification for the selection of convenience sampling is as follows; it was not feasible to access data to allow random sampling to take place, as well as time and budget constraints led to a decision to employ the non-random approach with the potential to significantly collect the sample sizes needed for the analysis. This research employed a convenience sampling technique in collecting data that assumes a homogeneous population, and thus, generalisation of results to the entire population should be made with caution. The research must specify the sample size within the targeted population. According to Zikmund [72], using a large sample within the study cannot guarantee precision and thus will waste time and money.

On the contrary, significantly, when statistical data analysis such as SEM is required, using a small size will lower the results accuracy [71]. Therefore, the sample size was determined based on the rules of thumb for using structural equation modelling within AMOS. According to Roscoe [79], the following rules of thumb should be considered when considering the sample size: Sample size >30 and < 500 are appropriate for most research; in multivariate research (e.g., SEM), the required sample size should exceed by several times (preferably ten times) the number of variables within the proposed framework or study. Similarly, Kline [80] suggested that a sample of 200 or larger are appropriate for a complicated path model. In contrast, a sample size varies between 50 and 1000, of which 50 as very poor and 1000 as excellent.

3. Findings and discussion

Table 2 reveals the descriptive analysis. From the analysis, it was revealed what the respondents thought of enablers of collaboration. The respondents agreed that relationship building and management for implementing collaboration with a mean score of 4.05, resource investment and development in the reverse supply chain with a mean of 3.98, which reveals that the respondents agreed with the extent to which this construct enable collaboration. The respondents revealed with a mean of 3.97 that free information flow in the organisation enables collaboration, this means that the respondents agreed with the variables. The respondents revealed with a mean of 3.92 that Internal alignment of the organisation and partners to the implementation of collaboration, which means that the respondents agreed with the variable. Lastly, top management support for collaboration revealed that the respondents agreed with the variable with a mean of 3.79, this means that the respondents agreed with it.

Collaboration enablers	Mean	Std Dev
Relationship building and management for implementing collaboration	4.05	1.088
Resource investment and development in the reverse supply chain	3.98	1.139
Free information flow in the organisation	3.97	1.142
Internal alignment of the organisation and partners to the implementation of collaboration	3.92	1.04
Top managerial support for collaboration	3.79	1.099
Collaboration practices
Quick response on returned goods	4.06	1.072
Rapid processing of order returns	4.01	1.037
Information sharing with suppliers on the returned products	3.99	1.089
Joint knowledge creation among the stakeholders on reverse supply chain	3.94	1.132
Participation of suppliers in product return inventory control	3.94	1.091
Information sharing with customers on returned product	3.93	1.116
Close relationship with customers who purchase the products	3.71	1.131

Table 2.

Descriptive statistics for collaboration.

Furthermore, a descriptive analysis for collaboration practices revealed that quick response on returned goods revealed that the statement was agreed with a mean of 4.06, rapid processing of order returns revealed that a mean of 4.01 which means that the respondents agreed with the statement. Information sharing with suppliers on the returned products revealed that that the statement was agreed by the respondents with a mean of 3.99. Joint knowledge creation among the stakeholders on reverse supply chain revealed that the respondents agreed with the statement with a mean of 3.98. lastly, the respondents agreed with the statement close relationship with customers who purchase the products revealed that the respondent agrees with the statement with a mean of 3.71.

Table 3 reveals the convergent validity and internal consistency of the collaboration construct. The threshold of average variance extracted (AVE) is above 0.5, as recommended by Fornell and Larcker, Hair et al. [81, 82]. The composite reliability (CR) threshold as recommended by Litwin [83] is 0.5, but Fornell and Larcker [81] recommended 0.7. The AVE finding of this study is above 0.5, meeting the cut-off criteria. The CR for this construct is 0.96 because they show that all the indicator variables measure the same phenomenon [77].

			Estimate	AVE	CR
COL1	←	COL	0.927	0.81	0.98
COL2	←	COL	0.913
COL3	←	COL	0.886
COL4	←	COL	0.908
COL5	←	COL	0.908
COL6	←	COL	0.907
COL7	←	COL	0.867
COL8	←	COL	0.901
COL9	←	COL	0.931
COL10	←	COL	0.903
COL11	←	COL	0.916
COL12	←	COL	0.845
COL13	←	COL	0.894

Table 3.

Convergent validity and internal consistency.

Furthermore, the regression weights of the variables measuring collaboration showed that they were all significant, which means that they accurately measured collaboration.

Although several measures for deciding the fitness of a model exit. Hu and Bentler [84] suggested that use of the ML-based standardised root mean squared (SRMR) along with any supplemental fit index such as Tucker-Lewis’s index (TLI), comparative fit index (CFI), Gamma Hat, McDonald’s centrality index (Mc), or root mean squared error of approximation (RMSEA).

This fit index will help reduce the possibility of committing a Type I error (the probability of rejecting a null hypothesis when it should be accepted) or a Type II error (the probability of accepting a null hypothesis when it should be rejected [84]. The X² divided by the degree of freedom (Df) revealed a good fit of 3 to 5 as noted by Tharinger et al. [78], while the goodness-of-fit (GFI) must be from 0 to 1, as saw by Doloi et al. [85]. Similarly, the CFI met the minimum threshold of at least 0.80 set by Hu and Bentler [84] and a cut-off of 1 as set by Singh [86], while the normed fit index (NFI) can fall within the 0.6 to 1.0 threshold observed in Van Dijk, and Akkermans et al. [87, 88]. The chi-square was 4.0, which makes it a good fit. The GFI, CFI, NFI, RFI and TLI all met the cut-off criteria of >0.90 and > 0.95, respectively. The RSMEA gave a fit of 0.99, which is acceptable, and the SRMR is 0.07. The fit index shows that the following cut-off criteria for all collaboration variables are fit for acceptance into the final structural equation model (Table 4).

Measure	Threshold	COL
X2	—	266.082
Df	—	65
p-value	—	0.000
X2/Df	< 3 is good; < 5 is acceptable	4.094
GFI	0 to 1 (0 = no fit; 1 – perfect fit)	0.966
CFI	> 0.95 to >0.80	0.965
NFI	0.60 to 1.00	0.955
RFI	0.90 to 1.00	0.937
TLI	> 0.95	0.952
RMSEA	0.05 to 0.10 acceptable; < 0.05 is	0.099
	good
SRMR	< 0.08	0.07

Table 4.

Model of fit.

3.1 Discussion

This study develops a measurement model which was adapted from earlier studies [87]. Collaboration is a strategy for effective supply chain management [26]. But this has not be the case for reverse supply chain, the findings from this study are consistent with findings from the forward supply chain. Enablers of collaboration such as relationship building and management for implementing collaboration is consistent with findings whereby [88] stated that in order to enable collaboration, it requires high level of trust and information transparency which can only be achieved by building relationship of trust to enable trust and information strategy. Free information flow in the organisation also is one of the several enablers of collaboration, this finding is consistent with [14] who said that information exchange in addition to trust is very key to enabling collaboration. Further the findings of Top management play a significant role in enabling collaboration stated by Fawcett et al. [27], who stated that without top management support it is almost impossible to enable collaboration.

One of the challenges seen from literature, is the ability for returned goods to be processed quickly and with the help of efficient collaboration enablers there will be quick response on returned goods, as information sharing with the suppliers and customers will lead to quick response on returned goods. This is pertinent as information sharing will lead to a joint knowledge creation among the stakeholders in the reverse supply chain but also enhance a rapid processing of order returns. Furthermore, information sharing with suppliers and customers will bring about an enhancement in the decision making across the reverse supply chain, as well as establishing stronger partnerships and closer integration among the customer, supplier and manufacturer [89, 90]. Information sharing with suppliers and customers will lead to increased visibility, velocity and flexibility within the reverse supply chain. In this regard, the type of information being shared, the frequency, direction and mode of information sharing are particularly important for the growth of collaboration among reverse supply chain partners. Prajogo and Olhager [44] showed in their research of suppliers and manufacturers that information sharing improves logistics integration in inventory management, as these findings is somewhat related to the variable as there is a need for suppliers to participate in the inventory control of product return.

3.2 Implication of findings

From the practical point of view, several valuable managerial implications could provide valuable insights for organisations seeking to get involved with reverse supply chain not only in the distribution networks of reverse supply chain, but in the other types of the reverse supply chain networks. The research results proved that reverse supply chain partners practising collaboration should ensure to improve information sharing, decision synchronisation, incentive alignment, resource sharing, collaborative communication, joint knowledge creation and goal congruence to ensure the capability to achieve and support a prominent level of collaborative advantage for their supply chain. The following capabilities of collaboration is key to the development of sustainable rural development as information sharing is key as there has to be a.

Furthermore, using a structural modelling approach, the issue of collaboration in reverse supply chain was examined to gain an understanding of collaboration in reverse supply chain. Information sharing, decision synchronisation, incentive alignment, resource sharing, collaborative communication, joint knowledge creation and goal congruence. The study also suggests that reverse supply chain collaboration in the driving of rural development increases firm performance by enhancing inter-firm trust and commitment, which then reduce transaction costs in the reverse supply chains. This research offers a managerial insight for the reverse supply chain managers in terms of the various aspects of reverse supply chain partners toward the relationships of the partners in the rural areas of South Africa, with emphasis on the trust building mechanism, making long-term commitment more important for reverse supply chain partners. Another important finding of this study is the effect of collaboration to improve the operational performance of the reverse supply chain in rural areas, it is important that manufacturing organisations willing to improve operational performance of the reverse supply chain, should ensure that there is an achievement of the collaboration dimensions. There are different definitions and measures of collaborative advantages, which can help managers to improve shared reverse supply chain processes and achieve benefits for all members.

This study is consistent with the research by Van Dijk, and Cao and Zhang [21, 87], confirms that the use of such collaborative dimension offers flexibility, process efficiency, innovation and business synergy is the most efficient. Ignoring collaborative dimension may be one of the reasons why so many firms failed to develop effective collaboration in their supply chains. Obtaining collaborative advantages may help overcome the challenges and complexities in inter-firm collaboration that a variety of companies have faced. Collaboration is referred to as inter-organisational competitive advantage, which seeks to maximise a common profit for all reverse supply chain members. This synergetic effect of collaboration is what drives the organisational performance improvement. It arises due to collaboration efforts of the reverse supply chain partners, and it is obtained only through joint action and close collaboration. Thus, suggestions that, for a reverse supply chain to perform well, firms should try to create a win–win situation that all participants collaborate to achieve business cooperation and compete with other chain.

According to Cao and Zhang [21], competitive intentions make individual firms promote their own interests at the expenses of others, which is very insidious for collaboration and can worsen or destroy the relationships. Long-term relationships such as reverse supply chain collaboration have to be motivated by the mutuality of intent, goal congruence, and benefit sharing. Thus, managers need to align goals and benefits with reverse supply chain partners for creating collaborative advantage. Such collaborative advantage indeed directly increases the performance for each partner in the chain. As the empirical results of this study show, the main instrument of obtaining collaborative advantages is the dimensions of supply chain collaboration. Under the conditions of the growing uncertainty of business environment and increasing competition, decision synchronisation, incentive alignment and information sharing come at the forefront. Practicing these collaborative dimensions allow firms to improve process visibility and reduce the uncertainty level in decision-making. Furthermore, the benefits of collaboration practices could bring about a smooth implementation of reverse supply chain, thus making available the cores required for remanufacturing, recycling practices. It is noted that this practices are sustainable practices and will help in the attainment of sustainable development in the rural areas, which are often neglected. The aforementioned practices will bring help key into the triple bottom dimension of sustainability which are economic, social and environmental. It will boost rural development economically because it will bring about more exposure and in terms of revenue in the form of tax in the rural areas, socially, it would bring about job creation to the rural area, environmentally it will bring about lower landfill as an there will be increase in awareness of the population not just disposing of their used goods. In addition, SDGs have a strong link to practices implemented under RSCM and their integration into the forward supply chain management process can stimulate synergistic effects in the attainment of sustainable rural development. Managers need guidance on implementing SDGs in the supply chain. The integration of the SDGs and RSCM provides new areas of research and reflection. The implementation of SDGs in a supply chain require a new level of commitment from all the links that co-create value, inform strategic choices, and provide actionable options for daily tasks that align supply chains, firms, and society with goals of sustainable development.

4. Conclusion and limitations

In summary, this study contributes to the knowledge base of collaboration. Firstly, collaboration dimensions are likely to translate into greater management of returns. Furthermore, there has not been a lot of studies on collaboration in manufacturing reverse supply chain and in addition in the South African manufacturing context in relation to rural development, hence it is with believe that this study will contribute to the reverse supply chain industry in South Africa in driving the development of rural development. Managers need guidance on implementing SDGs in the supply chain. The integration of the SDGs and RSCM provides new areas of research and reflection.

The limitation of this study is that the respondents were from the Gauteng province, which means that a generalised statement cannot be made of the findings. It is for this that the author recommends that this finding should be carried out in other provinces. Furthermore, recommendations that research must be carried out on collaboration practices and its impact on the performance of reverse supply chain in the manufacturing industry and furthermore maybe the study should be streamlined to industries within the manufacturing industry.

Conflict of interest

There is no conflict of interest.