Closed-Loop Supply Chains (CLSC) offer companies a unique opportunity to improve their profits whilst serving societal responsibility. The management of CLSC differs in a number of ways from managing supply chains in general. The book examines these differences and how these differences may be dealt with in practice, by offering a concrete framework, introducing the different aspects related to CLSC and their mutual relations, in a systematic logical way as well as cases clustered according to the inputs for a CLSC. The framework and especially the cases from successful companies offer the reader an invaluable help to build and improve CLSC.

Closed-Loop Supply Chains (CLSC) offer companies a unique opportunity to improve their profits whilst serving societal responsibility. The management of CLSC differs in a number of ways from managing supply chains in general. The book examines these differences and how these differences may be dealt with in practice, by offering a concrete framework, introducing the different aspects related to CLSC and their mutual relations, in a systematic logical way as well as cases clustered according to the inputs for a CLSC. The framework and especially the cases from successful companies offer the reader an invaluable help to build and improve CLSC.

In a globalized economy logistics has become a crucial area for the success of companies. The performance of each company depends on the performance of its suppliers and of its business partners. The customers of each company are spread on a large geographical space. For this reason distribution logistics is the most important and complex part of logistics. An efficient and effective management of distribution logistics is a key issue for the success of a company. There are many different problems to deal with, from facility location to transportation, to inventory management, and, most important, to the integration and optimization of the entire logistics network. Quantitative methods provide relevant tools to support decisions, from strategic to operational, in distribution logistics.

Port Inter-Organizational Information Systems aims at providing insights into the ways global sea ports are challenged by the need for managing complex information flows, given the developments in global supply chains. We argue that special port IT capabilities are needed to address these challenges by sharing information and planning and executing container transport in a collaborative way, establishing inter-organizational information architectures, and coordinating interests to successfully implement the technological infrastructures. We focus on the role of port community systems that support port communities in meeting the demands of global supply chains. Port Inter-Organizational Information Systems has a multidisciplinary nature and should be of interest to students, researchers, and practitioners in several fields, including information management, information systems, operations management, supply chain management, and technology management. The book combines a number of chapters where concepts are explained, while referring to a large repository of case studies provided in an appendix. Also, an introduction to the container transport network is provided in another appendix.