Managing take-back decisions for a manufacturer and two retailers in the presence of refurbishing

Companies have just begun to understand how crucial sustainability has become. Refurbishing has developed into an important matter since it is frequently seen as a successful, responsible end-of-life management solution for various things. Even though refurbishing has numerous benefits, many manufacturers have opted to delegate this activity to retailers. In contrast side, manufacturers also should consider strategies for procuring used products from the market. This raises the question of whether manufacturers should mandate that retailers oversee their take-back activities. In this research, we involve a manufacturer and two retailers, where the first retailer only sells new products while the second retailer only sells refurbished products. Two models have been designed to tackle this problem: (i) direct collecting (Model D); alternatively, (ii) outsource collecting (Model O). We also separate the market into high-end and low-end categories. In the current work, we present a framework in which business decision is influenced by evaluating the percentage of customers who migrate for a distinct price difference. This paper analyzes the advantages and disadvantages of several sustainability strategies using mathematical modeling.