The roles of stakeholder support and procedure-oriented management on asset recovery

As the management of returned products is fast becoming a business trend caused by pressure for compliance, asset recovery is increasingly viewed as a fertile area for firms to reduce cost and improve quality. Environmental management is a viable approach for Chinese manufacturers to respond to the escalating international quest for conserving the environment, to tackle the problem of rising raw material costs, and to improve product quality by analyzing returned products. To reach the goals of cost reduction and product quality improvement, manufacturers need to understand how asset recovery can be leveraged through procedure-based practices and stakeholder support to enhance performance. Product type, characterized by different levels of demand uncertainty and time-to-market, may affect the outcomes of asset recovery adoption and should also be taken into account. Drawing on the environmental management and business logistics literature, we provide empirical insights on asset recovery adoption using survey data collected from export-oriented Chinese manufacturers. We find that asset recovery and stakeholder support are complementary in strengthening manufacturers' financial performance regardless of product type. In addition, the performance impact of asset recovery can be substantial when manufacturers' environmental management practices are less procedural, allowing flexibility in the logistics management of product flows.