Is logistics or reverse logistics more important to a firm doing both? What are the difficulties faced in each of them?

Flexibility is the keyword. According to Inbound Logistics, “That’s because globalization is changing the way companies view and use their supply chains to compete and gain market share. Global companies are managing multiple supply chains, and they’re counting on those operations to not only deliver goods on time but to tailor and respond to divergent customer and supplier expectations regarding pricing and packages. To do that, supply chain operators need the capability to personalize offerings for multiple customer segments.” Reverse logistics---the movement of products back toward the manufacturer in a channel of distribution---is a topic that has been given scant attention. However, the increased contemporary emphasis on reverse logistics appears to be the result of public policy and social marketing influences. Broadly speaking, reverse logistics may be the result of one of the following types of initiative: Customer initiative---voluntarily returned goods. Government initiative---product recalls