Based on a review of the literature and interviews with logistics professionals, a
survey of reverse logistics practices was developed. The survey was pretested
withotherlogisticsprofessionals andmodifiedwithrespectto theirinput.
A commercial mailing list of 212 CEOs at US catalog companies selling
electronic goods was purchased. Questionnaires were mailed to this group and
reminder cards sent after two weeks. A total of 81 surveys were returned, of
which ten had excessive missing values, yielding 71 usable surveys (33.5 per
cent).The respondent base represents a variety of electronics industry segments,
including computers, office equipment, household applicances, household audio,
household video, and communications equipment. The average annual sales
volume and average number of employees for respondent firms were $32.5
millionand160,respectively.
An analysis of non-response bias was performed by comparing early and
late responses, per guidelines established by Armstrong and Overton (1977).
Responses from the last quartile ofrespondents (assumed to be most similarto
those of non-respondents) were compared to responses provided by the first
three quartiles of respondents. Comparisons of means on survey items across
groups (p < 0.05) revealed no significant differences for relevant variables.
Thus, non-response bias is not considered to be a problem.