Take-back System Maturity Model and Development Framework: A Multiple Case Study

Product take-back initiatives have seen limited adoption beyond pilot projects. A fundamental impediment to the development is the lack of holistic and practice-oriented tools that include a maturity model to assess the as-is situation, derive, and prioritize improvement measures, and control progress. This study addresses this gap through two research questions “What are the levels of maturity for a take-back system?” and “What actions are critical for increasing maturity?” The study collected data from 11 case companies from different sectors. The companies were all based in Denmark and included in the study based on their ongoing engagement in designing and developing a product take-back system. Based in the empirical data the study proposes a maturity model specific for product take-back with five levels and corresponding questions to guide the development to next maturity level. The five levels are: No take-back, ad-hoc, explorative, intentional, and integration. The study contributes to practitioners by offering advice on how to structure the development of take-back systems and avoid the initiative becoming ‘another project’, a dead end, that does not permanently change the company. The study contributes to research with empirical informed insights on how take-back systems can realize the business and resource potential.