Sustainable Competitive Advantage through CLSC-strategies

The empiric results reveal that sustainable competitive advantage is highly influenced by remanufacturing strategies and product acquisition strategies of remanufacturing firms. A strategic positioning and the CLSC resources and capabilities are most important in this regard. Remarketing strategies predominantly influence the value creation of the firm. Most frequently mentioned are remanufacturing strategies related to improving the product quality, the output and flexibility of production and the sourcing of components. Production acquisition strategies are most often mentioned in relation to increasing availability of used products and lowering the costs of used products by developing own collect systems. Finally remarketing has a medium impact on value creation. Value is mainly created by targeting the right customer with the right product offering and delivering marketing support to resellers combined with marketing activities focused on end-users. CLSC strategies should not only focus on cost reductions. From this research it can be concluded that remanufacturers attempt a great deal in order to stay ahead of their competition. The data analyses reveal that a majority of the remanufacturers in this research use a strategic position that is based on delivering high quality products that can compete with OEM products in the market. Differentiation strategies should therefore focus on quality, additional service and price.