In recent decades, remanufacturing is perceived to be an environmentally friendly option due to the reduced consumption of materials, energy etc. It should be noted that whether the remanufacturing operations are undertaken by the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) or outsourced to the remanufacturers, given the size and the growth of remanufactured products, many OEMs intend to fend off the potential cannibalization of new products sales through differentiating their quality levels from those of remanufactured ones by launching upgraded versions. To understand whether and how the product upgrading strategy impacts on optimal outcomes in the context of the remanufacturing operations undertaken by OEMs or third-party remanufacturers (TPRs), in this paper, we develop two models that highlight the OEM’s product upgrading strategy under the scenarios where (1) the OEM owns its remanufacturing operations in-house (Model O) or (2) remanufacturing operations are undertaken by a TPR (Model T). Among other results, we find that, from an economic performance perspective, it is more beneficial for the OEM to perform remanufacturing operations in-house; however, from an environmental sustainability perspective, such behavior is not always good for our environment. In particular, when the level of product upgrading is pronounced, the remanufacturing operations undertaken by the OEM are always detrimental to our environment, due to indulging in remanufacturing, as seen in Model O.

Here, the authors focused on determining the increase in consumers’ preferences for sustainable products, including that of OEMs, who are responsible for the drop in new product sales. We also assessed the effects of remanufacturing by outsourcing to third-party remanufacturers. However, the outsourcing of remanufacturing not only enables the producer to offer a remanufactured product at the same time as manufacturing new units; it also provides OEMs with the flexibility required to peruse eco-design in manufacturing and/or remanufacturing. For instance, Gree and Midea have heavily invested in eco-design to reduce energy costs in manufacturing, while Xerox has adopted a modular design approach to divert materials away from landfills and towards remanufacturing. Following observations of real-world applications, the authors developed two theoretical models in which remanufacturing can be outsourced to an independent remanufacturer, endowing the OEM with the flexibility required to enact eco-design in manufacturing or remanufacturing. This analysis reveals that OEMs tend to put more effort into eco-design in manufacturing than in remanufacturing. Furthermore, such efforts in the name of eco-design may be beneficial for both the OEM and the third-party remanufacturer. As such, this paper encourages governments to provide more incentives that will encourage OEMs to invest in eco-design in manufacturing and establish a possible “win–win” scenario in terms of both environmental and economic performances.

Traditional wisdom suggests that the interchangeable design in process system engineering, such as modularity or commonality design, can lower the manufacturing cost and act as a revenue driver. Moreover, the interchangeable design will be efficient in both assembling for new production and disassembling for remanufacturing. As such, interchangeable design confronted remanufacturing processing often involves a balance of revenue from cost drivers and cannibalization effects from remanufacturing. Therefore, this paper studies how the original equipment manufacturers’ (OEMs’) interchangeable design impacts the remanufacturing decisions, as well as the economy and environment. Specifically, we develop two theoretical models, in which an OEM makes a strategic choice relating to design interchangeability when the remanufacturing operations are undertaken by itself (Model O) or outsourced to third-party remanufacturers (Model T). This study finds that, although the optimal level of interchangeability related to the product design in Model T is lower than that in Model O, the optimal quantity of remanufactured products in the latter scenario is always higher. This suggests that remanufacturing outsourcing deters the OEM’s strategic choice on design interchangeability, which may be consistent with the fact that Lexmark makes its products less interchangeable to avoid remanufacturing from third-party remanufacturers (TPRs). Conversely, although the OEM is always less likely to outsource its remanufacturing operations to independent remanufacturers, remanufacturing outsourcing may be more beneficial for the environment, industry, and society. These key insights on the environmental groups or agencies suggest that remanufacturing outsourcing may be more beneficial for the environment, industry, and society and depends on the OEMs’ attitudes towards its profitability loss. Furthermore, to eliminate the above contrasting effects between the OEMs’ profitability and other issues, two possible remedies, including a revenue-sharing contract and subsidy-incentive mechanism, are provided to achieve a “win-win” situation.

Although the significance of mascots has been demonstrated in numerous fields, studies specifically examining the pivotal role of mascots in sports marketing remain scarce. This study employed a mixed research approach to analyse the influence of sporting mascots on consumers’ attitudes towards the event. Study 1 utilized online review data from social media platforms to construct perceived dimensions of sports event mascot attractiveness through LDA (Latent Dirichlet Allocation) topic modeling. Study 2 (N = 400) employed structural equation modelling (SEM) to elucidate the primary effect of mascot attractiveness and the mediating role of sport event identification. The findings of this study substantiated the affective associations between mascots as a kind of event spokesperson and consumers’ psychological mechanisms. Additionally, it was demonstrated that event impact, event expertise, mascot uniqueness, mascot anthropomorphism, mascot intimacy and mascot consistency all foster positive event attitudes among consumers.

Although green R&D is recognized as an effective approach to achieving sustainability goals, the adoption of green technology has not been ideal. As such, many governments support green R&D by subsidizing manufacturers’ green R&D or consumers’ sustainable purchases. Accordingly, we develop two theoretic models, where a manufacturer engages in green R&D to compete with a competitor who focuses on producing non-green products, and the government promotes green R&D by either (a) subsidizing consumers (Model C) or (b) subsidizing manufacturers (Model M). Our analysis reveals that the implications of subsidizing consumers and manufacturers are quite different from each other. In particular, we find that although the incentive for green R&D in Model C is always lower than that in Model M, the former scenario enables the manufacturer to benefit more from the subsidy policy. As such, we suggest that if the government cares more about how green R&D affects environmental performance, it should pay more attention to subsidizing manufacturers. However, if the government cares more about manufacturers’ profits from green products, it should subsidize consumers. Finally, it should be noted that subsidizing consumers hurts the competitor more.

Empirical studies suggest that investing in consumer education on green consumption not only naturally induces environmental sustainability but also yields various economic benefits for the original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). However, as far as we know, these studies overlook the potential cannibalization of new product sales. By developing a theoretical model that involves consumer education on green consumption when choosing between in-house or outsourcing remanufacturing, we find that if allowing the flexibility of remanufacturing outsourcing, consumer education on green consumption introduces opportunities for opportunistic behaviors that can compromise both profitability and environmental objectives. Specifically, when OEMs engage in remanufacturing, either in-house or through outsourcing, we observe that the incentive to invest in consumer education on green consumption is greater for in-house remanufacturing compared to outsourcing. This heightened incentive for consumer education enables OEMs to maintain higher profits under remanufacturing in-house, which results in a threat to environmental sustainability.