Abstract
The wine industries have specificities at strategic and operational level, as they depend on the quantity of grapes in each campaign. The weather conditions affect the availability and quality of production of the raw material (grapes). In turn, these factors affect the quantity and quality as well as the price of wine on the market. The return of the bottled wine, having reached the expiration date or change of quality, which influences the quality perceived by retail customers, especially the HORECA channel distribution (consisting of hotels, restaurants and cafes), requires adoption of a reverse logistics system. It is intended to analyze the logistics activities of companies that implement or not a system of reverse logistics and know the factors that significantly determine that adoption. The study is conducted through an online survey of companies with production facilities for wine and olive oil in the Alentejo region. As a result, it is expected to verify the impact of firm size, geographical areas of dispersion, the existence of information systems, technological investment, environmental awareness, the economic value of remanufacturing and legislation, on the adoption of a reverse logistics.
Key words: HORECA channel, reverse logistics, wine industry