LAUSR

Abstract Firms are increasingly focusing on the remanufacturing process in terms of reducing costs, generating profits and protecting the environment. As remanufacturing develops into an emerging industry in China, balancing quality and cost becomes a critical challenge. Thus, selecting the proper quality strategy plays an important role in sustainable development while satisfying different customer preferences. Remanufacturers’ momentum and motivation could be enhanced if quality is pursued; however, deemphasizing quality may leave consumers unsatisfied. Therefore, exploring an optimal remanufacturing quality strategy that satisfies various consumer preferences is essential to guiding remanufacturers’ decisions. This study proposes an integrated model based on consumer preferences over price, quality and sustainability and then considers the demand, cost and profit functions to determine a suitable remanufacturing quality strategy. The findings show that when firms have different consumer preferences, the quality and profits of remanufactured products are positively related when the cost coefficient is small (less than 0.28). When the cost coefficient is between 0.28 and 0.35, profits can increase at the onset; however, profits fall as the coefficient nears 0.35. When the cost coefficient is large (greater than 0.35), profits can no longer be obtained through quality improvement. Hence, the selection of the optimal remanufacturing quality strategy depends on whether the cost coefficient is large or small.