Reverse logistics is more than just returns management, it is "activities related to returns avoidance, gatekeeping, disposal and all other after-market supply chain issues". Returns management—increasingly being recognized as affecting competitive positioning—provides an important link between marketing and logistics. The broad nature of its cross-functional impact suggests that firms would benefit by improving internal integration efforts. In particular, a firm's ability to react to and plan for the influence of external factors on the returns management process is improved by such internal integration. In a firm's planning for returns, a primary factor is the remaining value of the material returning and how to recover that value. "Returned goods, or elements of the product, could even be returned to suppliers and supply chain partners for them to re-manufacture".