Title: Virtual company formation for agile manufacturing using ANP and Goal Programming

Authors: Mohd. Asif Hasan, Ravi Shankar, Joseph Sarkis, Arif Suhail

Addresses: University Polytechnic, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh-202002, India. ' Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, Hauz Khas, New Delhi – 110 016, India. ' Graduate School of Management, Clark University, 950 Main Street, Worcester, MA 01610-1477, USA. ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh-202002, India

Abstract: In the current competitive environment of further product customisation and agile response to customer requirements, stand-alone corporations are having difficulties in excelling without the aid of the specialised expertise and cooperation of other organisations. Temporary cooperation, achieved through virtual enterprises or corporations, may be valuable in satisfying these dynamic market and customer needs and expectations. In an agile manufacturing environment marked by rapid change and specialised activities and products, the success of the Virtual Corporation (VC) depends on the performance and hence appropriate selection of the various constituent organisations that form the VC which are termed as Virtual Constituent Companies (VCCs). This paper discusses one such comprehensive VCC selection methodology using Analytical Network Process (ANP) and Goal Programming (GP). The VCCs within this multi-phased methodology are evaluated on qualitative as well as quantitative factors.

Keywords: agile manufacturing; virtual corporations; virtual enterprise; ANP; analytical network process; goal programming; virtual constituent companies; VCC selection; company formation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJOR.2009.023537

International Journal of Operational Research, 2009 Vol.4 No.4, pp.422 - 445

Published online: 27 Feb 2009 *

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