Title: Evaluation of supplier selection criteria by combination of AHP and fuzzy DEMATEL method

Authors: Rakesh D. Raut, Harsh V. Bhasin, Sachin S. Kamble

Addresses: PGP Hostel 1&2, Room No. 114, National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Vihar Lake, Mumbai 400087, Maharashtra, India. ' Operations Management Group, National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Vihar Lake, Mumbai 400087, Maharashtra, India. ' Operations Management Group, National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Vihar Lake, Mumbai 400087, Maharashtra, India

Abstract: The environment becomes more complicated, so effective decision-making is more desired. Supplier selection problem is a multi-criteria problem that includes both qualitative and quantitative factors. Supplier selection is a critical issue concerned in the process of managing global supply chains. The purpose of this study is to present an analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method that could cope with the supplier selection criteria and interdependencies among criteria. The results generated by AHP can be used to improve performance in a short period of time. In contrast to the short time period, the results suggested by fuzzy DEMATEL method might provide insight to improve performance in a long time period. The model can propose the criterion which is the most important, or affects other criteria the most, so buyers will know which criterion can improve the performance the most and can ask suppliers to modify it. An empirical study is also presented to illustrate the procedure of our proposed method and to demonstrate its usefulness.

Keywords: supplier selection; selection criteria; AHP; analytical hierarchy process; DEMATEL; fuzzy decision making; trial laboratories; evaluation laboratories; multicriteria decision making; MCDM; multi-criteria problems; qualitative factors; quantitative factors; critical issues; global supply chains; SCM; supply chain management; interdependencies; performance improvement; short time periods; long time periods; India; business innovation; R&D; research and development.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIR.2011.041056

International Journal of Business Innovation and Research, 2011 Vol.5 No.4, pp.359 - 392

Published online: 07 Mar 2015 *

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