Title: Supplier selection in the presence of dual-role factors, non-discretionary inputs and weight restrictions

Authors: Abdollah Noorizadeh, Mahdi Mahdiloo, Reza Farzipoor Saen

Addresses: Faculty of Management and Accounting, Department of Industrial Management, Islamic Azad University-Karaj Branch, P.O. Box: 31485-313, Karaj, Iran. ' Faculty of Management and Accounting, Department of Industrial Management, Islamic Azad University-Karaj Branch, P.O. Box: 31485-313, Karaj, Iran. ' Faculty of Management and Accounting, Department of Industrial Management, Islamic Azad University-Karaj Branch, P.O. Box: 31485-313, Karaj, Iran

Abstract: The decision of supplier selection is strategic and crucial to the success of corporations. For selecting suppliers, data envelopment analysis (DEA), as a multiple criteria decision-making tool, has been applied for several times. However, there may exist some particular situations in supplier selection problem; i.e. (1) the presence of dual-role factor which may be classified either an input or an output. The quantity of such a factor may influence the relative efficiency of the suppliers, (2) the presence of non-discretionary or exogenously fixed inputs; in any realistic situation, there may exist non-discretionary criteria that are beyond the control of a management and (3) the presence of weight restrictions; sometimes it is needed to incorporate the preferences of managers and decision-makers into DEA model which is used to select suppliers. The objective of this paper is to propose a DEA model for selecting suppliers in the presence of dual-role factors, non-discretionary inputs and weight restrictions. A numerical example demonstrates the application of the proposed model.

Keywords: Malmquist DEA; data envelopment analysis; supplier selection; dual-role factors; non-discretionary inputs; weight restrictions; relative efficiency; exogenously fixed inputs; manager preferences; decision-makers; productivity; quality management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPQM.2011.041843

International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management, 2011 Vol.8 No.2, pp.134 - 152

Published online: 08 Aug 2011 *

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