Title: A Grey-based approach for ERP vendor selection in small and medium enterprises in Qatar

Authors: Habibullah Khan; Mohd. Nishat Faisal

Addresses: Department of Accounting and Information Systems, College of Business and Economics, Qatar University, P.O. Box 2713, Doha, Qatar ' Department of Management and Marketing, College of Business and Economics, Qatar University, P.O. Box 2713, Doha, Qatar

Abstract: This paper aims to develop a multi-criteria decision model for the purpose of ERP vendor selection. To tackle the multi-criteria nature and the presence of both qualitative and quantitative factors, Grey-based model was proposed. Grey theory was utilised as it can effectively solve the multi-criteria decision making problems with small datasets. The major contributions of this work have been summarised as follows: development and implementation of a multi-criteria decision model for ERP vendor selection; group based decision making for comparing among attributes and ERP alternatives and efficient use of the concept of grey numbers to facilitate the solution of the model for SMEs in Qatar. The proposed method will help information system managers to weigh the ERP alternatives before actually implementing them, which will in turn save money and time.

Keywords: enterprise resources planning; ERP; small and medium-sized enterprises; SMEs; grey theory; multicriteria decision making; MCDM; vendor selection; Qatar; group based decision making.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIS.2015.070205

International Journal of Business Information Systems, 2015 Vol.19 No.4, pp.465 - 487

Received: 08 Jan 2014
Accepted: 30 Apr 2014

Published online: 29 Jun 2015 *

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