Title: Ranking the barriers of supplier development using fuzzy AHP approach

Authors: Manojkumar V. Dalvi; Ravi Kant

Addresses: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, 395007, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Sardar Vallabhbhai National Institute of Technology, Surat, 395007, India

Abstract: The objective of this study is to identify and prioritise the supplier development barriers (SDBs). The SDBs were identified through literature review and categorised into six different levels namely strategic, mutual trust, supplier reliability and capability, integrative efforts and sharing, buyer reliability and capability and investment based on expert opinion. A fuzzy AHP approach has been used to prioritise SDBs. The expert's opinion was taken to identify perceptions of the significant SDBs. The results indicate that 'strategic barriers' was found to be the most important, followed by 'mutual trust barriers' and 'supplier reliability and capability barriers' based on their priority weights. The results have also shown 'lack of top management support' as the most significant amongst all SDBs. This research will help organisations to concentrate on high rank SDBs and formulate strategies to tackle them on priority. These findings can be used for developing an evidence-based SDBS ranking.

Keywords: supplier development; vendor development; buyer supplier relationship; fuzzy AHP; FAHP; analytical hierarchy process; literature review; mutual trust; supplier reliability; supplier capability; integration; sharing; buyer reliability; buyer capability; investment barriers; strategic barriers; top management support.

DOI: 10.1504/IJPM.2017.080919

International Journal of Procurement Management, 2017 Vol.10 No.1, pp.106 - 134

Received: 29 Sep 2015
Accepted: 26 Dec 2015

Published online: 12 Dec 2016 *

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