Title: Prioritisation and assessment of collaboration decisions for supply chain with risk considerations using TOPSIS

Authors: Surya Prakash; Gunjan Soni; Saty Dev; Lalit Upadhayay

Addresses: SoET, BML Munjal University, Gurgaon, India; Department of Mechanical Engineering, Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Malaviya National Institute of Technology, Jaipur, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, Geeta Engineering College, Panipat, Haryana, India ' Department of Mechanical Engineering, NorthCap University, Gurgaon, Haryana, India

Abstract: This paper analyses supply chain collaboration decisions under various supply chain risks. Two types of collaboration, i.e., vertical collaboration and horizontal collaboration are selected in supply chain context and effects of different risk factors on these collaboration approaches are analysed in detail. A total of eight risk factors which influence the supply chain operations are identified from literature across various industries including SMEs and process industries. The paper also identified five approaches (alternatives) for a real collaboration which includes collaboration regarding technology, skill and resource sharing, coordinated and synchronised SC decisions, supply chain goal and partner's alignment, information sharing and knowledge management related collaboration strategies. Techniques for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) are used to evaluate and prioritise these collaborative approaches under above-said risk factors. It was found that knowledge management related collaboration strategies and supply chain goal and partner's alignment related collaboration strategies are most useful approaches to be considered by supply chain managers under risk-prone environment. The implication of the paper for supply chain managers of various industries (ex. OEM, SMEs, process industries) is to evaluate and identify the most relevant approach to a real collaboration so that supply chain risk impact can be minimised.

Keywords: supply chain management; SCM; supply chain risks; supply chain collaboration; risk management; TOPSIS; prioritisation; technological collaboration; skills sharing; resource sharing; supply chain coordination; supply chain synchronisation; supply chain goals; partner alignment; information sharing; knowledge management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJAOM.2016.081302

International Journal of Advanced Operations Management, 2016 Vol.8 No.3, pp.168 - 184

Received: 22 Sep 2015
Accepted: 08 Aug 2016
Published online: 03 Jan 2017 *

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