Title: Identification and ranking challenges facing the growth of small and medium-sized firms using DEMATEL, ANP and VIKOR (case study: administrative and official furniture manufacturing industry)

Authors: Eslamkhah Mahdi; Maleki Reza; Azari Hassan

Addresses: Department of Management, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran ' Zanjan Tax Administration, Zanjan, Iran ' Shirvan Centre, University of Applied Science and Technology, Shirvan, North khorasan, Iran

Abstract: Accounted for a high proportion of SMEs production and undeniable role of them in export and value added creation, has led the focus of economists from large and industrial enterprises to SMEs. Current furniture and wooden artificial production industry has become one of the most industrial branches generating employment and wealth in developing countries. This research with identifying and ranking challenges of SMEs in growth level in industrial of manufacturing office furniture depicted the conceptual model and weighted and ranked the challenges after analysing data with multiple attribute decision making (MADM). After analysing data with MADM approach, the article finds that the production and marketing and selling in main challenges set have the highest and lowest priority, respectively. After analysing the sub-criteria set within each criteria are done by the approach, the article cites offered solutions removing each of them.

Keywords: SMEs; furniture industry; multiple attribute decision making approach.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2017.087841

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2017 Vol.32 No.4, pp.461 - 478

Received: 08 Jun 2015
Accepted: 29 Jan 2016
Published online: 06 Nov 2017 *

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