Supplier Selection Under Conditions of Uncertainty

Author(s):  
Farouq Alhourani ◽  
Umesh Saxena

Supplier selection is one of the critical decision-making problems in supply chain management. The purpose of this research is to investigate the process that is commonly used for calculating a “score” for each supplier when certain attributes are used. In decision making theory, the selection of “best” alternative can be done under three different conditions: certainty, risk, and uncertainty. Most of the current research uses “certainty” conditions. This article suggests that the “uncertainty” condition should be used in supplier selection as it corresponds to real-life more than the certainty or risk condition. “Maximum entropy” method is used to ascertain the probability function of the outcomes. Once the probability functions are known, means and variance can be calculated, and the suppliers can be evaluated.

2019 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 455 ◽  
Author(s):  
Goran Petrović ◽  
Jelena Mihajlović ◽  
Žarko Ćojbašić ◽  
Miloš Madić ◽  
Dragan Marinković

The evaluation and selection of an optimal, efficient and reliable supplier is becoming more and more important for companies in today’s logistics and supply chain management. Decision-making in the supplier selection domain, as an essential component of the supply chain management, is a complex process since a wide range of diverse criteria, stakeholders and possible solutions are embedded into this process. This paper shows a fuzzy approach in multi – criteria decision-making (MCDM) process. Criteria weights have been determined by fuzzy SWARA (Step-wise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis) method. Chosen methods, fuzzy TOPSIS (Technique for the Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution), fuzzy WASPAS (Weighted Aggregated Sum Product Assessment) and fuzzy ARAS (Additive Ratio Assessment) have been used for evaluation and selection of suppliers in the case of procurement of THK Linear motion guide components by the group of specialists in the “Lagerton” company in Serbia. Finally, results obtained using different MCDM approaches were compared in order to help managers to identify appropriate method for supplier selection problem solving.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Huiyuan Zhang ◽  
Guiwu Wei ◽  
Xudong Chen

The green supplier selection is one of the popular multiple attribute group decision making (MAGDM) problems. The spherical fuzzy sets (SFSs) can fully express the complexity and fuzziness of evaluation information for green supplier selection. Furthermore, the classic MABAC (multi-attributive border approximation area comparison) method based on the cumulative prospect theory (CPT-MABAC) is designed, which is an optional method in reflecting the psychological perceptions of decision makers (DMs). Therefore, in this article, we propose a spherical fuzzy CPT-MABAC (SF-CPT-MABAC) method for MAGDM issues. Meanwhile, considering the different preferences of DMs to attribute sets, we obtain the objective weights of attributes through entropy method. Focusing on the current popular problems, this paper applies the proposed method for green supplier selection and proves for green supplier selection based on SF-CPT-MABAC method. Finally, by comparing existing methods, the effectiveness of the proposed method is certified.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chang Liu ◽  
Pratibha Rani ◽  
Khushboo Pachori

PurposeDue to stern management policies and increased community attentiveness, sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) performs a vast component in endeavor operation and production management. Sustainable circular supplier selection (SCSS) and evaluation presented the environmental and social concerns in the fields of circular economy and sustainable supplier selection. Choosing the optimal SCSS is vital for organizations to persuade SSCM, as specified in various researches. Based on the subjectivity of human behavior, the selection of ideal SCSS often involves uncertain information, and the Pythagorean fuzzy sets (PFSs) have a huge capability to tackle strong vagueness, uncertainty and inaccuracy in the multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) procedure. Here, a framework is developed to assess and establish suitable suppliers in the SSCM and the circular economy.Design/methodology/approachThis paper introduced an extended framework using the evaluation based on distance from average solution (EDAS) with PFSs and implemented it to solve the SCSS in the manufacturing sector. Firstly, the PFSs to handle the uncertain information of decision experts (DEs) is employed. Secondly, a novel divergence measure and parametric score function for calculating the criteria weights are proposed. Thirdly, an extended decision-making approach, known as PF-EDAS, is introduced.FindingsThe outcomes and comparative discussion show that the developed method is efficient and capable of facilitating the DEs to choose desirable SCSS. Therefore, the proposed framework can be used by organizations to assess and establish suitable suppliers in the SCSS process in the circular economy.Originality/valueSelecting the optimal sustainable circular supplier (SCS) in the manufacturing sector is important for organizations to persuade SSCM, as specified in various research. However, corresponding to the subjectivity of human behavior, the selection of the best SCS often involves uncertain information, and the PFSs have a huge capability to tackle strong vagueness, uncertainty and inaccuracy in the MCDM procedure. Hence, manufacturing companies' administrators can implement the developed method to assess and establish suitable suppliers in the SCSS process in the circular economy.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abhijit Majumdar ◽  
Jeevaraj S ◽  
Mathiyazhagan Kaliyan ◽  
Rohit Agrawal

PurposeSelection of resilient suppliers has attracted the attention of researchers in the past one decade. The devastating effect of COVID-19 in emerging economies has provided great impetus to the selection of resilient suppliers. Under volatile and uncertain business scenarios, supplier selection is often done under imprecise and incomplete information, making the traditional decision-making methods ineffective. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the application of a fuzzy decision-making method for resilient supplier selection.Design/methodology/approachA group of three decision makers was considered for evaluating various alternatives (suppliers) based on their performance under different primary, sustainability and resilience criteria. Experts' opinion about each criterion and alternative was captured in linguistic terms and was modelled using fuzzy numbers. Then, an algorithm for solving resilient supplier selection problem based on the trapezoidal intuitionistic fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TrIFTOPSIS) was introduced and demonstrated through a case study.FindingsA closeness coefficient was used to rank the suppliers based on their distances from intuitionistic fuzzy positive-ideal solution and intuitionistic fuzzy negative-ideal solution. Finally, the proposed fuzzy decision making model was applied to a real problem of supplier selection in the clothing industry.Originality/valueThe presented TrIFTOPSIS model provides an effective route to prioritise and select resilient suppliers under imprecise and incomplete information. This is the first application of intuitionistic fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making for resilient supplier selection.


2015 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-30 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ksenija Mandić ◽  
Boris Delibašić ◽  
Dragan Radojević

The supplier selection process attracted a lot of attention in the business management literature. This process takes into consideration several quantitative and qualitative variables and is usually modeled as a multi-attribute decision making (MADM) problem. A recognized shortcoming in the literature of classical MADM methods is that they don't permit the identification of interdependencies among attributes. Therefore, the aim of this study is to propose a model for selecting suppliers of telecommunications equipment that includes the interaction between attributes. This interaction can model the hidden knowledge needed for efficient decision-making. To model interdependencies among attributes the authors use a recently proposed consistent fuzzy logic, i.e. interpolative Boolean algebra (IBA). For alternatives ranking they use the classical MADM method TOPSIS. The proposed model was evaluated on a real-life application. The conclusion is that decision makers were able to integrate their reasoning into the MADM model using interpolative Boolean algebra.


Kybernetes ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (12) ◽  
pp. 2919-2945 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weimin Ma ◽  
Wenjing Lei ◽  
Bingzhen Sun

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to propose a three-way group decision-making approach to address the selection of green supplier, by extending decision-theoretic rough set (DTRS) into hesitant fuzzy linguistic (HFL) environment, considering the flexible evaluation expression format of HFL term set (HFLTS) and the idea of minimum expected risk in DTRS. Design/methodology/approach Specifically, the authors first present the calculation method of the conditional probability and discuss the loss functions of DTRS with HFL element (HFLE), along with some associated properties being investigated in detail. Further, three-way group decisions rules can be deduced, followed by the cost of every green supplier candidate. Thus, based on these discussions, a novel green supplier selection DTRS model that combines multi-criteria group decision-making (MCGDM) and HFLTS is designed. Findings A numerical example of green supplier selection, the comparative analysis and associated discussions are conducted to illustrate the applicability and novelty of the presented model. Practical implications The selection of green supplier has played a critically strategic role in sustainable enterprise development due to continuous environmental concerns. This paper offers an insight for companies to select green supplier selection from the perspective of three-way group decisions. Originality/value This paper uses three-way decisions to address green supplier selection in the HFL context, which is considered as a MCGDM issue.


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