An integrated FANP-MOLP for supplier evaluation and order allocation

In the face of acute global competition, supplier management is rapidly emerging as a crucial issue to any companies striving for business success and sustainable development. To optimize competitive advantages, a company should incorporate suppliers as an essential part of its core competencies. Supplier evaluation, the first step in supplier management, is a complex multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem, and its complexity is further aggravated if the highly important interdependence among the selection criteria is taken into consideration. The objective of this paper is to suggest a comprehensive decision method for identifying top suppliers by considering the effects of interdependence among the selection criteria, as well as to achieve optimal allocation of orders among the selected suppliers. (C) 2008 Published by Elsevier Inc.