A Hybrid MCDM Approach towards Resilient Sourcing

Achieving a supply chain that is resilient to potential unforeseen disruptions (e.g., strikes, floods, tsunamis, etc.) remains one of the vital concerns of decision makers (DMs). To build up a reactive supply chain plan towards resilience, the purchasing department needs to pay the strictest attention to sourcing decisions. This study contributes to the literature through developing an efficient resilient supplier selection approach based on a new holistic framework that enables the identification of key resilience pillars (RPs) and traditional business criteria (TBC) in light of a thorough literature review and experts' opinions. To this end, the relative importance of TBC/RP was measured by applying the DEMATEL (D) method. This was followed by the application of MABAC-OCRA-TOPSIS-VIKOR (MOTV) methods to verify the suppliers' ranking. Furthermore, the Spearman rank correlation coefficient (SRCC) approach was used to investigate the correlation among the suppliers' ranking, revealed via the four methods. In this work, a real sourcing problem of scrap metal for a steel manufacturing company was solved to prove the applicability of the proposed approach. The research outcome revealed that the TBC of trust is the most important criterion, followed by the cost, leaving the geographical location criterion as the least important one. In this context, the RP of flexibility attained the highest relative weight compared to agility, which secured the lowest weight. The results also showed absolute correlation among MABAC, VIKOR, and OCRA compared to very strong correlation between TOPSIS and the others. This research can support supply chain managers to achieve supply chain systems that reduce not only sourcing costs, but also potential losses because of disrupting threats, by building resilient supply chains.

Automated summary

Building a resilient supply chain to potential disruptions is a crucial concern for decision makers. This study develops an efficient supplier selection approach based on a new holistic framework, identifying key resilience pillars and traditional business criteria through thorough literature review and experts' opinions. Trust is found to be the most important criterion, followed by cost, while geographical location is the least important. The results also show strong correlation among different methods used to verify the suppliers' ranking.