An integrated DEMATEL and Fuzzy ANP techniques for evaluation and selection of outsourcing provider for a telecommunication company

In recent years, strategy aspects related to core competency, risk analysis and organizational flexibility especially have been growing. This trend has led researchers and industries to become more interested in the multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) models for selecting outsourcing providers. The efficiency of decision-making mostly depends on the ability of decision-makers analyzing the complex cause and effect relationship between criteria and taking effective actions based on the analysis. Using an analytical method to select the most eligible outsourcing provider is significant for a company which desires to improve its competitiveness. In this study, a fuzzy integrated multi-criteria decision making method for evaluation and determination of an outsourcing provider for a telecommunication company is analyzed by using DEMATEL and Fuzzy ANP multi-criteria decision making techniques. First, DEMATEL method is used in order to put forward the interrelationship among the main criteria which are determined in the study for outsourcing selection process. Then, local weights of the sub-criteria and sub-subcriteria are calculated by Fuzzy ANP approach on the basis of cause-effect relationships that are exposed through DEMATEL method. The local weights are put into ANP supermatrix, and calculations are implemented to select out the most eligible outsourcing provider. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.