یک مدل استراتژیک با استفاده از مدلسازی معادلات ساختاری و منطق فازی در انتخاب تامین کننده

Supplier selection attained the state of paramount importance for companies in the current scenario because of increasing global competition. Improper selection of suppliers will have an adverse impact on the overall performance of the company. The number of available alternatives in the current market is on a rise, and hence it becomes difficult to select a supplier from among a large lot. An attempt has been made to develop a new composite model using structural equation modeling and fuzzy analytic hierarchy process technique, based on the results of a survey of 151 respondents. Based on the criteria that influence the selection of suppliers, the model has been developed. The study also examines the supplier selection criteria and measures the supplier selection score using the developed model.

Supplier selection is one of the most important stages in the course of any supply chain. It has been prominently studied thoroughly in the past four decades. It determines the success of any supply chain or rather, of any organization. Satisfying the customer with high quality products in the shortest time possible at lowest cost is the key to success of any organization in the market. The cost of any product includes the raw material and component costs which constitute 70% of the total costs. This total cost can therefore be reduced by reducing the raw material and component costs, which mainly depend on the supplier. Hence, proper selection of suppliers is very important for the profitability of an organization. Selection of raw material suppliers initiates the supply chain. Supplier selection is the stage in the buying process when the intending buyer or the retailer chooses the preferred supplier or suppliers from those qualified as suitable. When the suppliers are able to provide the retailer with the right quantity of the right product/service at the right time in the right place, they are qualified as ‘suitable’ (Mandal and Deshmukh, 1994 and Sarkis and Talluri, 2002). Supplier selection is a strategic decision in any organization. It is a multi-criteria decision making process involving various criteria which may be quantitative as well as qualitative. The criteria for the supplier selection are determined by the buyer/retailer according to his requirement. The criteria may differ according to the situation. There have been many analytical models proposed for the supplier selection problem in the extant literature. However, to the best of our knowledge, no author has developed an integrated model of structural equation modeling (SEM) and fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) for supplier selection to arrive at score value. This paper fills that gap. The reason for selecting the model is that structural equation modeling approach uses a combination of quantitative as well as qualitative data to test and estimate causal relationship. SEM does not have a limitation on the number of variables, and is hence considered as the best approach. Since SEM takes the confirmatory approach rather than exploratory approach, there is no difficulty in hypothesis testing. This model also takes measurement error into account when analyzing the data statistically. Moreover, fuzzy AHP considers the vagueness of the opinion into account. This brings out a more reliable and effective evaluation process. We, in this paper, describe a generic theoretical model taking into consideration the criteria that influence the supplier selection: management and organization, quality, technical capability, production facilities and capabilities, financial position, delivery, services, relationships, safety and environmental concerns and cost. The model thus developed is demonstrated through a real life example. The example has been considered by a public sector company in India. The company uses steel alloys for manufacturing their main product – boilers. This paper attempts to use our generic model to select the right suppliers for structural steel sections by identifying the criteria which influence the supplier selection.

Survival of the fittest is the present principle of the current competitive market. To sustain the rising competition, it is necessary for the industries to develop supplier selection. Supplier selection is a multi-criteria decision making problem. Having done an extensive theoretical research, we developed a model for determining supplier selection including multidimensional constructs both tangible and intangible criteria, using SEM and fuzzy AHP, thus considering the fuzziness of human opinion also into account. The model proposed that management and organization, quality, technical capability, production facilities and capacities, financial position, delivery, service, relationship, safety and environment concern and cost have influencing power on the supplier selection. The relative weightage of the above criteria were mainly given importance in determining the supplier selection score. This model paves the way to mitigate the uncertainties in the strategic decision such as supplier selection.