A framework to evaluate and improve supply chain: FAHP based case study on a supermarket

Abstract

Nowadays, the supply chain has become a buzzword in the business field. The only supply chain can help to lead a business in an organized way. However, in a supermarket, the supply chain is very important, but they need to ensure better communication with the supplier, customer, and internal management too. Each factor of the supply chain has a good effect on itself. The purpose of this research is to explore the important supermarket supply chain factors found in the literature and from supply chain experts and to develop a framework which can help to arrange the criteria in a sequence from most important to the worst by considering each sector of the supply chain. This paper has studied one of the supermarkets in Bangladesh, namely Save ‘n’ Safe. Authors have taken FAHP, one of the tools of MCDM, to figure it out the most effective factors. The result reveals that managing inventory, internal information sharing, and accurate demand forecasting are the most affected factors for the Save ‘n’ Safe (a supermarket). Finally, some recommendations have been given to improve the existing situation. This study can be used not only in the other supermarkets but also any other retail or grocery shops.