A green supplier selection framework in polyethylene industry

Abstract

Purpose To outsource part of their work, organizations are looking for suppliers who also have green criteria with other criteria. Selecting suppliers begins with the definition of potential suppliers and then selects the best among them. This study aims to present a two-part approach for selecting suppliers consisting of suppliers’ prioritization. Design/methodology/approach In the first part, the criteria that influence on selecting the suppliers have been identified and extracted using the literature review and experts’ opinion which consists of 19 criteria. Then, these criteria were evaluated by the content validity ratio index and using experts’ opinions, and finally, 16 criteria were selected for selecting green suppliers in a polyethylene’s products producer company in Iran. In the next step, suppliers are selected in a green supply chain using multi-criteria decision-making methods such as Dempster–Shafer theory and grey relationship analysis, which is a strategic decision. Findings This study attempts to improve the level of reliance on the whole uncertain degree by combining Dempster–Shafer theory and grey relational analysis (GRA), which makes the grey analysis method more robust and its results more reliable. The findings show that Supplier 4 is ranked as first within six suppliers. Originality/value Using GRA and Dempster–Shafer theory for green supplier selection problem in polyethylene industry is the novelty of this work.