A new hybrid supplier selection model

Abstract

Selecting the right supplier is one of the most challenging tasks for organisations as it essentially reduces purchasing cost and improves corporate competitiveness. This study aims at developing a hybrid model in supplier selection for a non-homogeneous group decision-making process to select a supplier that best satisfies the purchaser. The analytical hierarchy process (AHP), house of quality (HOQ), and linguistic ordered weighted averaging (LOWA) operator are applied in the proposed model. This model is illustrated with a real world example by applying it to a mechanical manufacturing company in Vietnam. It is found that supplier selection does not only depend on a low price offer, but also on supplier's quality, technological capability, capability of on-time delivery, flexibility and good relationship. This study makes new methodological and practical contributions to supplier selection research and applications through development of a hybrid model for non-homogeneous group decision making in supplier selection, and for the first time this study applies the LOWA operator in aggregating linguistic terms of non-homogeneous group decision making in a supplier selection process.