Green Supplier Evaluation and Selection Using Cloud Model Theory and the QUALIFLEX Method

Ke-Qin Wang,Hu-Chen Liu,Jia Huang,Liping Liu

doi:10.3390/su9050688

Abstract

Nowadays, companies have to improve their practices in the management of green supply chain with increased awareness of environmental issues worldwide. Selecting the optimum green supplier is crucial for green supply chain management, which is a challenging multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) problem. Moreover, while evaluating the performance of alternative suppliers, decision makers tend to determine their assessments using linguistic descriptors due to experts’ vague knowledge and information deficiency. Therefore, this paper develops an integrated MCDM model based on the cloud model and QUALIFLEX (qualitative flexible multiple criteria method) approach to assess the green performance of companies under economic and environmental criteria. For the introduced model, the linguistic terms, expressed in normal clouds, are utilized to assess alternatives against each selection criterion. A linear programming model is established to compute the weights of criteria with unknown or incompletely known weight information. An extended QUALIFLEX approach is proposed and used to select the most suitable green supplier. Finally, the proposed green supplier selection method is demonstrated by an empirical example of an auto manufacturer to confirm its rationality and effectiveness.

Highlights

Companies, in the developing nations, have to enhance the effectiveness of their green supply chain management activities to survive in the global marketplace
We present a practical integrated multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) framework based on the cloud model and QUALIFLEX method to assess and select the most appropriate green supplier considering both economic and environmental criteria
The cloud model is used for representing the linguistic assessments of decision makers with respect to alternative companies and an extension of the classical QUALIFLEX is applied to generate green supplier rankings

Summary

Introduction

Companies, in the developing nations, have to enhance the effectiveness of their green supply chain management activities to survive in the global marketplace. A variety of pressures from consumers are making companies more cautious with regards to the detrimental influences of their businesses operations on the environment [1]. In this regard, numerous green supplier development programs, such as green purchasing, design for environment, and reverse logistics, have been invested by organizations to enhance their green performance with respect to the supply chain [2,3]. Given the increasing awareness of environmental protection, it is more significant for companies to conduct green supply chain management practices to minimize or eliminate the negative environmental effects of their business operations. Green supply chain management has received increasing interest among both academics and practitioners [4,5,6]

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