Integrated Multicriteria Decision-Making Methods to Solve Supplier Selection Problem: A Case Study in a Hospital.

Serap Akcan,Meral Güldeş

doi:10.1155/2019/5614892

Abstract

In supply chain literature, supplier evaluation and selection problem is one of the most studied subjects because of the significant roles of suppliers in terms of the chain's sustainability and profitability. Therefore, it is important for organizations to adopt a systematic way to evaluate and select the best supplier according to their respective criteria in today's competitive environment. Multicriteria decision-making methods provide for this need of organizations because determination of an appropriate supplier selection is a multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) problem essentially. Although a lot of applications of these methods for supplier evaluation and selection can be seen in the literature, studies in the health-care sector are insufficient. Hospitals in the health-care sector also have to consider their supplier-related decisions to decrease risks and threads which affect their effectiveness. The aim of this study was to fill this gap by providing different hybrid models for selecting the best supplier for hospitals. Supplier evaluation and selection process start with recognizing the related criteria according to the studies in the literature. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method is deployed to weight the criteria, and suppliers are listed via technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS), elimination and choice translating reality English (ELECTRE), grey relational analysis (GRA), and simple additive weighting (SAW) methods. The main aim of this study was to present different hybrid MCDM methods and show their efficiency and consistency with each other. In this study, hybrid multicriteria decision-making models (AHP-TOPSIS, AHP-ELECTRE, AHP-GRA, and AHP-SAW) are presented and compared. The results show that the presented hybrid methods in this study are consistent with each other and give the same ranking for the selection of the best supplier. It can be considered as a useful guideline for hospitals.

Highlights

In a rapidly changing, competitive environment, enterprises should cooperate with suppliers meeting their goals in order to respond more rapidly and more accurately to the changing customer needs
A review of the literature showed that the number of studies using hybrid multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) methods on supplier selection problem is limited
It is possible to see a few hybrid models used in different studies for supplier selection, but this study presents several methods and gives a comparative analysis of the generated methods

Summary

Introduction

Competitive environment, enterprises should cooperate with suppliers meeting their goals in order to respond more rapidly and more accurately to the changing customer needs. A review of the literature showed that the number of studies using hybrid multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) methods on supplier selection problem is limited. E main contribution of this study is that it provides a useful guideline for supplier evaluation and selection problem in the health-care sector by proposing the hybrid MCDM methods and fills this gap. It is possible to see a few hybrid models used in different studies for supplier selection, but this study presents several methods and gives a comparative analysis of the generated methods It shows consistency among the proposed methods and encourages decision makers to deploy the most suitable method for their limitations. The literature was reviewed in order to determine the main criteria and subcriteria for evaluating and selecting the best supplier in the healthcare sector.

Case Study

Conclusions