A cross-functional collaborative model for supplier evaluation for the sustainability of a firm

Abstract

Business organizations have emphasized the importance of sustainability in their business processes. Sustainability of a firm can be measured on social, environmental and economic benefit indicators known as “triple bottom line”. Supplier selection process is one of the critical issues of sustainability activities faced by supply chain managers to maintain a strategically competitive position in the industry and supplier selection can significantly affect in achieving the triple bottom line. Given the current context, technological factors immensely affect the sustainability of a firm. Communication and web based systems related technology is a vital factor to build sustainable supply chain relationships. Thus, technological aspects can be taken into consideration under different sustainable criteria for supplier selection, though it has not been considered yet as a major factor. Analytical Network Process (ANP) has been incorporated to compute the supplier evaluated score that was computed by each department against each supplier. Then an Integer Linear Programming (ILP) model has been used to integrate the judgments of the multiple decision-makers. This research addresses the supplier selection decisions by groups of experts, which improves the quality and accuracy of the decisions made. In this model, both subjective and objective factors related to supplier selection are incorporated in order to optimize the procurement process aligning to the sustainability of the firm.