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Article
Publication date: 8 July 2021

Yvonne Badulescu, Ari-Pekka Hameri and Naoufel Cheikhrouhou

Collaborative networked organisations (CNO) are a means of ensuring longevity and business continuity in the face of a global crisis such as COVID-19. This paper aims to present a…

Abstract

Purpose

Collaborative networked organisations (CNO) are a means of ensuring longevity and business continuity in the face of a global crisis such as COVID-19. This paper aims to present a multi-criteria decision-making method for sustainable partner selection based on the three sustainability pillars and risk.

Design/methodology/approach

A combined analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy AHP (F-AHP) with Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution approach is the methodology used to evaluate and rank potential partners based on known conditions and predicted conditions at a future time based on uncertainty to support sustainable partner selection.

Findings

It is integral to include risk criteria as an addition to the three sustainability pillars: economic, environmental and social, to build a robust and sustainable CNO. One must combine the AHP and F-AHP weightings to ensure the most appropriate sustainable partner selection for the current as well as predicted future period.

Research limitations/implications

The approach proposed in this paper is intended to support existing CNO, as well as individual firms wanting to create a CNO, to build a more robust and sustainable partner selection process in the context of a force majeure such as COVID-19.

Originality/value

This paper presents a novel approach to the partner selection process for a sustainable CNO under current known conditions and future uncertain conditions, highlighting the risk of a force majeure occurring such as COVID-19.

Details

Journal of Global Operations and Strategic Sourcing, vol. 15 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2398-5364

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 30 April 2021

Zeki Ayağ

In this paper, the four popular multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods in fuzzy environment are utilized to reflect the vagueness and uncertainty on the judgments of…

Abstract

Purpose

In this paper, the four popular multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methods in fuzzy environment are utilized to reflect the vagueness and uncertainty on the judgments of decision-makers (DMs), because the crisp pairwise comparison in these conventional MCDM methods seems to be insufficient and imprecise to capture the right judgments of DMs. Of these methods, as Fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (F-AHP) is used to calculate criteria weights, the other methods; Fuzzy Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (F-TOPSIS), Fuzzy Grey relational analysis (F-GRA) and Fuzzy Preference Ranking Organization METhod for Enrichment of Evaluations (F- PROMETHEE II) are used to rank alternatives in the three different ways for a comparative study.

Design/methodology/approach

The demand for green products has dramatically increased because the importance and public awareness of the preservation of natural environment was taken into consideration much more in the last two decades. As a result of this, especially manufacturing companies have been forced to design more green products, resulting in a problem of how they incorporate environmental issues into their design and evaluate concept options. The need for the practical decision-making tools to address this problem is rapidly evolving since the problem turns into an MCDM problem in the presence of a set of green concept alternatives and criteria.

Findings

The incorporation of fuzzy set theory into these methods is discussed on a real-life case study, and a comparative analysis is done by using its numerical results in which the three fuzzy-based methods reveal the same outcomes (or rankings), while F-GRA requires less computational steps. Moreover, more detailed analyses on the numerical results of the case study are completed on the normalization methods, distance metrics, aggregation functions, defuzzification methods and other issues.

Research limitations/implications

The designing and manufacturing environmental-friendly products in a product design process has been a vital issue for many companies which take care of reflecting environmental issues into their product design and meeting standards of recent green guidelines. These companies have utilized these guidelines by following special procedures at the design phase. Along the design process consisting of various steps, the environmental issues have been considered an important factor in the end-of-life of products since it can reduce the impact on the nature. In the stage of developing a new product with the aim of environmental-friendly design, the green thinking should be incorporated as early as possible in the process.

Practical implications

The case study was inspired from the previous work of the author, which was realized in a hot runner systems manufacturer, used in injection molding systems in a Canada. In a new product development process, the back- and front-ends of development efforts mainly determine the following criteria: cost, risk, quality and green used in this paper. The case study showed that the three fuzzy MCDM methods come to the same ranking outcomes. F-GRA has a better time complexity compared to the other two methods and uses a smaller number of computational steps. Moreover, a comparative analysis of the three F-MCDM methods; F-PROMETHEE II, F-TOPSIS and F-GRA used in ranking for green concept alternatives using the numerical results of the case study. For the case study; as seen in table 20, the three F-MCDM methods produced the numerical results on the rankings of the green concept alternatives as follows; {Concept A-Concept C–Concept B–Concept D}.

Social implications

Inclusion of environmental-related criteria into concept selection problem has been gaining increasing importance in the last decade. Therefore, to facilitate necessary calculations in applying each method especially with its fuzzy extension, it can be developed a knowledge-based (KB) or an expert system (ES) to help the DMs make the required calculations of each method, and interpret its results with detailed analysis.

Originality/value

The objective of the research was to propose a F-AHP based F-MCDM approach to green concept selection problem through F-PROMETHEE II, F-TOPSIS and F-GRA methods. As the F-AHP is used to weight evaluation criteria, the other methods are respectively used for ranking the concept alternatives and determine the best concept alternative.

Details

International Journal of Intelligent Computing and Cybernetics, vol. 14 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1756-378X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 9 February 2024

Runze Yu and Li Ma

The paper covers mega infrastructure construction supply chain (MICSC) in Engineering-Procurement-Construction (EPC) projects, where the frequent occurrence of risk incidents has…

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Abstract

Purpose

The paper covers mega infrastructure construction supply chain (MICSC) in Engineering-Procurement-Construction (EPC) projects, where the frequent occurrence of risk incidents has greatly affected human life. The research aims to establish a risk evaluation index system for MICSC in EPC projects, exploring what risk factors lead to risk incidents and measure the importance and causality of all these risk factors.

Design/methodology/approach

The research applies a combination of quantitative and qualitative analysis methodology to process data sequentially. In the first place, risk factors for MICSC in EPC projects are extracted and identified from literature survey and expert interviews. In the second place, an integration model fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (f-AHP) and fuzzy Decision-making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (f-DEMATEL) is constructed to comprehensively analyze all these risk factors.

Findings

12 primary risk factors and 36 secondary risk factors comprise the risk evaluation index system for MICSC in EPC projects from 178 literature and 5 professionals. The results indicate that Political Situation (F1), Social Security (F2) and Management Mode (F8) are critical risk factors, where F1 and F2 are cause factors and F8 is an effect factor.

Originality/value

There are three main contributions of this paper. First and foremost, from the perspective of the research content, no other study has been able to assess risk factors for MICSC in EPC projects, while embedding nine phases of the whole project life cycle and six subjects of stakeholders into a risk evaluation index system. Additionally, from the perspective of research method, a combined model incorporating f-AHP and f-DEMATEL is constructed to avoid the one-sidedness of a single model. Last but not least, from the perspective of practical significance, focusing on the critical risk factors, a series of effective measures are formulated to make appropriate management decisions for nodal enterprises of MICSC, which can improve their risk management capabilities.

Details

Engineering, Construction and Architectural Management, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0969-9988

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 October 2018

Anilkumar Elavanakattu Narayanan, Rajagopalan Sridharan and P.N. Ram Kumar

The purpose of this paper is to identify, model, analyze and prioritize the barriers in implementing sustainable practices in rubber products manufacturing industry in Kerala, a…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify, model, analyze and prioritize the barriers in implementing sustainable practices in rubber products manufacturing industry in Kerala, a state in South India. This research provides a more reliable quantitative measure of association of the barriers in the implementation of sustainable practices in the rubber products manufacturing sector.

Design/methodology/approach

Interpretive structural modeling (ISM) is used to develop the hierarchical relationships among the barriers in the implementation of sustainable supply chain practices in the rubber products manufacturing sector. The hierarchical structure among the barriers is framed using the experts’ opinion. Cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to the classification (MICMAC) analysis is integrated with the output of ISM to classify the barriers into different categories based on the driving power and the dependence power. The driving power and the dependence power of the barriers obtained from ISM constitute two criteria for prioritizing the barriers. The change management required is considered as the third criterion. The fuzzy-analytic hierarchy process (F-AHP) methodology is adopted to prioritize the barriers based on these three criteria.

Findings

The hierarchical relationship obtained through ISM methodology shows that lack of government initiatives and lack of benchmark on sustainability measurement in Indian conditions are the major barriers in implementing sustainable practices in the rubber products manufacturing sector. These barriers lead to the lack of management commitment for the implementation of sustainable practices in the organizations under study. The prioritization obtained through the F-AHP method suggests that lack of top-level management commitment, lack of motivation, lack of government initiatives and high initial cost of implementation are some of the major barriers in implementing sustainable practices in the organizations.

Research limitations/implications

In the application of the ISM methodology, the contextual relationship between the barriers specified by the experts and their preferences may involve bias. Another limitation of this research is that the modeling and prioritization of the barriers are executed based on the opinion of experts from rubber product manufacturing companies in one state only.

Originality/value

To the best knowledge of the authors, this research is the first study on the identification and prioritization of the barriers in sustainable supply chain implementation in the rubber products manufacturing sector. Modeling the inter-relationship among the barriers using ISM technique and prioritizing the barriers using F-AHP are the novel features of the contributions of this work.

Details

Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, vol. 30 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1741-038X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 10 August 2022

Sagar Dua, Mohita Gangwar Sharma, Vinaytosh Mishra and Sourabh Devidas Kulkarni

Blockchain has been considered a disrupting technology that can add value in various supply chains differently. The provenance framework matches the four blockchain capabilities…

Abstract

Purpose

Blockchain has been considered a disrupting technology that can add value in various supply chains differently. The provenance framework matches the four blockchain capabilities of traceability, certifiability, trackability and verifiability to the five generic risks, namely, the financial risk, psychological risk, social risk, physical risk and performance risk. This will help in uncording which specific risk gets mitigated by the use of blockchain in a specific supply chain.

Design/methodology/approach

This study illustrates four supply chains, namely, pharmaceutical industry, fast moving consumer goods industry, precious metal and automotive industry, and maps the risks associated with them to the provenance framework wherein the applicability of blockchain is mapped. Fuzzy analytical hierarchical processing (F-AHP) is used to rank the risks in the supply chain.

Findings

Blockchain capabilities can elevate the provenance knowledge leading to assurance in terms of origin, authenticity, custody and integrity to mitigate the supply chain risks. Present work highlights the thrust areas across various supply chains and identifies the risk priority tasks aligning the contextual supply chain risks. This study has covered five major risk perceptions. This study contributes to the literature on blockchain, customer perceived risk, provenance and supply chain.

Practical implications

This methodology can be adopted to understand and market the application of blockchain in a supply chain. It brings the marketers and marketing perspective to the supply chain. Exhaustive risk perception can be included to get more comprehensive data on mapping the risks along different supply chains. Vertical extensions of this work can be consideration of other supply chains including dairy, fruits and vegetables, electronics and component assemblies to derive the comprehensive framework for mapping risk perceptions and thereby supply chain risk mitigation through blockchain technology.

Originality/value

This linkage between blockchain, perceived risk, applications in the supply chain and a tool to convince the customers about the blockchain applicability has not been discussed in the literature. Adopting the multi-criteria decision-making F-AHP approach, this study attempt to rank the risks and stimulate conversations around a common framework for multiple sectors.

Details

Journal of Global Operations and Strategic Sourcing, vol. 16 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2398-5364

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 7 May 2020

Himanshu Prajapati, Ravi Kant and Sandeep Mani Tripathi

Outsourcing is a crucial tool for an organization to focus on its core business operations. The purpose of this study is to find critical success factors (CSFs) of outsourcing and…

Abstract

Purpose

Outsourcing is a crucial tool for an organization to focus on its core business operations. The purpose of this study is to find critical success factors (CSFs) of outsourcing and to prioritize the performance outcomes of outsourcing because of the adoption of its CSFs.

Design/methodology/approach

This research proposes the hybrid framework of fuzzy Delphi, fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (F-AHP) and fuzzy additive ratio assessment (F-ARAS) to fulfill the research objectives. Fuzzy Delphi is used to finalize the CSFs of outsourcing and F-AHP provides the relative weights to it. F-ARAS is used to prioritize the outsourcing performance indicators with respect to CSFs. The empirical case investigation of three Indian large-scale public sector process industries is conducted to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed framework.

Findings

The result shows that increased dominance in core activity, ability to increase or decrease capacity, improved financial performance, optimized resource utilization and increased market share are the top five performance outcomes because of the adoption of outsourcing CSFs.

Research limitations/implications

Factors such as cultural, political, environmental and size of the organization may have a significant implication on the research results.

Originality/value

This is a novel approach towards the prioritization of performance outcomes of outsourcing. Moreover, the present research is a helpful tool to manage outsourcing and choosing which performance outcome of outsourcing ought to be used to measure implementation. This will help to recognize potential opportunities and preparing strategic planning for both short-term and long-term goals.

Details

Journal of Global Operations and Strategic Sourcing, vol. 13 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2398-5364

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 February 2020

Manju Saroha, Dixit Garg and Sunil Luthra

Business organisations are under serious threat to sustain their business due to globalisation, challenging market and recent economic competitiveness. The aim of this study is to…

Abstract

Purpose

Business organisations are under serious threat to sustain their business due to globalisation, challenging market and recent economic competitiveness. The aim of this study is to address various pressures to circular supply chain management (CSCM) implementation for sustainability.

Design/methodology/approach

The present study is based on two research levels. Initially, extensive literature review has been made to identify 31 pressures to CSCM, and eight categories of pressures have been identified. At the second level, fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (F-AHP) has been applied to rank the identified pressures to CSCM implementation for sustainability.

Findings

“Financial Pressures (FP)” has been identified as most significant pressure to CSCM implementation for sustainability. Further, “Lack of support of top management (MP1)”, “Lack of implementation of laws and policies (GP2)” and “Lack of vision for CSCM (GP1)” have been found most critical sub-pressures CSCM implementation for sustainability.

Research limitations/implications

The final results give the prioritised list of all identified 31 sub-pressures and eight main pressure heads, which will be helpful in their removal for achieving the goal of CSCM implementation. It will be helpful for managers to take decisions promoting circular practices in supply chains to achieve truly sustainable supply chains. It will also be help for SC managers to understand the flow of activities and materials in CSC to get good results and remove pressures.

Originality/value

The present study plays an important role in circular activities implementation in supply chain for profit gain, and their pressure ranking may help the mangers to implement the CSCM effectively.

Details

Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, vol. 31 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-7835

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 January 2024

Kirti Sood, Prachi Pathak and Sanjay Gupta

Investment decisions hold immense significance for investors and eventually affect their portfolio performance. Investors are advised to weigh the costs and benefits associated…

Abstract

Purpose

Investment decisions hold immense significance for investors and eventually affect their portfolio performance. Investors are advised to weigh the costs and benefits associated with every decision in order to make rational investment decisions. However, behavioral finance research reveals that investors' choices often stem from a blend of economic, psychological and sociological factors, leading to irrationality. Moreover, environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) factors, aligned with behavioral finance hypotheses, also sway opinions and stock prices. Hence, this study aims to identify how individual equity investors prioritize key determinants of investment decisions in the Indian stock market.

Design/methodology/approach

The current research gathered data from 391 individual equity investors through a structured questionnaire. Thereafter, a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (F-AHP) was used to meet the purpose of the research.

Findings

Information availability, representative heuristics belonging to psychological factors and macroeconomic indicators falling under economic factors were discovered to be the three most prioritized criteria, whereas environmental issues within the realm of ESG factors, recommendations of brokers or investment consultants of sociological factors, and social issues belonging to ESG factors were found to be the least prioritized criteria, respectively.

Research limitations/implications

Only active and experienced individual equity investors were surveyed in this study. Furthermore, with a sample size of 391 participants, the study was confined to individual equity investors in one nation, India.

Practical implications

This research has implications for individual investors, institutional investors, market regulators, corporations, financial advisors, portfolio managers, policymakers and society as a whole.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors' knowledge, no real attempt has been made to comprehend how active and experienced individual investors prioritize critical determinants of investment decisions by taking economic, psychological, sociological and ESG factors collectively under consideration.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 5 October 2018

Long Chen and Wei Pan

With numerous and ambiguous sets of information and often conflicting requirements, construction management is a complex process involving much uncertainty. Decision makers may be…

Abstract

With numerous and ambiguous sets of information and often conflicting requirements, construction management is a complex process involving much uncertainty. Decision makers may be challenged with satisfying multiple criteria using vague information. Fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making (FMCDM) provides an innovative approach for addressing complex problems featuring diverse decision makers’ interests, conflicting objectives and numerous but uncertain bits of information. FMCDM has therefore been widely applied in construction management. With the increase in information complexity, extensions of fuzzy set (FS) theory have been generated and adopted to improve its capacity to address this complexity. Examples include hesitant FSs (HFSs), intuitionistic FSs (IFSs) and type-2 FSs (T2FSs). This chapter introduces commonly used FMCDM methods, examines their applications in construction management and discusses trends in future research and application. The chapter first introduces the MCDM process as well as FS theory and its three main extensions, namely, HFSs, IFSs and T2FSs. The chapter then explores the linkage between FS theory and its extensions and MCDM approaches. In total, 17 FMCDM methods are reviewed and two FMCDM methods (i.e. T2FS-TOPSIS and T2FS-PROMETHEE) are further improved based on the literature. These 19 FMCDM methods with their corresponding applications in construction management are discussed in a systematic manner. This review and development of FS theory and its extensions should help both researchers and practitioners better understand and handle information uncertainty in complex decision problems.

Details

Fuzzy Hybrid Computing in Construction Engineering and Management
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78743-868-2

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 25 April 2022

Steven Kuba Nuhu, Mohd Nadzri Md Reba, Zainuddin Abd Manan, Sharifah Rafidah Wan Alwi and Fatin Nabihah Syahira Ridzuan

The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) proposed the development of eco-industrial parks (EIP) related to the 9th, 12th, and 13th of the sustainable

Abstract

The United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) proposed the development of eco-industrial parks (EIP) related to the 9th, 12th, and 13th of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) for ensuring green industrial practice to deal with climate change. The first approach to EIP is choosing a suitable site, however, it is not a simple task, because it involves spatial factors and is always impaired by uncertainties that require more than one decision module. There is a fewer study in objectively assessing the criteria for the selection of suitable sites for EIP development to contribute to the SDG initiative. This study provides an integrated process for assessing a consistent weight of criteria for EIP site selection. Nine steps were used in the fuzzy-analytical hierarchy process namely criterion identification, hierarchical structure construction, triangular fuzzy number matrix, geometric ratio, fuzzy relative weight, defuzzification, normalisation, sensitivity analysis (SA) and weight ranking. When tested using spatial and non-spatial criteria for EIP site selection, results show transportation infrastructure (13%), raw materials (12%), water bodies (12%), climate (10%), labour (9%), land use (9%), markets (9%), governmental policies (8%), existing industries (7%), urban settlement (6%), and restricted areas (5%). The SA verified that any evaluation error of 2% or 5% on the criteria weight is insignificant, but for 10% error, results can be distorted. The study has developed a consistent, simple approach integrating hierarchical and uncertainty modules for choosing EIP locations, and it is proposed as a guide for selecting suitable greenfield or brownfield EIP sites for sustainable industrial practices.

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