Supplier selection towards uncertain and unavailable information: An extension of TOPSIS method

Abstract

Due to intensive competition among business corporations, the selection of supplier becomes more significant for business success. However, supplier selection problems are complex since a large number of criteria need to be considered and, frequently, some criteria cannot be assessed precisely. Moreover, fluctuations of supplier performances as well as unknown information always exist in real-world decisions. This study, therefore, aims to propose a method to facilitate practitioners to logically select a supplier, even when uncertainty and/or unavailability of the assessment information emerge. The TOPSIS method is chosen to be the basis for this development. The rank order centroid (ROC) method is chosen to determine the weights of criteria in order to lessen the degree of subjectivity required from the decision makers as well as uncertainty of the weights assignment. A case of egg supplier selection is given to demonstrate the implementation procedures of the proposed method. Keywords: TOPSIS, Supplier selection, Supplier evaluation, Rank order centroid, Uncertain information, Incomplete information