Least to Most Range (LMR): A Novel Consistent Weighting Multicriteria Method Applied to Green Supplier Selection

Abstract

Decision-making is a complex task for people, professionally or personally, since the decision has several positive and negative consequences and cannot always be undone. Multicriteria decision-making models (MCDM) aim to reduce the complexity of decision-making by using mathematical and algorithmic procedures to guide the process. Given the various issues and complexities that current methods for weighting criteria present; this study aims to develop a new subjective multicriteria method for criteria weighting applied in Green Supplier Selection (GSS). To solve this GSS problem, the Least to Most Range (LMR) method was developed and applied. The LMR is characterized by presenting a new logic for weighting criteria using two distinct and complementary scales. This method has a series of advantages over some well-established methods (e.g. AHP, BWM) in the literature. To illustrate these advantages, a numerical application was developed in GSS containing a literature review to survey relevant criteria for the problem. The LMR has proven robust compared to other methods because it can treat many criteria simultaneously without presenting inconsistency, satisfactorily dealing with some of the problems most commonly found in weighting methods in the literature.

Keywords

• Multicriteria
• weighting
• MCDM
• decision-making
• inconsistency
• scale