Abstract

Supplier selection (SS) is an important aspect of supply chain management (SCM) and appropriate supplier evaluation opens up a lot of opportunities for every organization. Simply looking for suppliers with the cheapest price is no longer considered "efficient supplier selection". Selection of a good set of suppliers is a multiple-criteria-decision-making (MCDM) process. Despite the fact that earlier research has presented several methods and tools for effective supplier selection, only a few approaches have attempted to address issues of SMEs in supplier selection decisions. We proposed an integrated two-stage MCDM approach that consists of Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Measurement of Alternatives and Ranking according to Compromise Solution (MARCOS) for supplier selection problems of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). And the results are validated with the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). AHP & TOPSIS are widely researched and used for a long time but MARCOS is relatively new compared to them. This approach can be easily implemented using a spreadsheet program. This spreadsheet is useful in practical situations and does not require the user to have any prior knowledge of optimization. A real-life case is examined to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed approach. The novelty of this study is that it presents a realistic, easy-to-implement, and proven supplier selection technique for SMEs to achieve sustainability.