Track: Supply Chain

Abstract

The leather industry is one of the key contributors to the economy of Bangladesh. This industry is flourishing rapidly, but at the same time giving birth to complicated and severe risks in its supply chain. The purpose of this study is to identify, categorize and analyze these risks, which are creating vulnerabilities in the supply chain of the leather processing industry of Bangladesh. To assess these risks, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy comprehensive evaluation technique are applied. Firstly, through a thorough review of literature which is afterwards enhanced by an elaborate discussion with specialists in the field of leather industry, four main risk factors (external, demand, supply, and operational) and 16 sub-risks are selected. Later, the relative weights of the main and sub-risks are determined using the AHP. Finally, the level of risk of the whole industry is quantified applying the fuzzy comprehensive evaluation technique. The outcomes of this work point out that the current risk index of the supply chain of the leather industry resides between low and moderate risk level. The results also indicate that supply and external risks are more threatening to the supply chain of this industry than demand and operational risks. This analysis is expected to aid industrial managers in tackling supply chain risks in the leather industry more conveniently.

Keywords:

Supply Chain Risk, Leather Industry, AHP, Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation