A strategic model for location selection of wood industry: An application of ANP

Abstract

The objective of this research is to design a method for selection of an appropriate location to establish plywood and veneer plants in Iran. Due to the climate of this region as well as the destruction of the forests and lack of proper plantation, the supporting forests to feed this industry are limited. Thus, it is vital to optimize the other strategically factors in order to make these plants capable of competing with the foreign plants which have access to less expensive input materials. In case of improper utilization of the resources, this industry can not compete with the imported products. The decision is made within the framework of benefits, opportunities, costs and risks (BOCR). To evaluate the control criteria of the system a control hierarchy is also created and prioritized by applying the Analytic Network Process (ANP). This way, a total of seven major control criteria in the system are prioritized where each one controls a decision network evaluated using ANP. The final synthesis of the system shows province of Gilan is the best choice among five potential provinces which were selected primarily. © 2007 Asian Network for Scientific Information.