Application of Fuzzy Analytical Network Process and VIKOR Model in Foreign Trade Supplier Selection

Abstract

The technology in Taiwan's panel industry is changing fast. However, after the financial tsunami and the increased price for raw materials, enterprises' abilities to select suppliers and purchase have great influences on plan implementation. Therefore, with the prevailing issues of supply chain management, how to evaluate and select appropriate suppliers has become a very important topic for enterprises. Depending on customers' needs, the requirements for suppliers vary from industry to industry. On this basis, this study summarizes and analyzes the literature on supplier selection to develop the supplier selection criteria, constructs the hierarchical network architecture by an expert interview, and proposes a complete supplier evaluation model by the fuzzy theory and network analysis. This study shows that the order of the important dimensions is as follows: performance evaluation, customer service, technology and competitiveness, cost benefits, and architecture, and the most important criterion is quality. Finally, the material suppliers of backlight modules in the panel industry are taken as the examples and ranked by VIKOR, based on their merits and demerits, to help related industries to understand their current advantages and disadvantages according to the selection results obtained by the fuzzy analytical network process and improve the gap between their actual situations and enterprises' expectations and thus enhance their competitiveness.