A heterogeneous MCDM framework for sustainable supplier evaluation and selection based on the IVIF-TODIM method

Abstract

The third-party platform named ECO system is used by many transnational companies to monitor the sustainability performance of their global suppliers because of its easiness and shareability. Nonetheless, methods used in this platform for evaluating and calculating the sustainability performance of the alternative suppliers are criticized for their lack of accuracy. In response to these problems, this paper presents a heterogeneous multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method based on interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy-an acronym in Portuguese for interactive multi-criteria decision making (IVIF-TODIM) to improve the efficiency of the evaluation model. Considering the varying features of evaluation criteria, i.e., either quantitative or qualitative, the evaluation values under different criteria are expressed in their appropriate information types. In this paper, a general method based on the relative closeness to the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) method is applied for aggregating the heterogeneous assessment information, including crisp numbers, interval numbers, and triangular fuzzy numbers (TFNs), into interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy numbers (IVIFNs). Then, the TODIM (an acronym in Portuguese for interactive multi-criteria decision making) is extended and employed to prioritize the alternative suppliers. Finally, the applicability and effectiveness of the proposed method is verified by a practical example of polymer manufacturing company and a comparison analysis with existing methods.