AHP-based group decision making approach to supplier selection of irrigation equipment

Abstract

Supplier selection is a complex task which assumes decision making in presence of many conflicting criteria and various parameters. If there are more than one decision maker, the problem shifts into a group context and it requires proper approach in mediating the decision making process and use of supporting multi-criteria methods and tools. This paper proposes group decision making approach for supplier selection based on analytic hierarchy process (AHP) that is combined with consensus convergence model, and two voting methods, non-preferential approval voting and preferential Borda count. Proposed approach utilized strengths of these methods thus enabling their adaption to the specific decision problem of supplier selection. An example of selecting a supplier of irrigation equipment in the company engaged in projecting, installing and maintenance of irrigation systems is used to explain and demonstrate how proposed approach can be implemented. Furthermore, this approach is viable as sufficiently general in supporting different selection processes in a field of water planning, management, and development and it can be adapted and applied on various group decision making problems.