A Supplier Selection Model Emphasizing the Project Risk Management in DrugProduction in Pharmaceutical Industry

Abstract

Risk management is considered to be one of the main phases of project management and one of the eight main areas of the “project management body of knowledge”. The complexities involved in the drug production projects on the one hand, and the need for risk assessment and management in such projects on the other hand, make this issue completely clear. According to the risk mitigation strategies in project management and using the academic professors and experts in the field of drug production and pharmaceutical projects, the present study aimed to provide a checklist for selecting supplier in the drug production projects. This was done using the main eight and 30 secondary indicators related to the top supplier selection and four main and nine secondary indicators related to influencing environmental risks. Finally, after reviewing the statistical results obtained from the questionnaires and utilizing the TOPSIS technique, seven main indicators including “quality, flexibility, delivery, technology, information and communication systems, cost and experience” along with 24 secondary indicators were obtained relating to the top supplier selection. Also, the delivery factors group was identified as the most important group based on the Friedman test results.