An Efficiency-Based Approach for Selecting Electronic Markets in Sustainable Electronic Business: A SME’s Perspective

Hepu Deng, Sophia Xiaoxia Duan, Donghui Jie and Jiangjing Fu
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Hepu Deng: School of Business and Law, Foshan University, Foshan 528000, China
Sophia Xiaoxia Duan: School of Management and Marketing, Charles Sturt University, Albury, NSW 2640, Australia
Donghui Jie: School of Business and Law, Foshan University, Foshan 528000, China
Jiangjing Fu: School of Business and Law, Foshan University, Foshan 528000, China

Sustainability, 2019, vol. 11, issue 7, 1-13

Abstract: This paper develops an efficiency-based approach for evaluating the performance of available electronic markets (e-markets) in the active pursuit of sustainable electronic business through the selection of specific e-markets for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). An efficiency-oriented evaluation model using data envelopment analysis is developed first for identifying efficient e-markets. A multicriteria decision making model is then proposed for solving the e-markets selection problem with respect to the specific characteristics of e-markets and the unique nature of SMEs in specific situations. Such a model can adequately consider the imprecision and uncertainty in the decision-making process using linguistic variables approximated by fuzzy numbers to express the subjective assessments of the decision maker when evaluating the overall performance of individual e-markets. As a result, the most appropriate e-market in a specific situation for individual SMEs can be selected for the development of a sustainable electronic business. A real-life example is given for demonstrating the effectiveness of the proposed approach for addressing the e-market selection problem in the real world.

Keywords: electronic markets; small and medium-sized enterprises; data envelopment analysis; multicriteria decision making; fuzzy theory; performance evaluation; sustainable electronic business (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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