A Novel Hybrid Approach for Evaluation of Resilient 4PL Provider for E-Commerce

Vukašin Pajić (), Milorad Kilibarda and Milan Andrejić
Additional contact information
Vukašin Pajić: Faculty of Transport and Traffic Engineering, University of Belgrade, Vojvode Stepe 305, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
Milorad Kilibarda: Faculty of Transport and Traffic Engineering, University of Belgrade, Vojvode Stepe 305, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
Milan Andrejić: Faculty of Transport and Traffic Engineering, University of Belgrade, Vojvode Stepe 305, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia

Mathematics, 2023, vol. 11, issue 3, 1-26

Abstract: Today, e-commerce allows consumers access to a wide range of products on the global market, quick and convenient selection, purchase, ordering, and payment of products. Consumers expect to receive the products they bought online, very quickly, at favorable prices and delivery conditions. However, it is often not possible, because global supply chains are realized over large geographical distances, with a whole range of disruptions and challenges that need to be successfully overcome. With the aim of efficiently delivering products and meeting consumer expectations, retailers often leave this job to specialized and resilient logistics companies better known as fourth-party logistics (4PL) providers. On this occasion, it is necessary to conduct a very thorough evaluation of the logistics provider based on appropriate scientific approaches and models. In this paper, a new hybrid approach for the evaluation of resilient 4PLs was proposed, with the aim of providing appropriate support for the decision-making system on product delivery in e-commerce. The hybrid approach is based on the fuzzy full consistency method (FUCOM), evidence theory (ET), rule-based transformation (RBT), and weighted aggregated sum product assessment (WASPAS) methods. The proposed model was tested and applied to an example of an online retailer, which sells and delivers products originating from China and the countries of the Far East to the market of the Western Balkans and Southeastern Europe. Five 4PL providers were evaluated and ranked according to 10 criteria. According to the results, the most important criterion was IT capabilities, while the least important was cooperation. Additionally, sensitivity analysis was carried out to determine whether the final ranking will change. The obtained results showed that the proposed methodology represents a valuable decision support tool that can be used for solving not only the problem described in this paper but also similar problems.

Keywords: e-commerce; resilience; 4PL; logistics; fuzzy FUCOM; WASPAS; evidence theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/11/3/511/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/11/3/511/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jmathe:v:11:y:2023:i:3:p:511-:d:1039928

Access Statistics for this article

Mathematics is currently edited by Ms. Emma He

More articles in Mathematics from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().