A Smart Decision Support Framework for Sustainable and Resilient Supplier Selection and Order Allocation in the Pharmaceutical Industry

Saheeb Ahmed Kayani (), Salman Sagheer Warsi and Raja Awais Liaqait
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Saheeb Ahmed Kayani: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Capital University of Science and Technology, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
Salman Sagheer Warsi: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Capital University of Science and Technology, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan
Raja Awais Liaqait: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Capital University of Science and Technology, Islamabad 44000, Pakistan

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 7, 1-30

Abstract: Supplier selection and order allocation (SS-OA) are two of the most important strategic decisions for supply chain network design and operation. If sustainability and resilience criteria are taken into consideration together and a holistic sustainable and resilient SS-OA is carried out, it may enable the supply chain network to perform better when subjected to disruption scenarios. In this research paper, a novel comprehensive multi-phase, multi-period sustainable, and resilient SS-OA decision support framework has been proposed. This framework integrates fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques with a fuzzy multi-objective mixed integer nonlinear programming (MOMINLP) mathematical model to optimize triple bottom line (TBL) sustainability and resilience criteria simultaneously for a multi-modal, multi-echelon supply chain network. The proposed framework has been implemented using real-time data collected from the pharmaceutical industry. The results show that among the TBL sustainability criteria, product price, past business, innovative capability, and information disclosure rank as the most significant sub-criteria for the DMs in the pharmaceutical industry, while robustness and flexibility are considered the most valued attributes for potential suppliers as far as the resilience criterion is concerned. An assessment of the results has revealed that transfer cost and custom clearance cost together comprise more than two-thirds of the overall cost of the supply chain network. It has also been noted that inland transportation of goods is dominated by rail as the most preferred mode of transport. Transportation by rail is particularly preferred by suppliers located in geographically contiguous countries.

Keywords: sustainability; resilience; supplier selection; order allocation; fuzzy multi-criteria decision making; fuzzy multi-objective optimization; pharmaceutical industry (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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