Vendor rating system for an Indian start-up: a combined AHP & TOPSIS approach

Abstract

Purpose The aim of this paper is to identify the criteria that are used for vendor or supplier rating, prioritize these criteria based on the industry inputs and develop a vendor rating model. The data were collected from an Indian start-up working in product development using three-dimensional printing (3DP). Design/methodology/approach Factors of importance for vendor rating were identified through industry visits, and interacting with the industry experts from the start-up under consideration, substantiated by extensive review of relevant literature. A questionnaire-based survey was carried out to further narrow down the factors important to the industry, prioritizing them with a pairwise comparison analysis as envisaged in the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) technique along with the calculation of consistency ratios. Technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) methodology was further used for data aggregation. Findings This research brought forward the criteria that are useful for rating vendors or suppliers with reference to 3DP sector. Originality/value This paper integrates AHP and TOPSIS to solve a multi-criteria vendor rating problem. The attempt was made to make vendor rating process universal so that it can encompass all the vendors of the firm.