Performance analysis of trading companies based on MEREC and WASPAS methods

Abstract

In recent times, when analyzing the performance of trading companies, various methods of multi-criteria decision making are used more and more individually or integrated. This way is better, because several criteria are simultaneously used integrally, to get a realistic idea of the achieved performance compared to classical methods. Based on that, the subject of analysis in this paper is the performance of trading companies in Serbia based on the MEREC and WASPAS methods. The aim of the paper is to research the performance of trading companies in Serbia as complex and realistic as possible in order to improve their operations. According to the results of the MEREC method, the importance of certain criteria in order is as follows: C5 - number of employees, C3 - business assets and C1 - business income. This means that the target performance of trading companies in Serbia can be achieved through more efficient management of human resources, assets and sales. In this case, two criteria were removed: C2 - net result and C4 - capital. These factors influence, but not significantly, the performance of trading companies in Serbia. As a result of the research, the paper presents the ranking of ten trading companies, analyzed according to the WASPAS method. Also, the research results show that the target profit of trading companies in Serbia can be achieved, among other things, by effective control of critical factors of business success (prices, costs, quality management, growth and innovation, and others). All in all, the performance of trading companies in Serbia has improved recently under the positive influence of numerous macro and micro factors (favorable economic climate, efficient management of human resources, assets, capital, sales and profit, digitization of the entire business, etc.).