Selection of suppliers in an alternative food network

Abstract

In this study, the selection of suppliers within an alternative food supply network for fruits and vegetables, specifically Box Schemes, was conducted using multi-criteria decision-making methods. The Entropy-MABAC method was used as the multi-criteria decision-making approach, and the research focused on five suppliers from the city of Novi Sad. Eleven socioeconomic criteria were chosen for the research to identify the most favourable supplier. The results indicate that the criterion "product character," i.e., whether the final agricultural product is organic or conventional, was rated the highest, and the first supplier was selected as the most favourable. These results provide a solid foundation for future research, which should focus on further examining the impact of supply methods on end consumers of agricultural products within the alternative food network and developing new methods to aid in selecting the most favourable supplier.