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A Review and Critique
of Supplier Selection
Process and Practices

by Mahmut Sonmez

Business School

Occasional Papers Series

Paper 2006:1
ISBN 1 85901 197 7
A Review and Critique of Supplier Selection Process and Practices

by

Mahmut Sonmez

Business School Occasional Papers Series

Paper 2006: 1
ISBN 1 85901 197 7

January 2006

THIS PAPER IS CIRCULATED FOR DISCUSSION PURPOSES AND ITS

CONTENTS SHOULD BE CONSIDERED PRELIMINARY AND
CONFIDENTIAL. NO REFERENCE TO MATERIAL CONTAINED HEREIN
MAY BE MADE WITHOUT THE CONSENT OF THE AUTHOR.
 A review and critique of supplier selection process and
practices
Mahmut SONMEZ
The Business School
Loughborough University
Ashby Road, Loughborough, LE11 3TU
Leicestershire, United Kingdom
E-mail: [email protected]
Tel: +44 1509 223106
Fax: +44 1509 223960

Abstract
With increasingly competitive global world markets, companies are under intense pressure to
find ways to cut production and material costs to survive and sustain their competitive
position in their respective markets. Since a qualified supplier is a key element and a good
resource for a buyer in reducing such costs, evaluation and selection of the potential suppliers
has become an important component of supply chain management. Hence, development of an
effective and rational supplier selection model is naturally desirable. Several evaluation and
selection models for supplier selection have been proposed and reported in the supply chain
literature. This paper reveals the findings of a wide ranging literature review of supplier
selection practices and models. Altogether 147 refereed academic journal articles are
reviewed and classified into five categories. A list and summary of the papers falling into
each category with brief annotations is provided. The areas that have received little attention
or lack of research interest are discussed and some new research settings are also suggested.

Key words: Supplier selection; multiple criteria decision making; vendor selection; supplier
management; international supplier selection; buyer-seller relationships; e-procurement

Article Type: Literature review

3
 A review and critique of supplier selection process and practices

Purpose – Supplier selection is an important purchasing activity for many firms. Today’s consumers
demand cheaper, high quality products, on-time delivery and excellent after-sale services. Hence,
companies are under intense pressure to cut product and material costs while maintaining a high level
of quality and after-sale services. Achieving this starts with supplier selection. Therefore, an efficient
supplier selection process needs to be in place and of paramount importance for successful supply
chain management. It begins with the realisation of the need for a new supplier; determination and
formulation of decision criteria; pre-qualification (initial screening and drawing up a shortlist of
potential suppliers from a large list); final supplier selection; and the monitoring of the suppliers
selected (i.e. continuous evaluation and assessment). The main purpose of this paper is to provide an
extensive literature review and critique of the studies related to various aspects of supplier selection
process over the last two decades and find out the areas that are under-researched.

Design/methodology/approach – An extensive literature review was conducted using phrases

“supplier selection” and “vendor selection” as key words on major databases. A total of 147 refereed
journal articles appeared between 1985 and 2005 on supplier selection were reviewed. These articles
were categorised using keywords under five main headings: 1) Papers emphasising the decision
criteria that should be used; 2) Papers reporting the use of decision making / support techniques and
tools; 3) Papers focusing on buyer-seller relationships; 4) Papers studying the international supplier
selection practices and 5) Papers emphasising the issues in online supplier selection, i.e. e-
procurement.

Findings – The review revealed some trends in supplier selection related studies. Specifically, the
review revealed that greater emphasis was placed on i) decision criteria and associated weightings
used for supplier selection and ii) decision making methods/tools used and/or proposed for supplier
selection. It was observed that there was a more recent trend towards studying the effects of buyer-
seller relationships, international supplier selection and e-commerce on the supplier selection process
and practices. The review also exposed the areas that attracted little or no research attention. There has
been a growing demand and need for a more detailed supplier selection process by considering all
qualitative and quantitative criteria. More effort should be made towards combining both qualitative
and quantitative factors affecting the supplier selection process in a rational and systematic way. In
addition, there were very few studies on supply chain security given the current political climate and
security concerns around the world.

Originality/value – This paper provides an overall picture of research on supplier selection process
and practices. This piece of research would be of value to both academics and practitioners interested
in supplier management.

4
Introduction
In increasingly competitive and globalised world markets, firms are constantly under pressure

to find ways to cut material and production costs. Since a qualified and reliable supplier is a

key element and a good source for a buyer in reducing production and material costs,

evaluation and selection of the suppliers is an important component of supply chain

management and an important task for the purchasing department of a firm in particular.

Supplier selection and evaluation is the process of finding the suppliers being able to provide

the buyer with the right quality products and/or services at the right price, at the right

quantities and at the right time [92, 121]. Evaluation and selection of suppliers is a typical

multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) problem involving multiple criteria that can be

both qualitative and quantitative. Hence, supplier selection process requires a formal,

systematic and rational selection model. There is an abundance of supplier evaluation and

selection models proposed in the supply chain literature.

The main aim of this paper is to get an overall picture of research on the supplier selection

process and practices. The paper looks into the sorts of decision making methods and tools

reported in the literature and/or applied in practice. The paper also reveals some trends in

supplier selection process by looking at the frequency of papers appeared in the refereed

journals and categorising the papers theme-by-theme. It is aimed that the findings will lead to

new research settings together with directions for future research.

The rest of the paper is structured in the following way. The next section will provide a brief

background to supplier selection process. Then, the details of the literature review will be

given. The findings of the extensive review will be provided before discussions and

conclusions.

5
Background
In this paper, we review refereed journal articles pertaining to supplier management, supplier

selection practices and decision tools or methods used and/or proposed for supplier selection

process in particular. Supplier selection is generally considered as a five-phase process

starting from the realisation of the need for a new supplier; determination and formulation of

decision criteria; pre-qualification (initial screening and drawing up a shortlist of potential

suppliers from a large list); final supplier selection; to the monitoring of the suppliers selected

(i.e. continuous evaluation and assessment) [42]. Supplier selection involves two main tasks,

which are also central to any decision making problem [23]: (i) the process of evaluation and

assessment and (ii) aggregation of evaluation and assessment to make a choice.

< Take in Figure 1 >

As can be seen from Figure 1, the evaluation and assessment task, first, requires the

identification of decision attributes (criteria) against which the potential suppliers are to be

assessed. Then, evaluation scales/metrics are determined in order to measure the

appropriateness of a supplier. Such metrics or scales are useful and necessary to determine the

likely worst and best outcomes for each attribute. The next requirement is to assign weights to

attributes to indicate the relative importance and contribution of each criterion to the supplier

evaluation and assessment. Furthermore, an attribute (father attribute) may comprise of

several sub attributes (child attribute). In this case, sub attributes are assigned weights in

accordance with their importance and contribution to the associated father attribute. The final

step in the supplier evaluation and assessment is to evaluate potential suppliers against the

attributes identified at the beginning using the scales/metrics established. Once candidate

suppliers are given scores or ratings against each attribute, it is then necessary to aggregate

these scores and/or ratings, which may be both qualitative and quantitative, to make a rational

and sound choice over which suppliers should be included in the firm’s supplier base. There

6
are two main approaches for aggregating scores/ratings: (i) compensatory (linear) or (ii) non-

compensatory (non-linear) approaches [38, 41, 103, 110]. In compensatory approaches a

weak performance on one criterion is offset by a good performance on another criterion. If a

decision maker does not accept the weakness in one criterion to be compensated by the

strength of another criterion, then the use of non-compensatory approaches is more

appropriate in this case.

There are several factors that affect the supplier selection process, which is depicted in Figure

2 and briefly explained here. The number of suppliers to be selected depends on the sourcing

strategy that a firm follows. If the firm is in favour of single sourcing, a single supplier is to

be selected. If, on the other hand, the firm follows a multiple sourcing strategy, then more

than one supplier is selected. In relation to sourcing strategy, the minimum order quantity and

a supplier’s capability may affect the supplier selection process. If a single supplier is unlikely

to deliver the required goods and/or services due to limited capacity and/or unable to meet the

minimum order quantity, then it is necessary to select more than one supplier.

< Take in Figure 2 >

Wilson (1994) quoted the study, conducted by Lehmann and O’Shaighnessy in 1982, which

suggested that type of products has a significant effect on how the purchasing decision is

made in terms of the choice (decision) criteria used and the weights assigned to each criterion

[142]. Lehman and O’Shaighnessy defined product types and the most important criteria for

each product type were as follows:

1) Routine order products: are those having no problems associated with learning to use the product and
no questions regarding the functional capability of the product (reliable delivery and price were the
most important criteria).
2) Procedural problem products: are those for which there is no question about the capability of the
product, but likely problems with learning to use the product (service and delivery were the most
important criteria).

7
 3) Performance problem products: are those for which there is some doubt as to whether the product
will perform satisfactorily in the application for which it is being considered (in particular a problem
associated with technical outcome of the product’s use) - (delivery and service were the most important
criteria).
4) Political problem products: are those that require large capital outlays, multiple decision makers are
likely to be involved in buying decisions (price, reputation, and product reliability data were the most
important criteria).

Another factor affecting the supplier selection process is the type of manufacturing strategy

followed by the buyer. There are three manufacturing strategies that may impact on the

supplier selection: make-to-order (MTO), make-from-stock (MFS), and make-to-stock (MTS)

strategies. In MTO strategy, the customer order is received prior to final assembly. The end

product is assembled in anticipation of customer orders in MTS strategy while in MFS

strategy, a company’s procurement activities are conducted in anticipation of customer orders,

but the end product is only assembled after a customer order has been received [25].

A buyer’s preferences towards location of suppliers can have some impact on the supplier

selection process. Choosing local (domestic) suppliers can be less complicated than of those

overseas (international) suppliers. The supplier selection process for both domestic and

international suppliers may involve different sets of decision criteria and weights assigned to

each criterion. Finally, the authority of making the decision can be either in the hands of a

single person (department) or multiple person (multiple department), which may further

complicate the decision process of supplier selection.

It is generally agreed in the literature that the following makes the supplier selection decision

making process difficult and/or complicated [41, 75, 78, 79, 95, 100, 136, 140]:

• Multiple criteria – both qualitative and quantitative

• Conflicts amongst criteria – conflicting objectives of the criteria
• Involvement of many alternatives – due to fierce competition
• Internal and external constraints imposed on the buying process

8
The background information in the previous paragraphs demonstrates and explains the need

for a formal approach to conceptualise and structure the various elements and components of

supplier selection process. The literature review in the next section looks at the studies on

supplier selection.

Literature Review
There are several keywords associated with the supplier selection. The terms “supplier

selection” and “vendor selection” are frequently and interchangeably used in the literature.

They both have the same meaning and are related to the selection of suppliers engaged in

manufacturing and/or production of materials, product parts and components. The terms

“bidder evaluation”, “tender evaluation” and “contractor selection” all refer to similar

processes to supplier selection. While the first two terms are somewhat less frequently used,

the term “contractor selection” is mostly associated with the purchasing of services offered by

a firm in urban and civil engineering, and construction industry in particular. Since supplier

management is a popular topic and attracts greater research interest, the literature review is

based on two keywords: (i) supplier selection, and (ii) vendor selection.

An extensive literature review was carried out by focusing on the refereed journal articles

only as supply chain management is a broad subject area having links to other subjects such

as engineering, production, marketing and finance. The refereed journal articles are deemed

appropriate as they can be accessed via major databases by scholars around the world. They

can also provide a good picture of the supplier selection process worldwide. We do not claim

that other publications such as books, conference proceedings and/or working papers are not

worth reviewing but the task would be more complicated and may become unmanageable due

to a large volume of publications in this subject area. The literature review was performed

using the following databases most of which allowed access to full text articles: Science

Direct, NESLI, Proquest (ABI/INFORM), Ingenta, Blackwell, Wiley Science, Emerald,

9
USTOR, Web of Science, Swetsnet, EBSCO and Inderscience. The search encompassed the

articles that appeared between 1985 and 2005.

After an initial screening of the articles found, 147 articles were selected for the review. The

distribution of the articles according to time period was as follows: four articles appeared

between 1985 and 1989; 14 in 1990-1994; 47 in 1995-1999 and 82 in between 2000 and the

first half of 2005. These articles were published in fifty-four different refereed academic

journals some of which are listed here (number of articles published shown in brackets): The

Journal of Operational Research Society (12), Industrial Marketing Management (10),

International Journal of Production Economics (9), Journal of Supply Chain Management (8),

International Journal of Purchasing & Materials Management (7), Supply Chain Management

(7), European Journal of Operational Research (6), Expert Systems with Applications (6),

Journal of International Business Studies (5), International Journal of Physical Distribution &

Logistics Management (5), Journal of International Business Studies (5), Purchasing (5),

International Journal of Operations and Production Management (4), Journal of Business

Research (4), Journal of Information Technology (4), European Journal of Purchasing &

Supply Management (3), Journal of Operations Management (3), and Journal of Purchasing

and Supply Management (3).

The articles are initially categorised based on keywords under three broad groups: decision

criteria used; decision making methods and tools, and buyer-seller relationships. The first

broad category includes the papers on supplier selection (decision) criteria that examine

several issues. The most common issue is how to assign weights to decision criteria. The

second issue is the categorisation of decision criteria into three broad areas: critical, objective,

and subjective criteria [70]. Another issue is that of incorporating environmental criteria into

supplier selection process due to increasing consumer awareness and consumers’ concerns

10
over environmental pollution [71, 72, 96, 104]. A few papers addressed the use or preferences

towards different set of decision criteria by individual buyers’ demographic differences. For

example, the differences in gender of buyers influence the set of criteria used and weights

assigned to the criteria [130]. Other factors such as age, the number of years spent in the job,

educational background, experience and ethnic background also affect the choice of decision

criteria and associated weights [1, 50, 68, 110]. Decision criteria used for supplier selection

can be different depending on the size of a buyer organisation. Large companies use a

different set of criteria and a formal approach when selecting suppliers compared to small and

medium sized enterprises [113].

The second broad category includes the papers on decision methods and tools used for

supplier selection. A formal decision making approach is required either at the

prequalification stage or at the final selection stage. When there are more than one supplier

selected (multiple sourcing), then there is another decision to be made as to how much

purchase should be made from each supplier. Therefore, a buyer may opt to use more than

one decision method to help him/her make a decision. Decision methods used for supplier

selection can be divided into two groups: linear weighted or non-linear. A number of papers

reported the use of mathematical programming methods such as goal programming, integer

goal programming, total cost based approach and data envelopment analysis. There are also

some papers on the use of artificial intelligence and expert systems which included the

techniques such as case based reasoning and knowledge based systems supported by

computer software. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP), Multiple Attribute Utility

Theory (MAUT), Outranking methods are well-known and typical multiple criteria decision

making methods suggested for supplier selection. As Putton (1996) claimed there is still not

much evidence which methods are actually used by individual buyers [110]. The use of

multivariate statistical analysis such as structural equation modelling, principal component

11
analysis and factor analysis for supplier selection practice has also been reported in the

literature.

The third broad category that the more recent papers fall into is based on the theme buyer-

seller relationships. Some papers looked at the buyer-seller relationships in international

supplier selection. While some papers emphasised the differences in buyer-seller relationships

from the single or multiple sourcing points of view, some other papers examined the effects of

trust on buyer-seller relationships. The idea that buyers and sellers are adversaries has now

been replaced by considering buyers and sellers as collaborators. The buyer-seller relationship

may become more important depending on the size of the buyer and seller organisations. The

purchasing activity may be conducted by an individual in a small and medium sized enterprise

while a group of individuals perform the purchasing activity in a large company.

Findings
This section presents the findings from the reviewed articles in a tabular format. Pearson and

Ellram (1995) and Wilson (1994) observed that supplier selection studies in the literature

could be categorised as (i) prescriptive (suggesting models that should be used), (ii)

descriptive (emphasising models that are in use) and (iii) research that examines the supplier

selection criteria [113, 142]. Such division of supplier selection literature appears to be valid

for the review reported in this article, perhaps with the addition of two more categories. With

the developments in the world economy (i.e. globalisation) and in communication,

information technology and transportation, there is tendency towards exploring the issues and

concerns over international supplier selection as well as tendency towards better

understanding of buyer-seller relationships. Another tendency in supplier selection studies is

to look at the effects of selecting and assessing suppliers online (i.e. e-commerce, e-

procurement). The findings from the review of the supplier selection related articles will be

summarised under the following headings: 1) Papers emphasising the decision criteria that

12
should be used; 2) Papers reporting the use of decision making / support techniques and tools

(whether descriptive or prescriptive); 3) Papers focusing on buyer-seller relationships; 4)

Papers studying the international supplier selection practices and 5) Papers emphasising the

issues in online supplier selection, i.e. e-procurement.

Supplier Selection (Decision) Criteria

Twenty-three per cent of the papers reviewed (i.e. 34 out of 147) examined the decision

criteria used for supplier selection. Most papers attempted to identify and determine the

relative importance of criteria for supplier selection in various industries as shown in Table 1.

The decision criteria used for supplier selection and the weightings assigned to them can be

different due to a number of factors; the demographic characteristics of the purchasing

managers [68, 76, 99, 110, 113, 130, 133, 135, 141, 142, 145], the size of the buyer

organisation (i.e. small vs. large) [113], the preferred sourcing strategy (i.e. single vs.

multiple) and the existence of a supply chain (purchasing) strategy [83, 88, 90, 129], and the

type of products and/or services purchased [2, 4, 11, 12, 22, 35, 50, 63, 77, 81, 86, 122, 123,

128]. Some scholars emphasised the need for integrating environmental criteria into the

supplier selection process as more and more end users (customers) become aware and

concerned about the environmental issues [71, 72, 96, 104].

< Take in Table 1 >

Decision making methods and tools

More than half of the papers reviewed reported and/or introduced the use of different decision

making methods and tools for supplier selection. The decision making methods reported for

supplier selection can be clustered into several broad categories: traditional (conventional)

multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) techniques, mathematical programming, artificial

intelligence and expert systems, and multivariate statistical analysis. In addition, there are two

more categories that are somewhat different from the categories mentioned earlier: group

decision making and multiple methods. Due to strategic importance and involvement of

13
various uncertainties and risks associated with the supplier selection process, the purchasing

activity is usually carried out by buying teams rather than individual purchasing managers.

The supplier selection process also concerns several other departments other than purchasing

such as production, finance, and marketing. Hence, the personnel from these departments may

involve in the decision making process of selecting suppliers alongside the purchasing

manager. Therefore, some scholars emphasised the need for a rational and systematic group

decision making process for supplier selection (see Table 2).

Single or multiple suppliers are selected depending on the sourcing strategy followed by the

buying organisation. If a firm follows a single sourcing strategy, the task is to select the ‘best’

supplier among all alternatives that satisfies the firm’s requirements. In such a case, a single

decision making method capable of ranking alternative suppliers, such as MAUT and AHP,

can be used. Multiple methods may be needed for selecting multiple suppliers if a multiple

sourcing strategy is followed. This is because there are two types of decisions when a multiple

sourcing strategy pursued by the buyer: (i) how many and which suppliers to select and (ii)

how much purchase should be made from each supplier selected [78, 79]. Hence, some papers

reported the use of more than one decision making technique for supplier selection (see Table

2). A list and classification of decision making methods and tools for supplier selection is

provided in Table 2.

< Take in Table 2 >

Buyer-seller relationships

Twenty-nine out of 147 articles reviewed examined the influence of buyer-seller relationship

on the supplier selection process. There is now wider consensus among scholars that there has

to be a strong collaboration between the buyers and the sellers as opposed to the idea that the

buyers and sellers are adversaries [35, 142, 146]. One important observation about the papers

related to customer-supplier relationships is that majority of these papers appeared from the

14
late 1990s up until the present time. This suggests and shows that more and more emphasis is

placed on non-technical, non-qualitative aspects of the supplier selection process.

International Supplier Selection

Another area that has attracted research interest in the last five years is that of international

supplier selection. Eighteen out of 147 articles reviewed focused on international supplier

selection. Many companies have now realised the opportunities in terms of lower production

and labour costs that other countries can offer. Then, it becomes necessary to understand and

analyse these countries’ political, legal, economic, socio-cultural and technological features as

well as how to go about doing business in these countries. Selecting suppliers in foreign

countries may then become complicated due to the uncertainties caused by lack of

information and/or risks (such as safety and security related) associated with these countries’

business environment. The selection of international suppliers may involve more criteria and

require more time to gather information to evaluate potential suppliers. It was observed from

the review that the papers reporting the various aspects of supplier selection process in a

particular country is limited with mainly developed (technologically advanced) countries.

USA is most widely studied country. Other countries include Canada [22], Germany [22, 24],

The Netherlands [24], Switzerland [119], Sweden [107], China [27, 82, 99, 102, 117], Japan

[54, 68, 73] and Korea [54, 108]. Although an effort was made to build a model for supplier

selection in developing countries in [98], there is not much evidence how supplier selection

process is carried out in developing countries.

E-procurement: Online Supplier Selection

The world has seen rapid developments in information technology and electronic data

interchange in particular over the last two decades. The extensive use of the Internet has

enabled buyers to locate large number of suppliers and has provided opportunities for

suppliers to let buyers know of their existence. The Internet has become an e-marketplace

15
where buyers and sellers interact electronically. However, surprisingly, there were only nine

papers focusing on e-procurement mainly from buyer-seller relationship point of view.

< Take in Table 3 >

Discussions, Conclusions & Future Research

The earlier sections have highlighted some trends in supplier selection practices. The

identification and determination of decision criteria and the methods used for supplier

selection appear to be the dominating topics in supplier management literature. However,

from the late 1990s until the present time, there are more articles emphasising the importance

of buyer-seller relationship, international supplier selection and online evaluation and

selection of suppliers largely due to globalisation and rapid developments in information

technology.

Although there are a large number of articles studying the (decision) criteria to be used for

supplier selection process, these papers do fail to address the need to include the criteria

related to safety and security issues, which have become extremely important given the

present threats to security and current ‘climate’ around the world. The security issue becomes

much more important in selecting suppliers for products and materials for defence industry.

The papers reviewed mainly concentrated on manufacturing related industries ranging from

electric, electronic, textile, furniture to automobile, information systems and technology.

There are hardly any papers on supplier selection for services rather than products and

materials [45]. The review also provided strong evidence that there is a clear division of

studies on supplier selection and contractor selection even though both processes follow an

identical procedure. Contractor selection is mainly associated with the construction industry

while supplier selection is concerned with manufacturing related industries.

The reviewed articles studied the purchasing activities of the private sector organisations.

Surprisingly, there was no evidence of any research on how public organisations evaluate and

16
select suppliers. This may be either because such research reported within contractor selection

literature or the purchasing activity is carried out by the private consultants hired by the

public organisation, who would only provide a brief report to the organisation concerned. It is

already known fact that the evaluation and selection of suppliers and/or contractors by public

organisations is more complicated than by the privately owned organisations due to strict

regulations and the bureaucracy to be followed by the public organisations. While the final

decision to select suppliers is made by the public companies based on the principle “the best

value for money”, the private sector companies do not base their selection decisions solely on

price but also other criteria such as quality, on-time delivery, after-sale services, buyer-seller

relationships and so on.

The review also revealed that there are a large number of decision making methods and tools

proposed for supplier selection. Due to the multi objective nature of the supplier selection

process, there are more papers emphasising the use of mathematical programming based

decision making methods and total cost based approaches in particular. However, these

approaches fail to address the subjective (qualitative) criteria for supplier selection. A

decision model that accommodates both subjective and objective criteria is desirable. The

review showed little effort was made on this issue. One major observation about the review

was that the supplier selection process requires more and more detailed evaluation and

assessment of potential suppliers. This is because now many companies consider the suppliers

as their best intangible assets [92] and potential suppliers whether selected or not would want

to know how they fared in the selection process and/or the areas which they need to improve.

This paper aimed to explore the various issues affecting the supplier selection process. The

wide ranging literature review suggests that much of the focus on supplier selection process

has been given to the decision criteria and the decision making methods used for evaluating

17
and selecting suppliers. There is now some evidence that more efforts are being made in

examining the effects of buyer-seller relationship, international supplier selection and e-

commerce (evaluating and selecting suppliers online) on the supplier selection process. The

shift towards the qualitative and non-numerical aspects of supplier selection process clearly

supports the idea that buyers benefits from considering these qualitative and non-numerical

factors. However, the problem of how to quantify and measure these qualitative factors still

remains to be tackled. A model incorporating both qualitative and quantitative criteria in a

rational and systematic way is needed. Further research efforts should be made towards

building such a detailed model by considering all qualitative and quantitative criteria.

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Figure 1: Phases of supplier selection process and tasks in supplier selection

Phase – 1 Phase – 2 Phase – 3 Phase – 4 Phase – 5

The need for a Determination Pre-qualification Final supplier Monitoring of
new supplier and formulation of suppliers selection suppliers
of decision selected
criteria

SUPPLIER
SELECTION

EVALUATION & CHOICE

ASSESSMENT

Identifying attributes Rules for aggregating

information

Establishing scales to Linear

measure (Compensatory)

Assigning weights to Non-linear

attributes (Non-compensatory)

Giving ratings/scores

Source: Created by the author based on the literature review.

29
Figure 2: Factors affecting supplier selection

Supplier
Min Order capacity Sourcing
Quantity strategy

Decision Supplier Selection

criteria Process Type of
Products

Decision
makers Manufacturing
Geographic strategies
preferences

Source: Created by the author based on the literature review.

30
Table 1: List and summary of papers related to decision criteria used for supplier selection

Paper ID Brief description of content Paper ID Brief description of content

[2], Abratt (1986) Analyses the buying process and identifies and determines the [88], Lee, Ha & Kim (2001) Proposes a methodology which identifies
relative importance of the factors influencing supplier selection the managerial criteria using information
derived from the supplier selection
processes and makes use of them in the
supplier management process.
[4], Akarte, Surendra, Ravi & Identifies 18 criteria and groups them into four categories [90], Lin, Chow, Madu, Identifies the factors affecting the supply
Rangaraj (2001) Kuei & Yu (2005) chain quality management
[11], Avery (1999) Identifies the criteria used for IT purchases [99], Mummaleneni, Dubas Examines the Chinese managers’
& Chao (1996) preferences of decision criteria when
selecting suppliers
[12], Avery (1999) Identifies factors affecting MRO supplier selection [86], Lambert, Adams & Examines the decision criteria used by
Emmelhainz (1997) healthcare organisations and looks at the
weights assigned to them
[13], Avery (2000) Presents the experiences of three purchasing professionals and [83], Krause, Pagell & Aims to develop a set of measures of
their preferred criteria when purchasing IT Curkovic (2001) purchasing's competitive priorities
[22], Bowman, Farleyn & Examines the relative importance of factors that affect supplier [96], Min & Galle (1997) Draws attention to include environmental
Schmittlein (2000) selection and level of usage for global business services criteria in the supplier selection process
providers
[26], Choi & Hartley (1996) Aims to identify supplier selection practices based on a firm's [104], Noci (1997) Attempts to incorporate environmental
position on supply chain, and to provide recent supplier criteria into supplier selection process
selection practices that incorporate contemporary supplier
management issues
[35], Craig, Daugherty & Aims at exploring the criteria used during the selection of [71], Humphreys, McIvor & Attempts to integrate environmental
Ellinger (1997) systems/software vendors for all or part of an integrated Chan (2003) factors into the supplier selection process
logistics information system
[50], Deng & Wortzel (1995) Presents the results of an empirical study of the supplier [72], Humphreys, Wong & Develops a decision support tool which
selection criteria used by U.S. importers in three merchandise Chan (2003) should help companies to integrate
categories when selecting an Asian supplier environmental criteria into their supplier
selection process
[63], Gonzalez, Quesada & Looks at the variables and their relative importance in supplier [110], Patton (1996) Attempts to find out what criteria and
Monge (2004) selection from quality, cost and productivity perspectives which methods purchasing professionals
use in practice
[68], Hirakubo & Kublin Examines the purchasing behaviour in the Japanese electronic [113], Pearson & Ellram Examines and explores the differences in
(1998) and office equipment industries (1995) decision criteria used for supplier selection
in small and large organisations

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Table 1: List and summary of papers related to decision criteria used for supplier selection (continued)

Paper ID Brief description of content Paper ID Brief description of content

[77], Kannan & Tan (2002) Describes an empirical study of the importance of supplier [130], C. O. Swift and K. H. examines the differences between the
selection and assessment criteria of American manufacturing Gruben, (2000) weightings applied to supplier selection
companies for items to be used in products already in criteria by male and female purchasing
production managers
[81], Katsikeas, Paparoidamis Reports on a systematic examination of supplier performance in [133], Thorelli & Glowacka Reports on factors thought to have an
& Katsikea (2004) purchasing decision criteria of U.K. distributor firms of (1995) impact on decisions of purchasing
information technology (IT) products. professionals to source internationally
[122], Sharland, Eltantawy & Examines the impact of cycle time on supplier selection [135], Verma & Pullman Examines the differences in weights
Giunipero, (2003) (1998) assigned to decision criteria in actual
choice of suppliers and perceived
importance of decision criteria before
selecting the suppliers
[123], Shipley, Egan & Compares the performance of two channel designs in meeting [141], Weber, Current & Looks at the criteria and analytical
Edgett (1991) customer sourcing criteria for industrial re-buy products Benton (1991) methods used in the vendor selection
process
[128], Svensson (2004) Investigates the models of supplier segmentation and supplier [142], Wilson (1994) Compares the relative importance of
selection criteria. supplier selection criteria of late seventies
and eighties with those of nineties
[129], Swift (1995) Aims to determine whether there are differences in supplier [145], Yan & Wei (2002) Uses supplier selection criteria as an
selection criteria between purchasing managers who have a example to apply a proposed compromise
preference for single sourcing and those who prefer multiple weighting in a group decision making
sourcing environment

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Table 2: List and classification of decision making methods reported in the reviewed articles

Category Method Paper Reference number

Neural networks 28, 32
Artificial Intelligence
& Expert Systems Case-based reasoning 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 71
Bayesian Belief Networks 84

Total cost based approaches 8, 14, 19, 21, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49,
114, 117, 120, 126, 146
Non-linear programming 61
Mixed integer programming 25, 49, 75
Mathematical
Linear programming 60, 61, 145
programming
Integer programming 56, 65
Heuristics 5, 18, 58, 132
Goal programming 52, 78, 79, 137
DEA 23, 91, 138, 139, 140
AHP 4, 16, 21, 60, 100, 105, 121, 131, 137, 144
Outranking methods 41, 53
MAUT 57, 95
Linear weighted point 101
MCDM
Judgemental modelling 38, 103
Interpretive Structural Modelling 92
Categorical method 70
Fuzzy sets 143
Structural equation modelling 90, 134
Multivariate statistical Principal component analysis 115
analysis Factor Analysis 83, 134
Confidence interval approach 100
Other decision making Group decision making 66, 92, 100, 101, 111, 112, 131, 145
tools Multiple Methods 5, 21, 49, 60, 100, 137, 139, 140

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Table 3: List and classification of papers on buyer-seller relationship, international supplier
selection and e-procurement (online supplier selection)

Category Brief content / article type Paper Reference number

Socio demographic factors 1, 76, 107, 128

Information and data sharing 3, 24

Sourcing strategy and TQM 9, 10, 37, 55, 88, 94, 97, 102

New product launch 15, 27, 33

Buyer-Seller
relationships Conceptual & methodological 34, 93, 127, 139

Review 51, 74

Trust 54, 58, 59, 116, 122,

E-commerce, e-procurement 124

Decision criteria used 22, 50, 68, 80, 82, 98, 99, 109, 119, 133
International Supplier
Methods proposed 39, 95, 117, 125
Selection
Buyer-seller relationship 89, 102, 106, 107

Using the Internet, Electronic

E-procurement (online Data Interchange, evaluating &
supplier selection) selecting suppliers online 4, 6, 17, 36, 39, 67, 73, 84, 124

34