A new approach to green supplier selection based on fuzzy multi-criteria decision making method and linear physical programming

During the last decades, supplier selection in a green supply chain has been addressed as a key issue around the world. Today, supplier selection is an essential part of competitive strategy to improve organizational profitability, productivity, and performance. The aim of this paper is to propose an integrated approach that is able to handle the interdependencies among various criteria and efficiently exploit the decision makers' opinion in determining the weights of the criteria and dealing with the constraints. Thus, a novel hybrid approach to green supplier selection is proposed and then, its practical application is illustrated in a real case study. The proposed hybrid approach consists of three phases. First, the Fuzzy Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (FDEMATEL) method is applied to construct interrelations among the criteria determined for evaluating green suppliers. Then, the criteria weights are determined through Fuzzy Analytical Network Process (FANP). Lastly, a linear physical programming model is applied in order to obtain the best suppliers. Finally, a real-world problem is considered to illustrate the applicability of the proposed model.