A new goal-directed benchmarking for supplier selection in the presence of undesirable outputs

Abstract

Purpose

In this paper, the authors extend the goal-directed benchmarking theory proposed by Stewart for benchmarking and selecting suppliers. This extension is in recognition of the fact that benchmarking for suppliers is more than a pure monitoring process and includes a component of future planning. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, the proposed model utilizes a goal programming structure to find points on the efficient frontier which are realistically attainable by suppliers in the presence of undesirable outputs, but at the same time achieving a closer method to long-term organizational goals (as distinct from the local performance of individual suppliers).

Findings

The contributions of the current paper are as follows: the proposed model considers undesirable outputs in the context of goal-directed benchmarking. The proposed model does not demand weights from the decision maker. The proposed model can be easily computerized, enabling it to serve as a decision making tool to assist decision makers. For the first time, the proposed model is applied for the supplier selection and benchmarking.

Originality/value

To the best of knowledge of the authors, there is not any reference that discusses supplier selection problem and benchmarking in the presence of undesirable outputs in the context of goal-directed benchmarking.

Citation

Azadi, M., Farzipoor Saen, R. and Hosseinzadeh Zoroufchi, K. (2014), "A new goal-directed benchmarking for supplier selection in the presence of undesirable outputs", Benchmarking: An International Journal, Vol. 21 No. 3, pp. 314-328. https://doi.org/10.1108/BIJ-01-2012-0004