An integrated framework for supplier selection and performance evaluation for apparel retail industry

Supplier evaluation, including supplier selection and performance evaluation, has become a critical issue for apparel retailers within the apparel supply chain dealing with severe competition in the global market. An effective evaluation of suppliers requires considering both the quantitative and qualitative performance aspects and integrating the efficiency measurement. In an attempt to address this issue, this study proposes an integrated framework that can handle supplier selection and overall performance evaluation in a comprehensive but feasible manner. The proposed integrated framework customized for apparel retailers combines the current techniques having specific capabilities: data envelopment analysis (DEA), analytical hierarchy process (AHP), and the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS). DEA has been used to make the overall performance evaluation, whereas AHP and TOPSIS have been used in combination to provide the quantitative data required by DEA. The proposed integrated framework was implemented and verified using numerical data gathered from a global apparel retailer. The findings revealed that suppliers can be more successful when they put a balanced effort into improving their performance in regards to the important criteria instead of concentrating on only the most important criterion. Moreover, the overall performance evaluation can be much more convenient and rewarding for apparel retailers in terms of finding out the true potential of suppliers when quantitative and qualitative data and efficiency measurements are taken into account at the same time.