Purpose

The decision-making to outsource and select the most suitable global manufacturing outsourcing partner (MOP) is complex and uncertain due to multiple conflicting qualitative and quantitative criteria as well as multiple alternatives. Vagueness and variability exist in ratings of criteria and alternatives by group of decision-makers (DMs). The paper provides a novel Stochastic Fuzzy (SF) method for evaluation and selection of agile and sustainable global MOP in uncertain and volatile business environment.

Design/methodology/approach

Four main selection criteria for global MOP selection were identified such as economic, agile, environmental and social criteria. Total 16 sub-criteria were selected. To consider the vagueness and variability in ratings by group of DMs, SF method using t-distribution or z-distribution was adopted. The criteria weights were determined using the Stochastic Fuzzy-CRiteria Importance Through Intercriteria Correlation (SF-CRITIC), while MOP selection was carried out using Stochastic Fuzzy-VIseKriterijumskaOptimizacija I KompromisnoResenje (SF-VIKOR) in the case study of footwear industry. Sensitivity analysis was performed to test the robustness of the proposed model. A comparative analysis of SF-VIKOR and VIKOR was made.

Findings

The worker’s wages and welfare, product price, product quality, green manufacturing process and collaboration with partners are the most important criteria for MOP selection. The MOP3 was found to be the best agile and sustainable global MOP for the footwear company. In sensitivity analysis, significance level is found to have important role in MOP ranking. Hence, the study concluded that integrated SF-CRITIC and SF-VIKOR is an improved method for MOP selection problem.

Research limitations/implications

In a group decision-making, ambiguity, impreciseness and variability are found in relative ratings. Fuzzy variant Multi-Criteria Decision-Making methods cover impreciseness in ratings but not the variability. On the other hand, deterministic models do not cover either. Hence, the stochastic method based on the probability theory combining fuzzy theory is proposed to deal with decision-making problems in imprecise and uncertain environments. Most notably, the proposed model has novelty as it captures and reveals both the stochastic perspective and the fuzziness perspective in rating by group of DMs.

Practical implications

The proposed multi-criteria group decision-making model contributes to the sustainable and agile footwear supply chain management and will help the policymakers in selecting the best global MOP.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, SF method has not been used to select MOP in the existing literature. For the first time, integrated SF-CRITIC and SF-VIKOR method were applied to select the best agile and sustainable MOP under uncertainty. Unlike other studies, this study considered agile criteria along with triple bottom line sustainable criteria for MOP selection. The novel method of SF assessment contributes to the literature and put forward the managerial implication for improving agility and sustainability of global manufacturing outsourcing in footwear industry.

中文翻译：

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鞋业敏捷可持续全球制造外包合作伙伴选择的新型随机模糊决策模型

目的

由于多种相互冲突的定性和定量标准以及多种选择，外包和选择最合适的全球制造外包合作伙伴 (MOP) 的决策是复杂且不确定的。决策者组 (DM) 对标准和备选方案的评级存在模糊性和可变性。本文提供了一种新颖的随机模糊 (SF) 方法，用于在不确定和多变的商业环境中评估和选择敏捷和可持续的全球 MOP。

设计/方法/途径

确定了全球 MOP 选择的四个主要选择标准，例如经济、敏捷、环境和社会标准。总共选择了 16 个子标准。为了考虑 DM 组评分的模糊性和可变性，采用了使用t分布或z分布的 SF 方法。标准权重是使用随机模糊-标准重要性通过标准间相关性 (SF-CRITIC) 确定的，而 MOP 选择是在制鞋业案例研究中使用随机模糊-VIseKriterijumskaOptimizacija I KompromisnoResenje (SF-VIKOR) 进行的。进行敏感性分析以测试所提出模型的稳健性。对SF-VIKOR和VIKOR进行了对比分析。

发现

工人的工资福利、产品价格、产品质量、绿色制造工艺以及与合作伙伴的协作是MOP选择的最重要标准。MOP3 被认为是这家鞋业公司最敏捷和可持续的全球 MOP。在敏感性分析中，发现显着性水平对 MOP 排名有重要作用。因此，研究得出结论，集成 SF-CRITIC 和 SF-VIKOR 是 MOP 选择问题的改进方法。

研究局限性/影响

在群体决策中，模糊性、不精确性和可变性存在于相对评级中。模糊变体多准则决策方法涵盖评级的不精确性，但不涵盖可变性。另一方面，确定性模型不涵盖任何一个。为此，提出了基于概率论结合模糊理论的随机方法来处理不精确和不确定环境下的决策问题。最值得注意的是，所提出的模型具有新颖性，因为它捕捉并揭示了 DM 组评级中的随机视角和模糊视角。

实际影响

拟议的多标准群体决策模型有助于可持续和敏捷的鞋类供应链管理，并将帮助决策者选择最佳的全球 MOP。

原创性/价值

据作者所知，现有文献中尚未使用 SF 方法来选择 MOP。首次应用集成的 SF-CRITIC 和 SF-VIKOR 方法来选择不确定条件下的最佳敏捷和可持续 MOP。与其他研究不同，本研究考虑了敏捷标准以及 MOP 选择的三重底线可持续标准。SF 评估的新方法为文献做出了贡献，并提出了提高制鞋业全球制造外包的敏捷性和可持续性的管理启示。