Supply chains performance with undesirable factors and reverse flows: A DEA-based approach

Abstract

Supply chain performance evaluation is an essential aspect for decision-makers in order to make better and profitable decisions and survive in the competitive environment. Furthermore, considering desirable and undesirable outputs that are usually produced in supply chain processes simultaneously is significant and effective for obtaining rational results. This study proposes an approach based on data envelopment analysis (DEA) to evaluate the relative efficiency of supply chains with reverse flows in the presence of undesirable factors. The weak disposability assumption is used to handle undesirable factors. To illustrate, a radial DEA model is introduced to determine the efficiency of reverse supply chains while undesirable outputs are present as external factors and reverse flows. The proposed approach herein is illustrated using a data-set.

Keywords:

• Supply chain
• data envelopment analysis
• undesirable factors
• efficiency

Acknowledgement

Professor Alireza Amirteimoori would like to thank the Czech Science Foundation (GAČR) within the project number 17-23495S. Professor Jie Wu would also like to thank National Natural Science Funds of China (No. 71571173), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (Grant No. WK2040160028) and Top-Notch Young Talents Program of China.