Impact of competitive conditions on supplier evaluation: a construction supply chain case study

Abstract

This research proposes a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) framework and demonstrates the impact of competitive conditions on supplier evaluation process for construction supply chains. The paper focuses on the supply chain of a large-scale housing project in order to illustrate the role of competitive capability and suppliers’ profile and its influence on supplier evaluation based on prevailing supply/market conditions. Various scenarios are investigated to demonstrate the impact of competition on supplier evaluation. The contribution of the study lies in highlighting the impact of supply/market conditions on MCDM decisions causing supplier evaluation ‘imbalance’ and MCDM usage. It is expected that the study will be useful for project management, construction, supply chain management, sourcing professionals. The findings of the study are generalisable to projects-based situations such as petroleum refinery and ship building where bill of materials typically consists of thousands of items and a large number of suppliers are involved.

Keywords:

• Supplier evaluation
• construction management
• multi-criteria-decision-making
• project management
• supply chain management

Acknowledgement

Authors wish to acknowledge the support (data, availability of experts for discussions and clarifications) extended by ABC management in pursuing this research. Authors also acknowledge suggestions from Dr. Prasanta Dey, Professor at Aston Business School, UK for his help in improving the quality and flavour of this research.