Multi-Criteria Decision Making and Supplier Selection

This assignment provides a comprehensive review of multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) in various fields, including business, engineering, and social sciences. The references cover topics such as industrial gases manufacturer special gas bulk liquid distribution, municipal solid waste management, renewable energy deployment decisions, clinical decision support system malfunctions, 3PL transportation provider evaluation using fuzzy multi-criteria decision making, power dispatch of a large-scale integrated energy system with distributed DHCs embedded, and supplier selection based on evidence theory and analytic network process. The assignment aims to assist students in understanding MCDM techniques and their applications, as well as identifying best practices for supplier selection.

Running head: DECISION MAKING
Decision Making
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1DECISION MAKING
Executive Summary
The report helps in analysing the importance of the decision-making in different kind of
organizations in an effective manner. Decision-making is the crucial kind of task for different
managers in organization along with good analytical and thinking skills. The effective kind of
problem solving requires dogmatic reasoning that helps in solving different issues and applies
judgments to reach to conclusions.
The main aim of the report is to explore along with discuss the position of policymaking
along with logical thinking. This can be attained by using Simple Multi Attribute Rating
Technique to choose and analyse the greatest kind of explanation for outlining decision-
making. The paper helps in focusing on strengths and limitations of the analysis with respects
to the delinquent that has been outlined.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................4
1. Application and Importance of Decision-Making..................................................................5
1.1 Importance of Decision-Making......................................................................................5
1.1.1 Primary Role of Decision-Making............................................................................5
1.1.2 Optimization of Resources........................................................................................6
1.1.3 Efficiency in Organization........................................................................................6
1.1.4 Innovation and Creativity Improvement...................................................................7
1.2 Application of Decision-Making......................................................................................7
2. Problem Structure.................................................................................................................10
2.1 Outline of decision problem...........................................................................................10
2.2 Five Alternatives and Attributes....................................................................................11
2.2.1 Five Alternatives.....................................................................................................11
2.2.2 Five attributes..........................................................................................................12
3. SMART Technique..............................................................................................................12
3.1 Identifying the key decision makers..............................................................................12
3.2 Identification of different alternate courses of action....................................................13
3.3 Identification of relevant attributes................................................................................14
3.4 Measuring the performance of the alternatives’ attributes........................................16
3.5 Determination of the weights of each attribute.........................................................18
3.6 The Weighted average for each attribute and each alternative..................................19
3.7 Make a provisional decision......................................................................................22

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3.8 Sensitivity Analysis...................................................................................................23
4. Strengths and Limitations....................................................................................................24
4.1 Strengths.........................................................................................................................24
4.2 Limitations.....................................................................................................................24
5. Conclusions..........................................................................................................................25
References................................................................................................................................26
Bibliography.............................................................................................................................29

4DECISION MAKING
Introduction
The report helps in analysing the role of decision making along with application of the
decision-making analysis in different kind of businesses. Decision-making is defined as the
vital part of the different kind of businesses that comprises different kind of segments of
different organizations that included strategic, operational and managerial decision makers.
The decision-making process is essential and complex process that requires detailed
processing that will evade consequences that can bring undesirable consequences for the
entire organization.
There can be different kind of complexities in process of decision-making wherein
there are different aspects that needs to be weighed and considered as to achieve effective and
balanced decision that will help in achieving the different objectives in an effective manner.
Furthermore, it can be seen that when the managers will be making decisions on behalf of the
organization, it is essential to weigh the options in a proper manner as the poor kind of results
in different kind of legal and financial losses to the company.
Furthermore, in order to make effective decisions, it is essential to define the issues as
this will help in eliminating different kind of restrictions that is irrelevant to the decisions.
The different alternative methods have to be adopted for approaching problem and best
alternative methods has to be adopted to approach the issues effectively.

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Figure 1: Process of decision-making
(Source: Conrado et al. 2016)
1. Application and Importance of Decision-Making
1.1 Importance of Decision-Making
1.1.1 Primary Role of Decision-Making
The different kind of strategic decisions are adopted by higher level management as
they create core influence on the performance of the organization. Furthermore, the decision-
making is under the category of phase of planning in the management. Without proper
decision-making, there is different kind of managerial functions that includes planning,
organizing, directing, controlling along with staffing that cannot be conducted. The process
of decision-making will help in differentiating the key performance of the business in the
competitive market (Shepherd, Williams and Patzelt 2015).

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Figure 2: Importance of Decision-Making
(Source: Azadnia, Saman and Wong 2015)
1.1.2 Optimization of Resources
There are plenty of theorists of management who have verified the process of
decision-making as one of the essential management activities in comparison to the other
activities of organization (Azadnia, Saman and Wong 2015). There are different business
organizations wherein there is constraint relating to the availability of resources. It is essential
in nature to utilize the existing kind of resources as this will help in achieving target without
any kind of issues. The decision making helps in providing a clear view of objective that will
allow top management as this will divide the utilization of resources effectively (Yayla et al.
2015).
1.1.3 Efficiency in Organization
There is different kind of decision making process that is carried at the time of
planning phase in the management. The decision-making is a vital element in the different
stages of the process of management wherein the study of different alternatives of process of
decision-making that can help in generating different policies along with referrals (Shay and

7DECISION MAKING
Lafata 2015). There are different kinds of information that will help in allowing key
personnel to analyse the different kind of decisions that are made and prepared. This kind of
information will be used as to make different long-term decisions for the entire organization
and this will help in making quick decisions.
Figure 3: Management functions
(Source: Azadnia, Saman and Wong 2015)
1.1.4 Innovation and Creativity Improvement
There are multiple objectives that are required to be implemented in the process of
decision making. In order to fulfil such objectives, there are different methods of solving that
has to be explored and considered effectively. Proper creative and innovative decisions are
required to be undertaken as this will help in facing challenges to resolve issues effectively
(Zheng et al. 2015).
1.2 Application of Decision-Making
The analysis of decision is defined as the set of different kind of tools that has to be
established as to aid the managers in solving different problems in different kind of uncertain
situations. The entire analysis is carried by weighing different kind of alternatives along with

8DECISION MAKING
generation of statistical and quantitative data in regards to the problems related to decision-
making. The entire data can be used in order to produce reasonably and rational data and
systematic kind of solutions as this will make decisions in a corporate level.
The role of the analysis of decision-making is useful in complex situations wherein
the solutions that are easy are difficult to be identified effectively. The analysis of decision is
used in an extensive manner in different fields that includes management and government
business operations (Power, Sharda and Burstein 2015). There is different kind of
applications of analysis of decision-making that is summarized as follows:
Figure 4: Decision Analysis Application
(Source: Created by author)
There are different kinds of methodologies that can be adopted for analysis of
decision application (Mardani, Jusoh and Zavadskas 2015). This includes multiple attribute
technology, decision tree analysis, and heuristics strategy and rationality methodology. The
GovernmentBusinessCommonLitigationNegotiationandBiddingMedicaltreatmentanddiagnosis

9DECISION MAKING
SMART (Simple Multi attribute Rating Technique) is one such tools that is adopted for
analysis of decision (Cabrerizo et al. 2015).
The entire technique of SMART helps in allowing prioritizing the different attributes
that helps in contributing towards the decision (Wright et al. 2016). It is regarding model of
linear additive wherein certain kind of values are assigned to each of the attributes and the
sum of such attributes leads to selection of final decision. The process of SMART technique
is as follows:
Figure 5: SMART technique process for analysis of decision
Identification of decision
makers
Assigning values for each
criteria
Determination of the weight
of each of the criteria
Identifying the different issues
of the issues
Identification of different
alternatives
Identification of the criteria
Calculation of average
weighted of the values that are
assigned to alternatives
Implementing provisional
decisions
Performing sensitivity
analysis

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(Source: Created by author)
From the above figure, it can be analysed that proper technique has to be used as this
will help in understanding the SMART procedure that will be used for performing sensitivity
analysis. The proper calculation of the weighted average of the values is required to be done
as this will help in identification of different criteria that will identify the issues of the issues
in an effective manner.
2. Problem Structure
2.1 Outline of decision problem
Decision Making can be commenced when the different kind of unclear issues are
structured into the attributes that are organized in nature. The entire scenario helped in
explaining the different application of decision problem with the help of business case
analysis that is done as follows:
Southern Industrial Gases is one of the largest organizations with different
involvement of different industries in the world (Siggases.com, 2018). The respective
organization is top industrial suppliers of gases with more than 25 centres of sales and more
than 55 manufacturing plants in the entire world (Strandburg-Peshkin et al. 2015). The
manufacturers and suppliers of the medical gases division of Southern Industrial Gases help
in supplying medical industrial gases to other hospitals in Malaysia. The medical industrial
gases are supplied to the different hospitals that are manufactured and later stored in the Air
plant and later on they are distributed to the other hospitals accordingly (Soltani et al. 2015).
The medical air plant of Southern Industrial Gases comprises of different kind of
equipment, valves, tanks, pumps and other kind of machines that are related to medication.
The main equipment in the plant of Southern Industrial gases are Valves and tanks. The
valves functions as the primary and major machine in the process of manufacturing (Celebi et

11DECISION MAKING
al. 2017). Furthermore, in the present era, it can be seen that the efficiency of the valves has
been dropping gradually to the level that is non-favoured in nature. The main cause is due to
the aspect of the wear and tear as the valves are operating for more than twenty years and
they are depreciated in the market as well(Conrado et al. 2016). The demand for the medial
industrial air gases is high in nature in different hospitals as there are different kind of
threatening surgeries and other operations in the hospital that requires air gases (Li, Liao and
Liu 2015). The procedures of the hospital can be affected when the supply along with
production of the air gases is reduced and disrupted in nature. There are times when there are
break down of the valves in the hospitals and this charges huge maintenance costs and
volume of the supply that is unreliable in nature.
With such kind of deliberations, the entire invention team with the corporate
management has decided to substitute the valves as to evade the disruption in the medical
gases supply. The valves of the trade scale are on high-level cost items, therefore decision-
making team has to select valve as this will help in solving issues in the economic climate.
The cost, quality and the production outputs have to be analysed effectively before making a
decision of replacing such valves (Govindan et al. 2015).
2.2 Five Alternatives and Attributes
2.2.1 Five Alternatives
The five alternatives that are required to be considered are as follows:
AVK is one of the USA based companies that is specialised in supplying valves and
they operate in more than 200 countries with good track record in supplying medical
valves in different hospitals globally (Musen, Middleton and Greenes 2014).

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Encord is the France based company that is famous for supplying valves of high
quality and the after sales service is lower in comparison to different suppliers (Perera
et al. 2017)
VAG is one of the Indian Companies that is situated in Malaysia and it is a new
organization that has started operating before nine years. The prices are attractive and
there is no such track record of it as well.
Arita is the local company based in Malaysia that has lowest cost of transportation
due to the location of the origin.
VAT is one of the France based organizations wherein the quality of valves is good
and the after sales service is low as compared to other companies
2.2.2 Five attributes
The given attributes are the five key attributes. There may exist other attributes also
Cost is one of the factors that has be considered as this has huge influence on the
replacement of valves
Benefits include the different kind of attributes that will help in efficiently improving
the situation
Production is the other factor that will help in understanding the reduction of the
different sales service
Training is the other attribute that will help in generating valves of high quality and
this will help in satisfying demands of hospitals
Warranty is the attribute that is essential in order to produce valves that are better in
quality than the previous ones

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3. SMART Technique
3.1 Identifying the key decision makers
After identifying the problem in the earlier section, the key decision makers who will
be useful for choosing the valve and tank which needs to be replaced are the team in charge
of production and the corporate management team of Southern Industrial gases. It is
suggested that the production team is chosen to make sure that all technical aspects which
consist of the quality and efficiency of the tanks and valve are considered. Along with their
expertise the corporate management can also be considered as they will be looking after the
commercial aspect of the valve and tank replacement. This way both the cost and long term
investment from the viewpoint of Southern Industrial Gases will be considered.
3.2 Identification of different alternate courses of action
The given diagram is a representation of the five key suppliers who were chosen as
optional criteria in the key decision making procedure.
Figure 6: The alternative courses of action for the outlined decision making problem.
(Source: As created by the author)

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AVK is a brand which was formed n the United States. It specialises in valves with its
customer base in more than 200 countries. It has a good track record with respect to the
supply of components in different hospitals.
The second company is the Encord which is based in France and is extremely popular
for supplying high quality valves. One of their key components is there after sale services.
The third option is the VAG. It is an Indian company with its head office in Malaysia.
The company is comparatively new with respect to others and offers an attractive pricing
policy. However, there exists no track record of its quality delivered.
The fourth company is Arita which is a local company of Malaysia and has low
transportation costs associated because of its local location
The last option available is the VAT Company which is a French company. It offers
good quality valves but the after sale services is disappointing.
The discussed factors have been elaborated in the value tree provided in the next
section.
3.3 Identification of relevant attributes
A decision which is required to be taken needs to be reasonable in both technical and
commercial aspects. For this purpose, it is extremely important that certain criteria’s are
finalised. The criteria’s tend to have immense decision power which act as a critical factor in
order to get the valve and tank replaced.
The two most important attributes as defined by the team were costs and benefits. The
attributes play a key role in the decision relating to the replacement of the compressor. The
cost component can be further elaborated into maintenance cost, price of the product and cost
of transportation (Taylor Jrand Love2014). These divisions can be simply weighed in order to

15DECISION MAKING
compare it to the wide cost factor. Same is the case for benefits whereby the can be divided
into after sale service support and the revenue generated. The production along with the
orders made by the clients shall have a direct impact on the revenue generated. The after sales
service support, on the other hand can be easily assessed properly if it is divided into training,
warranty and a record of the history track. The illustrated value tree represents the considered
attributes.
Figure 7: Attributes of the Value Tree
ValueTreeCostsAssociatedPriceofthePrroductMaintenanceCostoftheProductTransportationCostrelatingtotheProductBenefitsderivedRevenuegenerationOutputofProductionOrrdermadebyclientsAfterSalesServicesSupportTrainingimpartedTrackRecord-HiistoricalPerformanceWarranty

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After the value tree was made, it is important to ensure that the attributes which were
identified are appropriate for the decision making. The given factors would hel in making the
case strong.
Figure 8: The Value TreeCriteria
(Source:Marttunen, Belton and Lienert2018)
3.4 Measurement of the performance of the alternatives’ attributes
Table 1: Costs Associated with Five Valve Suppliers
Supplier AVK Encord VAG Arita VAT
Price of the
Product
40000 25000 20000 22000 15000
Installation
and
Maintenance
Costs
10000 12000 9000 7000 5500
Transportatio
n Costs
6000 8000 7000 5000 1500

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Total 56000 45000 36000 34000 22000
Table 2: Direct Rating- Values for Valve decision problem
Supplier Output
of
Producti
on
Fulfilling Client Orders Training Record of
the Tracks
Warranty
AVC 100 100 55 80 75
Encord 80 60 0 50 60
VAG 60 30 45 20 30
Arita 70 40 55 50 45
VAT 50 20 80 30 20

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3.5 Determination of the weights of each attribute
Figure 9: The weight swing of every attribute in the outlined decision making problem.
(Source:Ferretti 2016).
Table 3: Normalization of the Weights of Attributes
Attributes Output
of
Producti
on
Fulfilling
Client
Orders
Training Record of
the Tracks
Warranty Total
Original
Weight
100 80 50 30 20 280
Normalize
d Weights
36 28 19 19 7 100

19DECISION MAKING
3.6 The Weighted average for each attribute and each alternative
Table 4: Aggregate Benefits for Supplier AVK
Attribut
es
Output
of
Product
ion
Fulfilling
Client
Orders
Training Record of
the
Tracks
Warranty Total
Values 100 80 50 30 20
Normalize
d Weights
36 28 19 19 7 100
Value x
Weight
3600 2800 1045 800 525 8770
Calculating the aggregate benefits = 8,770/100 = 87.70
Table 5: Aggregate Benefits for Supplier ENCORD
Attribut
es
Output
of
Product
ion
Fulfilling
Client
Orders
Training Record of
the
Tracks
Warranty Total
Values 80 60 0 50 60
Normalize
d Weights
36 28 19 19 7 100
Value x
Weight
2880 1680 0 500 420 5480
Calculating the aggregate benefits = 5,480/100 = 54.80

20DECISION MAKING
Table 6: Aggregate Benefits for Supplier VAG
Attribut
es
Output
of
Product
ion
Fulfilling
Client
Orders
Training Record of
the
Tracks
Warranty Total
Values 60 30 45 0 30
Normalize
d Weights
36 28 19 19 7 100
Value x
Weight
2160 840 855 200 210 4265
Calculating the aggregate benefits = 4,265/100 = 42.65
Table 7: Aggregate Benefits for Supplier Arita
Attribut
es
Output
of
Product
ion
Fulfilling
Client
Orders
Training Record of
the
Tracks
Warranty Total
Values 70 40 55 50 45
Normalize
d Weights
36 28 19 19 7 100
Value x
Weight
2520 1120 1045 500 315 5500

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Calculating the aggregate benefits = 5,500/100 = 55.00
Table 8: Aggregate Benefits for Supplier VAT
Attribut
es
Output
of
Product
ion
Fulfilling
Client
Orders
Training Record of
the
Tracks
Warranty Total
Values 50 20 80 30 20
Normalize
d Weights
36 28 19 19 7 100
Value x
Weight
1800 560 1520 300 140 4320
Calculating the aggregate benefits = 4,320/100 = 43.20
Table 9: Summary of Aggregate Benefits for Valve and Tanks Supplier Problem
Outpu
t of
Produ
ction
Fulfilling Client
Orders
Training Record of
the
Tracks
Warranty Aggregat
e Benefit
Weig
ht
36 28 19 10 7
AVC 100 100 55 80 75 87.7
Encor 80 60 0 50 60 54.8

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d
VAG 60 30 45 20 30 42.65
Arita 70 40 55 50 45 55.00
VAT 50 20 80 30 20 43.20
3.7 Make a provisional decision
56,000 45,000 36,000 34,000 22,000
0.00
10.00
20.00
30.00
40.00
50.00
60.00
70.00
80.00
90.00
100.00
Trading benefits against costs
Annual cost (RM)
Value of benefits
Figure 10: The trading benefits against total costs of the various Suppliers
For the analysis, only the valve of benefits has been calculated that too for the revenue
and after sales customer service support. However, the relationship between the given factors
and the costs associated with each supplier has not been stated. The given figure trades the
costs against the benefits to find out the correlation of cost with the different valves of benefit
with respect to after sales service and revenue. According toÁvila et al. (2016), the suppliers
who are higher in the given chart and towards the right are preferred more.
From the given analysis, it can be clearly witnessed that AVK is the best supplier with
the highest set value of the benefits. On the other hand, Arita and VAT are also good because
AVK
ENC
VAG
Arita
VAT
Efficient Frontier
Supplier ENCORD and
VAG are dominated

23DECISION MAKING
of the low cost aspect. Supplier Encord and VAG are quite low with respect to benefits and
are deemed to be dominated and they tend to underperform in the analysis related to decision
making. Hence, AVK, VAT and Arita are worth considering. They are not dominating and
contain a higher priority.
3.8 Sensitivity Analysis
The primary purpose of Sensitivity Analysis is to help in the study of the manipulated
weights with respect to certain attributes. This tool is generally used when the weights are
varying and thus, the benefit’s robustness is analysed. The given figure reflects the sensitivity
analysis with respect to varying weights.
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Sensitivity Analysis for Weight placed on
Revenue
Weight placed on revenue
Value of Benefits
Figure 11: Sensitivity Analysis for weight placed on Revenue
From the analysis, it can be stated that the Arita is the second highest benefit provider
till the point the weight is placed on 62. After this point Encord carries higher benefit
comparatively. However, when the weight is placed on 0, AVK has the highest number of
benefits at 67. It can be noted that irrespective of the changing weights, AVK is the only
67.0
100.0
62.0
AVK

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when which has the highest benefits. When the revenue is placed on 100, it shows 100 values
of benefits.
Therefore, the decision making team which was formed can state with utmost
confidence that AVK is the most reasonable and efficient frontier in comparison to all other
suppliers or alternatives (Adomaviciusand Kwon2015). The outcome of the SMART
Analysisfavours AVK which should be the ultimate choice of the company for its valve and
tank problems of Southern Industrial Gases valve and tank replacement.
4. Strengths and Limitations
4.1 Strengths
The purpose of process of decision-making helped in identifying significant kind of
attributes that are classified in priority group. It helps in providing framework of SMART as
this is easy for assessment and to understand essential cost and benefit attributes in an
effective manner.
The SMART analysis helps in providing opportunities for considering wide range of
factors that are involved in decision problem. The attributes are taken into proper
consideration to analyse the issues and this create huge impact on it as well. The different
attributes are analysed in order to carry vital amount of weight age for decision problem such
as wherein the total costs of the alternatives are summed up from different cost of
transportation, product price and maintenance costs and the costs are helpful in replacing the
medical air valves.
4.2 Limitations
The analysis of SMART consists of limitations that include human factor influences
the decision making and the input of different attributes can be affected by decision makers
with different expectations and perceptions. In decision-making problem of Southern
Industrial Gases, the weights and values allocated for the attributes are affected by
preferences of decision makers. The other limitation is complexity and time of process of

25DECISION MAKING
analysis. In the decision problem, analysis took time to compute normalized weights along
with benefits that is aggregated.
Furthermore, apart from SMART, there can be different attributes that could have
induced as the different perspectives could have been understood effectively. In this, it is
difficult to understand the attributes that are chosen are not operational and redundant in
nature.
5. Conclusions
Therefore, it can be concluded that analytical thinking and models of decision are
essential in organizations. The module has helped in analysing the knowledge on decision-
making theory wherein decision-making plays an essential part in making right kind of
decisions.
The problem relating to decision helps in involving the replacement of medical valves
in Southern Industrial Gases due to high costs along with impact of benefits. The sensitivity
analysis has been performed that helped in analysing the different cost effectiveness and after
sales services in an effectual manner. This has concluded that AVK is the optimum selection
for the decision-making problem that has been outlined in an effectual manner.

26DECISION MAKING
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29DECISION MAKING
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