Dimitra Voulgaridou

Multiple sourcing strategies and order allocation: an ANP‐AUGMECON meta‐model

Purpose – The strategic importance of sourcing is inherent in the positioning of the purchasing operation in a supply chain and supplier evaluation – a crucial step in sourcing – is a complex multicriteria decision making (MCDM) problem. The purpose of this paper is to provide a meta‐model for supplier evaluation and order quantity allocation, based on a MCDM method, namely the Analytic Network Process (ANP) and a multiobjective mathematical programming method (MOMP), the AUGMECON.Design/methodology/approach – The proposed approach consists of two parts. The former develops and applies the ANP method in order to evaluate the suppliers in qualitative terms. The latter implements the AUGMECON method in order to find the Pareto optimal solutions for the allocation of order quantities in a multiple sourcing environment. The integrated meta‐model is exposed through an illustrative case concerning the parapharmaceutical enterprise cluster in Greece.Findings – The proposed meta‐model constitutes an efficient met...

An analytic network process approach for sales forecasting

New product sales forecast is a difficult but essential task for companies, as it drives a variety of multifunctional decisions. Most new product forecasting literature presents sophisticated statistical techniques and complex methodologies with little or no thought given to ease of implementation. As a result, there is a significant gap between what forecast academics create and what forecast models professionals really seek. This study proposes a new product sales forecast model based on an Analytic Network Process framework. The analytic network process (ANP) is a multicriteria decision analysis technique that takes into account both tangible and intangible criteria with interdependencies and feedback among them. It is argued that the proposed framework is more flexible and is more comprehensive than traditional methods and previously developed models. The ANP model is illustrated through a real example concerning the sales forecast of a new edition (book).

Project termination analysis in SMEs: making the right call

Abandoning a project is difficult as it engages an enormous psychological load for project managers and team members and increases personal and professional insecurities. Organisations not only delay this kind of decisions, but also escalate their commitment into a failing project. Terminating a failing project with least of problems, releasing valuable resources and investing in higher potential projects are crucial for organisations prosperity. The aim of this study is to support the decision making when project termination is of question, help project managers and executives understand the problem context and revise their belief about terminating projects. The paper proposes a framework, based on the analytic network process. The study reveals the criteria that have to be taken into consideration in project termination decisions and provides a structured approach in order to help managers make decisions. The paper includes a case study of a troubled ERP implementation project in a SME.

ANP SOLVER: an alternative tool for implementing the ANP method

This study proposes a new software tool, the ANP SOLVER that implements the ANP method. The analytic network process is a MCDA technique based on relative measurement on absolute scales of both tangible and intangible criteria. Although today there are plenty of software tools supporting decision makers, the ANP method is not supported in the majority of them. More specifically, today there is only one tool using this method. The aim of this paper is to present an alternative software tool (ANP SOLVER) for the implementation of the ANP method.