COMPARATIVE STUDY OF AHP AND TOPSIS IN GREEN SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT

Abstract

Green supply chain management (GSCM) is defined as the process of using environmentally friendly raw materials and manufacturing products which can be reused, remanufactured, recycled or easily disposed so as to have sustainable supply chain. GSCM aims in reducing waste, reducing emission, preserving the quality of natural resources, decrease of consumption of hazardous and harmful materials, better product life cycle, usage of environmentally friendly materials etc. The growing importance of GSCM is driven mainly by the escalating deterioration of the environment, e.g. diminishing raw material resources, overflowing waste sites and increasing level of pollution. However, it is not just about being environment friendly; it is about good business sense and higher profit. Green supply chain aims to balance marketing performance with environmental issues. Since GSCM is a fast growing concept, two Multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) methods have been compared in the parameters related to green concept for different chairs to get the best alternative. MCDM refers to making decisions in the presence of multiple, usually conflicting criteria. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) are methods of MCDM. In this project, AHP and TOPSIS methods have been applied to get the best alternative among different chairs having different environmental performance parameters. After getting the preference order from both AHP and TOPSIS, best alternative was found with respect to environmental performance parameters. Since result was almost the same in AHP as well as TOPSIS, so it is suggested that AHP model should be used because of its simplicity in use and easiness in understanding as compared to TOPSIS.