| Author | San Rathviboon |
| Call Number | AIT Diss. no.ISE-12-07 |
| Subject(s) | Business logistics--Evaluation
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| Note | A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Engineering in Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering, School of Engineering and Technology |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Dissertation ; no. ISE-12-07 |
| Abstract | It is increasingly important that business enterprises subscribe to the new paradigm of sustainable development. The global vision of creating sustainable societies remains an illusion as long as businesses are not engage d in the practice of sustainable production and consumption for that matter. This dissertation proposes an analytical approach to evaluate how businesses respond to the global call for sustainability in all segments of society. The business sector is an important player in this regard. A new evaluation model is developed and its efficacy is demonstrated in t hree different business applications presented as case studies. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is as a model that can be used to evaluat e decision making units in the context of the triple -bottom -line concept of sustainability whereby economic, e nvironmental and social considerations are being simultaneously considered. It is used due to its friendliness in accommodating and handling quali tative and quantitative criteria and other elements in the decision making structure. It provides relative ranking of decision making units (DMUs) reflecting the relative quantitative intensities. But these results derived from AHP are insufficient to clea rly assess the relative positions of the DMUs. Therefore, AHP is used in conjunction with another effective technique – the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). DEA is able to determine the relative distances of the DMUs from the reference efficient frontier. It is possible to determine in precise quantitative terms how much the deficiency of each unit or factor has from the efficient frontier. The concept of Ideal Sustainability DMU is introduced in this regard . It is an imaginary Ideal DMU which possesses ‘ ideal ’ attributes based on the ‘ best ’ for each criterion among the DMUs under consideration. This imaginary ideal serves as the point of reference in the ensuing analysis . Business enterprises typically work with many suppliers or vendors, both upstream and downstream, thus the concept of rational decision- making in a supply chain is very important. Every supplier or vendor in the supply chain should pay attention to the three dimensions of sustainability – Economic, Environmental and Social. The methodology of Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) is a suitable approach to handle the problem of evaluation in the supply chain where sustainable development is the main consideration. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and the Data Envelopment Analysis (D EA) are useful tools, especially when used conjunctively, to serve as framework of evaluation analysis. In order to test the validity of the model three case studies were undertaken and in this regard the main generic model is fine -tuned to fit with each o f the problem cases – thus three specific models are consequently developed . The first case study deals with the problem of vendor evaluation and selection in an assembly plant. This study demonstrates how the model is used to evaluate vendors and advise them on the deficiencies they have as far as the sustainability business practices are concern ed. In the second case study, the model is fine -tuned and used to evaluate various business units in a large multinational company. The business units are performing at different levels of sustainable practices and it is important that these units learn from each others’ strengths and weaknesses. The third case study is on monitoring the improvement made in one company over a period of time. Each year constitutes a DMU and evaluation of the different years of the company operation will be possible using the fine -tuned model developed. This is an example of the model being utilized to benchmark and monitor company operations over time. |
| Year | 2011 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Dissertation ; no. ISE-12-07 |
| Type | Dissertation |
| School | School of Engineering and Technology (SET) |
| Department | Department of Industrial Systems Engineering (DISE) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Industrial Systems Engineering (ISE) |
| Chairperson(s) | Tabucanon, Mario T.; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Bohez, Ir Erik L. J. ;Ahmad, Mokbul Morshed ;Sivakumar, Muttucumaru; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Dhurakij Pundit University , Thailand; |
| Degree | Thesis (Ph. D.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2012 |