Using data envelopment analysis for ranking suppliers in the presence of nondiscretionary factors

Building on the closeness and long-term relationships between buyers and suppliers is a critical success factor to establish a supply chain system. Therefore, the supplier ranking problem becomes the most important issue in implementing a successful supply chain system. Current models of supplier ranking assume that the decision-making criteria are completely discretionary and do not assume supplier ranking in the condition that some factors are nondiscretionary. This paper proposes a method for ranking suppliers in the presence of nondiscretionary factors. A numerical example demonstrates the application of the proposed method.