Renewable energy supplier selection: multi-criteria decision-making model

Purpose In today's rapidly evolving environment, organizational survival and growth highly depend upon the ability of supply chains to adapt with agility and responsiveness. Traditional supplier selection models that focus solely on cost, quality, and delivery are no longer sufficient, especially in sectors where disruptions and uncertainties are frequent. The study addresses this problem by integrating agility and responsiveness into the supplier evaluation framework and uses a combination of Best-Worst Method (BWM), Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) and VIKOR techniques. Design/methodology/approach The study uses a combination of BWM, DEMATEL, and VIKOR. For model validation, profiles of five suppliers were established and analyzed by a panel of 11 experts using 34 criteria. These criteria were categorized into Agility, Responsiveness, Quality Management, Cost Efficiency, Supply Chain Innovation, Supplier Relationship, Sustainability, Risk Management, Technological Adaptability, and Innovation Capability. The BWM served to establish the relative priority of the criteria; DEMATEL identified the structure of interrelationships among the criteria and the causal influence among them; and VIKOR provided a compromise ranking of the suppliers based on their overall performance. Findings This study highlights the significance of agility and responsiveness in supplier selection and demonstrates the efficacy of a hybrid BWM-DEMATEL-VIKOR approach. Among the 34 criteria analyzed, several emerged as particularly critical: dynamic resource reallocation, product durability, customer satisfaction, and supplier responsiveness. These criteria were not only given the highest weights through the BWM process but were also shown to influence several other capabilities in the DEMATEL analysis, indicating their role as foundational drivers of supply chain agility. Originality/value The study draws upon the Resource-Based View (RBV), Contingency Theory, and Transaction Cost Economics (TCE) and extends traditional supplier selection models by explicitly incorporating the critical dimensions of agility and responsiveness, which are essential in today's dynamic and uncertain supply chain environments. By integrating the BWM, VIKOR, and DEMATEL methods, the research presents a systematic, multidimensional decision-making approach that addresses both strategic and operational challenges. Such a framework enables supply chain managers and procurement specialists to more effectively manage vulnerabilities while enhancing the agility of their supplier networks.