Evaluation of Corporate Sustainability

As a consequence of an increasing demand in sustainable development for business organizations, the evaluation of corporate sustainability has become a topic intensively focused by academic researchers and business practitioners. Several techniques in the context of multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA) have been suggested to facilitate the evaluation and the analysis of sustainability performance. However, due to the complexity of evaluation, such as a compilation of quantitative and qualitative measures, interrelationships among various sustainability criteria, the assessor’s hesitation in scoring, or incomplete information, simple techniques may not be able to generate reliable results which can reflect the overall sustainability performance of a company. This paper proposes a series of mathematical formulations based upon the evidential reasoning (ER) approach which can be used to aggregate results from qualitative judgments with quantitative measurements under various types of complex and uncertain situations. The evaluation of corporate sustainability through the ER model is demonstrated using actual data generated from three sugar manufacturing companies in Thailand. The proposed model facilitates managers in analysing the performance and identifying improvement plans and goals. It also simplifies decision making related to sustainable development initiatives. The model can be generalized to a wider area of performance assessment, as well as to any cases of multiple criteria analysis

Analysis of criteria weights for the assessment of corporate sustainability: a case study 3 in sugar manufacturing

The assessment of sustainability performance has become a topic widely discussed by business practitioners. The complexity of this issue is highlighted by the incorporation of a large number of criteria. Several methods under the context of Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) have been employed to facilitate the aggregation of various criteria and to provide a guideline for decision making. As most MCDA methods assume that each criterion 14 plays a role equal to its weight, this paper investigates the weight of each criterion in 15 evaluation of corporate sustainability by focusing on the sugar industry in order to respond to the lack of MCDA and sustainability studies in this sector. The weighting is analysed by means of the relative importance based upon interviews and the direct rating technique. Statistical analysis is also conducted. The results from this empirical research indicate priorities of sustainability criteria and demonstrate the diversity of concerns within the industry when deciding on sustainability policies and strategies. This encourages practitioners to incorporate uncertain weights of sustainability criteria into decision making. Possible reasons for variations or changes in weights have been also discussed, and this enables practitioners to perform a sensitivity analysis in a more realistic wa

The sweet spot in sustainability: a framework for corporate assessment in sugar manufacturing

The assessment of corporate sustainability has become an increasingly important topic, both within academia and in industry. For manufacturing companies to conform to their commitments to sustainable development, a standard and reliable measurement framework is required. There is, however, a lack of sector-specific and empirical research in many areas, including the sugar industry. This paper presents an empirically developed framework for the assessment of corporate sustainability within the Thai sugar industry. Multiple case studies were conducted, and a survey using questionnaires was also employed to enhance the power of generalisation. The developed framework is an accurate and reliable measurement instrument of corporate sustainability, and guidelines to assess qualitative criteria are put forward. The proposed framework can be used for a company’s self-assessment and for guiding practitioners in performance improvement and policy decision-maki

Environmental performance assessment using the evidential reasoning approach: The case of logistics service providers

The demand for environmental performance assessment is increasing among business practitioners, and it has nowadays become one of the key factors for a company’s self-improvement as well as for selecting suppliers and logistics providers. The assessment is, in essence, a multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA) problem comprised of many quantitative and qualitative criteria. Frequently, the assessment data of some criterion is inevitably imprecise and/or incomplete since the nature of environmental assessment relies heavily on professional and complex methods which might not be fully available for every company. Also, qualitative criteria can only be assessed based upon human judgment. This paper, therefore, proposes an application of the evidential reasoning (ER) approach to the assessment of environmental performance for logistics service providers. The lists of criteria and indicators are adapted from ISO 14031. The ER approach is able to logically aggregate all assessment information, although different forms of data (precise or imprecise; complete or incomplete) are obtained. For this paper, assessment data from two logistics companies were gathered and analysed to illustrate the implementation process. The results are in the form of aggregated belief distributions on a unified set of evaluation grades, and the company can use this information for performance improvement and benchmarking

Environmental performance assessment using the evidential reasoning approach: The case of logistics service providers

The demand for environmental performance assessment is increasing among business practitioners, and it has nowadays become one of the key factors for a company’s self-improvement as well as for selecting suppliers and logistics providers. The assessment is, in essence, a multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA) problem comprised of many quantitative and qualitative criteria. Frequently, the assessment data of some criterion is inevitably imprecise and/or incomplete since the nature of environmental assessment relies heavily on professional and complex methods which might not be fully available for every company. Also, qualitative criteria can only be assessed based upon human judgment. This paper, therefore, proposes an application of the evidential reasoning (ER) approach to the assessment of environmental performance for logistics service providers. The lists of criteria and indicators are adapted from ISO 14031. The ER approach is able to logically aggregate all assessment information, although different forms of data (precise or imprecise; complete or incomplete) are obtained. For this paper, assessment data from two logistics companies were gathered and analysed to illustrate the implementation process. The results are in the form of aggregated belief distributions on a unified set of evaluation grades, and the company can use this information for performance improvement and benchmarking

The assessment of service quality for third-party logistics providers in the beverage industry

The assessment of service quality has received increasing attention over the past few decades. The SERVQUAL model is an instrument that is commonly used to quantify the quality of a service. It divides “service quality” into five dimensions: tangibles, responsiveness, reliability, assurance, and empathy. SERVQUAL, however, is not intended to be instantly implemented into every industry or business sector, as items belonging to each dimension need to be adjusted to suit the characteristics of the industries assessed. This study aims to apply the SERVQUAL dimensions to the beverage transportation industry. This is done firstly by compiling assessment items from the relevant literature. The selected items are then modified to suit the beverage logistics industry and classified into the five dimensions. The validity of the items is confirmed by the item-objective congruence index and through interviews of industry experts. A pilot study is conducted to test the items’ reliability using the Cronbach’s alpha values. The revised version of the questionnaire can be used as an effective instrument for assessing the quality of services of the beverage transportation providers. The proposed instrument is then applied in a survey of sampled customers of a case study company. Gap analysis, quadrant analysis, point allocation, and the weighted sum methods are used to analyse the company’s service quality. The importance of the five SERVQUAL dimensions is also investigated through the survey, and the results show that “reliability” is the most important aspect for retailers and wholesalers in the beverage industry

Resilient Supplier Selection in Electronic Components Procurement: An Integration of Evidence Theory and Rule-Based Transformation into TOPSIS to Tackle Uncertain and Incomplete Information

The experience of disruptive events causing supply chain vulnerability and business downturns has motivated manufacturing purchasers to consider resilience capability when selecting suppliers. However, this problem is complex, mainly due to difficulties in obtaining precise data on supplier performance. Disruptions are viewed as low-possibility events, leading to incomplete or insufficient evidence to support assessment. A literature review presented in this paper identifies a list of prospective criteria for resilient supplier selection, within the electronics market, considering both quantitative and qualitative aspects in a symmetrical way. A new hybrid methodology, able to handle various forms of uncertain and incomplete data, is proposed to facilitate the supplier selection process. Evidence theory, which suggests the assignment of degrees of belief, instead of traditional probabilities, to expected results, is adopted to construct a decision matrix. The rule-based transformation technique is then employed to transform various forms of the assessment results into a unified format before further aggregation by the modified Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method. The proposed methodology is tested with a case of resilient supplier selection in a company producing computer hardware components. The proposed decision-making methodology can be applied not only by electronics purchasers but also by practitioners in other industries to logically and straightforwardly model the uncertainty and incompleteness of the available information

Supplier selection towards uncertain and unavailable information: An extension of TOPSIS method

Due to intensive competition among business corporations, the selection of supplier becomes more significant for business success. However, supplier selection problems are complex since a large number of criteria need to be considered and, frequently, some criteria cannot be assessed precisely. Moreover, fluctuations of supplier performances as well as unknown information always exist in real-world decisions. This study, therefore, aims to propose a method to facilitate practitioners to logically select a supplier, even when uncertainty and/or unavailability of the assessment information emerge. The TOPSIS method is chosen to be the basis for this development. The rank order centroid (ROC) method is chosen to determine the weights of criteria in order to lessen the degree of subjectivity required from the decision makers as well as uncertainty of the weights assignment. A case of egg supplier selection is given to demonstrate the implementation procedures of the proposed method. Keywords: TOPSIS, Supplier selection, Supplier evaluation, Rank order centroid, Uncertain information, Incomplete informatio