Evaluation of risks in foodgrains supply chain using failure mode effect analysis and fuzzy VIKOR

Purpose: This paper investigates the risks involved in the Indian foodgrain supply chain (FSC) and proposes risk mitigation taxonomy to enable decision making. Design/methodology/approach: This paper used failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) for risk estimation. In the traditional FMEA, risk priority number (RPN) is evaluated by multiplying the probability of occurrence, severity and detection. Because of some drawbacks of the traditional FMEA, instead of calculating RPN, this paper prioritizes the FSC risk factors using fuzzy VIKOR. VIKOR is a multiple attribute decision-making technique which aims to rank FSC risk factors with respect to criteria. Findings: The findings indicate that “technological risk” has a higher impact on the FSC, followed by natural disaster, communication failure, non-availability of procurement centers, malfunctioning in PDS and inadequate storage facility. Sensitivity analysis is performed to check the robustness of the results. Practical implications: The outcomes of the study can help in deriving detailed risk mitigation strategy and risk mitigation taxonomy for the improved resilience of FSC. Originality/value: Specifically, this research investigates the risks for foodgrains supply chain system for a developing country such as India, an area which has received limited attention in the present literature.