Ranking foreign suppliers based on supply risk

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to identify and apply an appropriate methodology for evaluating and ranking potential suppliers. Design/methodology/approach – Essential characteristics of suppliers that must be considered in the supplier selection process are identified. Risk to the disruption of company operations as it relates to the reliability of suppliers is described as a reliability chain. Findings – The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is shown to be the appropriate methodology for evaluating and ranking potential suppliers. Practical implications – The case study demonstrates how the AHP can serve as a valuable methodology for ranking and selecting suppliers. Originality/value – The case study shows that the AHP can be used to evaluate and rank current and potential suppliers based on multiple criteria of supply reliability.