An integrated neutrosophic ANP and VIKOR method for achieving sustainable supplier selection: A case study in importing field

Abstract Sustainable supplier selections have been improved by an increased number of multi criteria group decision making (MCGDM) methods and techniques. This paper provides a multi criteria group decision making (MCGDM) proposed technique of the ANP (analytical network process) method and the VIKOR (ViseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje) method under neutrosophic environment for dealing with incomplete information and high order imprecision. This is done by using of the triangular neutrosophic numbers (TriNs) to present the linguistic variables based on opinions of experts and decision makers. The aim is to solve the problem of supplier selection in sustainable supplier chain management (SSCM). The suggested technique consists of two phases. First, we use the ANP method to calculate the weights of criteria and sub criteria. Second, with the aid of VIKOR method and with obtained weights of the criteria and sub criteria from step one, we can find the solution. A case study is used to present the decision process in detail. Our proposed method is compared directly with the entropy method to justify our approach. We also use genetic algorithm to compute predicted values for five selected cities while varying economic, environmental and social criteria. Explanations of forecasted outputs and limitation for research have been presented. Our objective is to demonstrate that our proposal can calculate key measurement for major import and export cities, as well as to provide fair and reliable forecasted outcomes.