Prioritisation and assessment of collaboration decisions for supply chain with risk considerations using TOPSIS

This paper analyses supply chain collaboration decisions under various supply chain risks. Two types of collaboration, i.e., vertical collaboration and horizontal collaboration are selected in supply chain context and effects of different risk factors on these collaboration approaches are analysed in detail. A total of eight risk factors which influence the supply chain operations are identified from literature across various industries including SMEs and process industries. The paper also identified five approaches (alternatives) for a real collaboration which includes collaboration regarding technology, skill and resource sharing, coordinated and synchronised SC decisions, supply chain goal and partner's alignment, information sharing and knowledge management related collaboration strategies. Techniques for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) are used to evaluate and prioritise these collaborative approaches under above-said risk factors. It was found that knowledge management related collaboration strategies and supply chain goal and partner's alignment related collaboration strategies are most useful approaches to be considered by supply chain managers under risk-prone environment. The implication of the paper for supply chain managers of various industries (ex. OEM, SMEs, process industries) is to evaluate and identify the most relevant approach to a real collaboration so that supply chain risk impact can be minimised.