Utilising multicriteria decision making for rewarding participants in collaborative e-procurement

The technological advancements of the new network economy are changing the marketplace and impelling changes in strategic alliances and partnership structures within the e-supply chain (e-SC). E-SC managers need to consider multiple performance characteristics and trade-offs between conflicting tangible and intangible factors in order to evaluate participants. In this context, the authors present a comprehensive methodology for evaluating and rewarding participants in the parapharmaceutical e-SC. The paper consists of three parts. The first one provides a review concerning the criteria and the methods used for partners' evaluation and proposes a framework for selecting the most appropriate decision making approach. The second describes the parapharmaceutical e-procurement processes in Greece, while the third proposes an ANP-based methodology for partners' evaluation. The criteria, which influence the final decision, are presented and the results indicate that the development of a learning climate and the advanced collaboration among partners dominate the decision making process.