Supplier selection and vendor rating model in high innovation environment: a case study in aeronautical sector

The selection of right suppliers plays a strategic role for any supply chain. Supplier selection refers to the critical process of finding suitable suppliers from a set of alternative ones in order to maximize the performances of the whole chain. Rating and selection activities are among the most critical and strategic choices, especially in fields where the research and innovation capabilities of partners are supposed to be primary aspects for the chain’s success. This problem is highly complex because it involves a number of qualitative and quantitative factors with strong interdependencies. In this paper the relationship between a buyer and his suppliers in the aeronautical sector is studied in order to determine how the suppliers can influence the innovation capabilities of the buyer. The supplier selection process can be classified as a multicriteria decision problem. A model to solve it is proposed using the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) methodology. The evaluation criteria are developed and successfully applied for the case study described in the paper. A detailed step-by-step implementation method is presented and a case study based on an aeronautic company is conducted in order to validate the method.