MULTI-CRITERIA DECISION MAKING APPLICATIONS TO INTEGRATE SUSTAINABILITY INITIATIVE INTO THE THIRD PARTY LOGISTICS PROVIDER SELECTION PROCESS: A LITERATURE REVIEW

The purpose of this article is to answer following research questions: (1) Are criteria related to environmental sustainability involved in the process of selecting a third party logistics service provider (3PLP)?, Which of these criteria are most commonly used?, Are they well-defined?, (2) What type of multi-criteria decision making methods (MCDM) method best suits the selection of a 3PLP? Which individual MCDM methods are most commonly used and why? What are their strengths and weaknesses? Is any difference evident in the methods used in the case of sustainable 3PLP selection? A literature review was undertaken to first review most useful selection criteria and MCDM methods for selecting a 3PLP. Secondly, the focus was on analyzing the usefulness of MCDM methods for the logistics industry as well as selection criteria and their classification with a focus on environmental selection criteria and thirdly, to critically evaluate the results. A literature review revealed that fuzzy AHP and fuzzy TOPSIS integrated approaches were most frequently applied. Costs were found to be the most frequently used criteria, followed by information technology (IT), accurate delivery time and accurate quality and quantity. Environmental criteria were less frequently used criteria.