FOSTERING SUSTAINABILITY IN TOURISM SUPPLY CHAINS: A QFD DECISION FRAMEWORK

The aim of this study is to present a Quality Function Deployment (QFD) decision framework that recognizes the interrelationship between sustainable service design decisions and supplier evaluation and selection decisions and lines up the efforts of all members of a tourism supply chain to create common value, setting the foundation for sustainable development. By taking into consideration service quality and sustainability criteria, the proposed framework facilitates decision-making within the context of Sustainable Supply Chain Management. Towards this end, the proposed QFD framework is deployed in 4 phases (Houses of Quality - HOQ) and works on two levels. At first level it facilitates the sustainable design of tourism services, by incorporating social and environmental sustainability considerations as well as quality parameters, accrued from the "Voice of the Customer", while at a second level it provides guidance on supplier evaluation and selection procedures. Moreover, an extension of QFD method based on Decision Analysis and Multicriteria methods, the QFD-LP-GW-Fuzzy AHP methodological approach, is employed within the proposed decision framework to enhance the effectiveness of the traditional QFD method in capturing and prioritizing uncertain and subjective judgments. Results from the implementation of the QFD framework, concerning the realization of the first phase (first HOQ), are presented.