EXAMINING SELECTION CRITERIA AND THE RATIONALITY OF DECISION MAKERS IN DESIGN AND MANUFACTURING PROCUREMENT

摘要

Due to globalization, manufacturing companies today are faced with significant challenges in reducing cost, development time, and improving the functionality of their products and services. Many companies are now adopting modular design and manufacturing as strategies to shorten the lead time and improve their product quality and functionality. Supplier selection decisions have taken a greater importance in product design and development as a result. However, research shows that supplier selection criteria considered by decision makers vary across organizations depending upon several factors including: industry type, risk behavior of decision makers, and scope of the project. It is hypothesized that supplier selection criteria (and the perceived value associated with those criteria) for decision makers are informed by a decision maker's attitude towards risk management and cognitive ability. This paper proposes a methodology to investigate the perceived value of selection criteria for decision makers and their relationship with the rational behavior of the decision makers such as demographic and professional background, level of experience, risk taking tendency, and cognitive ability. Hypotheses associated with rational supplier selection, decision maker characteristics, and methods for evaluating these hypotheses are proposed. Data from industry representatives are presented detailing the importance of certain selection criteria, the perceived value of alternative attributes, and risk attitudes.