A rough set based approach to distributor selection in supply chain management

Distributor’s selection is an important issue in Supply chain management, particularly in the current competitive environment. The current research works provide only conceptual, descriptive, and simulation results, focusing mainly on firm resources and general marketing factors. The selection and evaluation of distributors generally incorporate qualitative information; however, analyzing qualitative information is difficult by standard statistical techniques. Consequently, a more suitable approach is desired. In this paper, a method based on Rough set theory, which has been recognized as a powerful tool in dealing with qualitative data in the literature, is introduced and modified for preferred distributor selection. We derived certain decision rules which are able to facilitate distributor selection and identified several significant features based on an empirical study conducted in China.