Proposal of a new approach for measuring supplier agility: An application in automotive industry

In the literature, the ability of businesses' responsiveness to unexpected and sudden situations in an uncertain market environment is called as 'agility'. The agility feature will make it easier for an operator to respond (react) to possible sudden and unexpected situations. The purpose of this study is to develop an approach to measure suppliers' agility. It is aimed for businesses to use this approach to measure and improve the agility of their suppliers. In the study, the suppliers of an automobile manufacturer are evaluated according to the agility model built on the bases of speed, flexibility, information technology and cooperation, and these suppliers are ranked according to their agility score. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method is used in the study. According to the obtained results, it has been determined that the most important determinant of supplier's agility in the automotive sector is the cooperation capability. Other factors affecting supplier agility are respectively supplier's speed, flexibility and information technologies. Although the direct effect of IT on suppliers' agility is lower than the other criteria, the indirect effect is thought to be higher. The supplier of the automotive manufacturer where the application is conducted, are ranked according to agility scores. Thus, the automotive manufacturer has determined which supplier can react faster when an unexpected situation is encountered. For further research, it may be possible to use the proposed approach in the fashion, electronic and medical sectors as well as disaster management applications, where the need for agility is high. Keywords: Agility, Analytic Hierarchy Process, Information Technologies, Supply Chain Management,