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Purpose The purpose of this paper is to study, analyze and implement continuous improvement (CI) techniques in an interior design case company, which faces challenges in different departments that affect the case company performance. Design/methodology/approach The proposed methodology implemented in three departments of an interior design company in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). First, the authors analyzed and identified problems using Pareto chart and cause and effect diagram. After that, they improved identified problems using Kaizen, 5S, developed project selection form and modified organization chart. The result has been shown savings regarding money and time. Findings Successful implementation of the proposed methodology reduced project in pipeline time from 16 weeks to nine weeks, profit margin increased from 25 to 27 per cent, sales win ratio increase from 11 to 32 per cent, better project and financial forecasting and 92 per cent of tender submission deadline achievement. A habit of clean, tidy and organized workplace has been developed among workers. Originality/value Proposed solutions contributed significantly to saving time and effort spent to accomplish different tasks in the case company. The company approved the proposed solutions and implemented them, which show that these proposed solutions are feasible and practical. In addition to that, in literature, most of the CI applications are in the manufacturing or production sectors. This was the first study, which implemented CI techniques in an interior design company.

Purpose The oil and gas industry is a crucial economic sector for both developed and developing economies. Delays in extraction and refining of these resources would adversely affect industrial players, including that of the host countries. Supplier selection is one of the most important decisions taken by managers of this industry that affect their supply chain operations. However, determining suitable suppliers to work with has become a phenomenon faced by these managers and their organizations. Furthermore, identifying relevant, critical and important criteria needed to guide these managers and their organizations for supplier selection decisions has become even more complicated due to various criteria that need to be taken into consideration. With limited works in the current literature of supplier selection in the oil and gas industry having major methodological drawbacks, the purpose of this paper is to develop an integrated approach for supplier selection in the oil and gas industry. Design/methodology/approach To address this problem, this paper proposes a new uncertain decision framework. A grey-Delphi approach is first applied to aid in the evaluation and refinement of these various available criteria to obtain the most important and relevant criteria for the oil and gas industry. The grey systems theoretic concept is adopted to address the subjectivity and uncertainty in human judgments. The grey-Shannon entropy approach is used to determine the criteria weights, and finally, the grey-EDAS (evaluation based on distance from average solution) method is utilized for determining the ranking of the suppliers. Findings To exemplify the applicability and robustness of the proposed approach, this study uses the oil and gas industry of Iran as a case in point. From the literature review, 21 criteria were established and using the grey-Delphi approach, 16 were finally considered. The four top-ranked criteria, using grey-Shannon entropy, include warranty level and experience time, relationship closeness, supplier’s technical level and risks which are considered as the most critical and influential criteria for supplier evaluation in the Iranian oil and gas industry. The ranking of the suppliers is obtained, and the best and worst suppliers are also identified. Sensitivity analysis indicates that the results using the proposed methodology are robust. Research limitations/implications The proposed approach would assist supply chain practicing managers, including purchasing managers, procurement managers and supply chain managers in the oil and gas and other industries, to effectively select suitable suppliers for cooperation. It can also be used for other multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) applications. Future works on applying other MCDM methods and comparing them with the results of this study can be addressed. Finally, broader and more empirical works are required in the oil and gas industry. Originality/value This study is among the first few studies of supplier selection in the oil and gas industry from an emerging economy perspective and sets the stage for future research. The proposed integrated grey-based MCDM approach provides robust results in supplier evaluation and can be used for future domain applications.

Purpose-This study aims to evaluate the role of social media (SM) tools in the polio prevention in an Indian context, using a hybrid Delphi-DEMATEL approach. Design/methodology/approach-A preliminary list of suitable evaluation criteria was derived from an extensive literature review. Ten experts were then contacted to collect data and finalize the most prominent criteria using the Delphi method. To establish cause-effect relationships among the criteria, further data were collected from twenty-one experts. The decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method was applied to process and interpret the data collected. Findings-The analysis grouped criteria into two sets, i.e. cause and effect. The results show that awareness of social cause and government utilization of resources fall into the cause group; these elements are critical since both directly affect the remaining criteria. These outcomes can help government and businesses to utilize SM for public health surveillance, e.g. to promote schemes/initiatives through sites concerning polio or related health issues. Practical implications-The findings of this research are useful for governments and individual companies to conceive their marketing initiatives akin to polio prevention issues using SM. Originality/value-Despite the emergence of SM, there has been little discussion in existing literature on their role for polio prevention; however, measuring such role could be useful in practice, to help decision makers (DMs) exploiting the potential of SM in the healthcare context. To fill this gap, this study aims to measure the role of SM in polio prevention in the Indian context and to create a cause-effect evaluation model. Using an integrated Delphi-1 DEMATEL framework for decision-making in the healthcare context is another novelty of this study.

Due to strong competition, numerous technology advancements and the monetary policy of the government, the survival of Indian real estate firms now depends on their capacity to measure their existing innovation capabilities, rebuild them and adopt new ones. The aim of this study is to evaluate the technology and human resources innovation capabilities of Indian real estate firms by applying fuzzy Delphi and DEMATEL techniques. After identifying the innovation capabilities through an extensive literature review, a questionnaire is designed based on fuzzy linguistic scales to manage any vagueness of information received. Data has been collected from experts in the field, with capabilities then finalized by using a fuzzy Delphi method. To establish cause-effect relationships among capabilities, a DEMATEL method is applied to the data collected from a second questionnaire. Analysis of the data divides capabilities into two groups i.e. cause and effect. The results show that innovation management, robustness of product and process design capability, strategic planning and knowledge resources fall in the cause group; these are critical findings given the effect on the other capabilities. The study outcomes can help real estate firms to enhance their capabilities with the proposed model providing guidelines and direction in this regard.

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to evaluate two supply chain resilience key elements of vulnerability and capability in the automotive industry.Design/methodology/approachWe propose a fuzzy approach for statistical hypothesis testing and analyze two research hypotheses by synthesizing the results of a questionnaire given to 44 companies in the Iranian automotive industry.FindingsThe results indicate that the automotive industry in Iran should: (1) resist five elements of vulnerability, i.e. “external pressures,” “sensitivity,” “connectivity,” “supplier/customer disruptions,” and “resource limits,” and (2) embrace nine elements of capability, i.e. “flexibility in order fulfillment,” “capacity,” “efficiency,” “visibility,” “adaptability,” “recovery,” “dispersion,” “organization,” “market position” and “security” to achieve greater resiliency elasticity in the supply chain.Originality/valueThis is the first study on the supply chain resilience vulnerabilities and capabilities in the Iranian automotive industry.

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