Green supplier selection using the analytic hierarchy process: Evidence from the paper food packaging industry in Bangkok and surrounding provinces
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This study develops a systematic decision-making framework for green supplier selection in the food packaging industry by using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). Growing environmental awareness and increasingly stringent regulatory requirements have intensified the need for structured approaches to evaluating suppliers based on sustainability criteria. However, industry-specific green supplier selection frameworks remain limited. To address this gap, a two-phase methodology is employed. First, the Delphi method is used to identify and validate supplier selection criteria through expert consensus. Second, the AHP is applied to conduct a multicriteria decision analysis. Eight industry experts from three food packaging companies participated in both the criteria identification and supplier evaluation processes. The Delphi analysis yielded six validated green supplier selection criteria: green raw materials usage (C1), green products (C2), green service quality (C3), green image (C4), green certification (C5), and green compliance (C6). The AHP findings revealed that green certification (C5) is the most influential criterion across all three companies, with importance weights of 0.407, 0.459, and 0.460, respectively, followed by green compliance (C6) as the second-highest priority. The supplier evaluation results identified the optimal suppliers for each company as SA3 (0.378), SB2 (0.396), and SC2 (0.399), with SC2 achieving the highest overall performance score. Consistency ratio (CR) testing confirmed the reliability of the decision-making process, with all CR values below 0.10, thereby validating the methodological rigor of the proposed framework. Overall, the findings demonstrate that formal environmental standards and regulatory compliance are the primary drivers of supplier selection in the food packaging sector. This framework provides practitioners with an evidence-based tool to support sustainable supplier selection decisions and contributes to the sustainable supply chain management literature by offering an industry-specific approach that balances environmental objectives with operational requirements.
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