Functional Managers’ Attitudes Towards Using Competitive Priorities' Criteria in Suppliers' Selection "An Applied Study on Public Shareholding Chemical Manufacturing Companies in Amman, Jordan"

Abstract

The main objective of this study is to find out  functional managers’ attitudes in public shareholding chemical manufacturing companies in Jordan, towards using competitive priorities' criteria" quality, cost, delivery, and flexibility" in suppliers' evaluation and selection. In order to meet this goal, a survey was developed and conducted among a random sample of (50) functional managers from those companies, out of which, (33) questionnaires were retrieved, with a response rate of (66%). Two different techniques were followed, analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method for collecting data, and statistical analysis. Results of the study showed that functional managers prefer quality as the first supplier’s selection criterion among all competitive priorities with a relative index value of (0.53). Followed by cost, delivery, flexibility, sequentially with relative index values of (0.22), (0.14), and (0.11), respectively. The results of the study also showed there are no statistically significant differences at level (α = 0.05) among functional managers' attitudes in public shareholding chemical manufacturing companies towards using competitive priorities' criteria for suppliers' evaluation and selection that  can be attributed to the personal and occupational variables (job title and experience) combined. In light of the study's findings, the most important, as recommended by the researcher is to draw attention of managers in the Jordanian industrial companies to the importance of keeping an informative records for current and potential suppliers, and make them aware also of the importance of a delivery and flexibility criteria when evaluating and selecting suppliers.

Keywords: Suppliers' Selection, Competitive priorities, Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), Jordanian Chemical Manufacturing Companies Sector.