桃園創新學報 第三十三期

模糊多屬性分析應用於廠商之供應鏈敏捷性評估

investigating linage between supply chain agility and firm competitiveness. The
instrument has been empirically tested and validated by Li et al. [2009]. Furthermore,
Braunscheidel and Suresh [2009] investigated the impact of two cultural antecedents
(i.e., market orientation and learning orientation), and three organizational practices (i.e.,
internal integration, external integration with key suppliers and customers, and external
flexibility), all aimed at augmenting the FSCA. Kisperska-Moron and Swierczek [2009]
identified the agile capabilities of companies in supply chains. Sukati et al. (2012) also
showed that organizational practices (i.e., internal firm integration, integration with
suppliers, and integration with customers) have a significant positive relationship with
supply chain agility. These studies have empirically investigated the antecedents of
FSCA.
Indeed, all of the agility measures are ordinal scale, which is the lowest level scale to
be measured [Giachetti et al., 2003]. Most experts have difficulty using perception as a
basis for providing exact numerical values to express their opinions on agility
dimensions (or metrics), more realistic evaluation uses linguistic assessments instead of
numerical values [Herrera and Herrera-Vidma, 2000; Kacprzyk, 1986; Sherehiy et al.,
2007]. In fact, the metrics can be measured as linguistic terms (labels), such as high,
middle, and low, and so on. Since Zadeh [1965] introduced fuzzy set theory to deal with
vague problems, linguistic terms have been used in approximate reasoning within the
framework of fuzzy set theory to handle ambiguity in evaluating data and the vagueness
of linguistic expression [Zadeh, 1975]. Due to the ambiguity of agility assessment, most
measures are described subjectively using linguistic terms. There are some approaches
that can be used to evaluate the degree of agility. For example, Tsourveloudis and
Valavanis [2002] proposed a fuzzy logic knowledge-based framework that consists of
four structures of agile enterprise: production, market, people, and information
infrastructure. Lin et al. [2006a] proposed a supply chain agility evaluation model based
on fuzzy logic and the multi-criteria decision- making. Additionally, Lin et al. [2006b]
presented a conceptual model of agile enterprise, in which agility capability include four
main elements: responsiveness, competency, flexibility and quickness, and developed a
fuzzy agility index based on agility providers using fuzzy logic to evaluate the
enterprise’ agility. Jain et al. [2008] developed an approach based on fuzzy association
rule mining to support the decision makers for evaluating agility in supply chains with

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