Evaluation of Sustainable Development of Wooden Furniture Industry Using Multi criteria Decision Making Method

Furniture manufacturing industry seems to be significant not only from economical and social standpoints but also from perspective of environmentally compatible industries. Accordingly, moving toward sustainable development in this sector of Iran's industry is regarded as a national necessity. The intent of the current study is to determine and prioritize the indices affecting sustainable development of Iran's wooden furniture industry by benefiting from Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. After the conducted investigations, 39 indices were identified and categories in seven general groups namely, technical, human, cultural-social, economic, materials and products, rules and regulations, and environmental. Subsequently, Analytical Hierarchy Process was applied in the form of adjusting and distributing questionnaires among professional experts. Results show that the highest priorities for attaining sustainable development in this industry respectively belong to sub-criteria of economic stability increase in the country, development of furniture industrial clusters, adjustment of furniture and wooden products importation tariffs, reduction of volatile organic compounds (VOC), marketing, reinforcement of unions, and creation of competitive environment in this industry.