A note on the application of the data envelopment analytic hierarchy process for supplier selection

In a very recent paper by Sevkli et al. (Sevkli, M., Koh, S.C.L., Zaim, S., Demirbag, M. and Tatoglu, E., 2007. An application of data envelopment analytic hierarchy process for supplier selection: a case study of BEKO in Turkey. International Journal of Production Research, 45 (9), 1973–2003), the data envelopment analytic hierarchy process (DEAHP) was claimed to outperform the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method and provide a better decision for supplier selection. This note illustrates the weaknesses of the DEAHP, demonstrating the invalidity of the above claim. The case study of BEKO in Turkey is re-examined and shows that extra verification is needed to come to a decision.