ERP System Evaluation in the Defense Industry: A Hybridized Spherical Fuzzy AHP-Codas Approach

Design/methodology/approach: Converting data into information and its diffusion along all organization units has become a vital survival skill. At this point, an ERP system provides an invisible network among a company’s internal and external stakeholders and plays a strategic role. Moreover, ERP systems offer some advantages. For example, integrating financial, customer, and order information, speeding up production processes, and reducing stock level and order lead time. Therefore, we propose an integrated spherical fuzzy-analytical hierarchy process (SF-AHP) and spherical fuzzy-combinative distance-based assessment (SF-CODAS) framework to prioritize the best ERP software provider for the defense industry.Purpose: Despite having the advantages mentioned above, some crucial aspects must be considered while selecting an ERP package. Factors such as high cost, difficulty in installation, and security threats can be very challenging. The latter issue needs special care in the defense industry. This study aims to design an evaluation framework for the ERP selection problem in the sector.Findings: One of the pivoting defense companies in Turkey is chosen as a case study. Seven ERP systems are evaluated with the proposed model. The results show that the proposed model can be successfully implemented in a defense company context. Furthermore, a sensitivity analysis proves the robustness of the approach to varying threshold parameters in CODAS and different fuzzy weighting approaches.Originality/value: The defense professionals prioritize a different set of selection criteria than conventional manufacturing firms. The study provides a rare holistic framework for the defense industry using a hybridized SF-AHP-CODAS technique. Thus, the study may serve as reference work for the researchers and decision-makers during the digitalization journey of defense firms.