This paper presents a case study of multicriterial performance assessment of ten critical supplier firms of a one-of-a-kind manufacture. The suppliers were selected according to financial and strategic importance. The methodology includes a focus group with purchasers of the company, which identified and assigned priorities, with the aid of AHP, to supplier performance multicriteria. The performance in purchasing structure achieved had yielded a categorical questionnaire used for five purchasers to evaluate the ten suppliers. According to the results, supplier firms were separated in two, three and four clusters, which allows, in continuity, the definition of specific purchasing strategy and this may be thought as a contribution to the study of this kind of strategy.
Supplier performance assessment; supplier clusterization; AHP in purchasing; purchasing strategy; priorities in purchasing