Green third-party logistics service provider selection using the stratified BWM and ELECTRE

Following the global effect of COVID-19, the importance of logistics costs in total expenses has risen even more. Businesses have had to reconsider their logistics activities, and many have chosen to do this through a third-party logistics service provider (3PLSP). Multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) is frequently used in the literature to solve the 3PLSP selection problem. However, since choosing a 3PLSP is a strategic decision, the importance of the criteria may change depending on the states arising in the future, such as the transformation obtained by the Green Deal, wars around the world, and equipment shortages. Therefore, this study proposes a hybrid MCDM approach considering such a stratified structure. In this approach, the Stratified Best-Worst Method was used to weigh the criteria, and ELECTRE was applied to select the most appropriate 3PLSP. The findings show that, in green 3PLSP evaluation, the criteria of on-time delivery and service cost come to the fore more than environmental criteria, and that businesses place importance on operational efficiency when other scenarios are combined. Moreover, the study presents a comparative analysis of the proposed hybrid methodology, demonstrating its effectiveness and applicability. The outcomes provide decision-makers with understandings into prioritizing criteria under varying circumstances and contribute to improving the decision-making process in strategic 3PLSP selection.