Applying a Neural Network algorithm to Distributor selection problem

Selection of distributors is an important issue in supply chain management and plays an important role in making new market development. Managers are now focused on supply chain to manage their organizations effectively. Although numerous studies have been done in the context of supplier selection problems, there are a few studies in the context of distributor selection problems. In this paper, the fuzzy Adaptive Resonance Theory (ART) is applied to categorize distributors according to their similarity. To improve the performance of the algorithm, the algorithm is trained using past data. Finally, a numerical example is illustrated to examine the validity of the proposed algorithm.