Performance assessment framework based on competitive priorities for sustainable freight transportation systems

Stringent environmental norms and growing demands for energy-efficient and cost-effective freight shipping have put organizations under immense pressure to consider sustainability aspects while assessing their performance. Moreover, amid growing awareness about competitive priorities, it has become prudent to understand how an organization’s sustainability performance is balanced against competitive priorities. Therefore, this study attempts to develop an integrated performance assessment framework (PAF) on the basis of competitive priorities for sustainable freight transportation (SFT) systems. A unified approach consisting of fuzzy group decision-making, fuzzy evidential reasoning approach, and expected utility concept is utilized to assess critical success factors of SFT based on four competitive priorities. The applicability of the developed model is exhibited through a case example, and sensitivity analysis is also performed to examine its robustness. This competitive performance score based PAF would facilitate logistics professionals in selecting the most competitive SFT system.