3.2 Phase 2: measuring and collecting data
After building the AHP hierarchy, the next phase is the measurement and data collection,
which involves forming a team of experts and assigning pair-wise comparison to the
strategic areas and sub factors used in the AHP hierarchy. The nine-point scale (Table II) was employed to assign relative scores to pair-wise comparisons amongst the strategic areas and sub factors. Assigning relative score for pair-wise comparison is very important for having consistent results from this methodology. For this purpose an expert team of five members was formed. In this team of five experts, three were from industry and two from academic. Each one of them had more than ten year of experience in supply chain area. A questionnaire consisting of all strategic areas and sub factors under these strategic areas was designed to collect the pair-wise comparison judgment from all expert team members on nine point Saaty scale. The experts would assign a score to each comparison using this
scale. This process continued till all levels of the hierarchy and eventually a series of judgment matrices for the strategic areas and sub factors was obtained. In case of any confusion, discussion was also held to sort out the problem.