Selection of Warehouse Location along the R3A Route of Lao People's Democratic Republic by Analytic Hierarchy Process

Abstract

This study is intended (1) to study the factor structure of the selection of suitable warehouse site along the R3A, (2) to evaluate the weightings of the factors in the selection of suitable warehouse site by means of the Analytic Hierarchy Process, and (3) to determine a suitable warehouse site along the R3A between Bokeo Province and Luang Namtha Province, Lao People's Democratic Republic, by means of the Analytic Hierarchy Process. The researchers have chosen 18 factors from 7 researches on warehouse site selection and put the 18 factors through the process of calculating the index of item-objective congruence (IOC) by interviewing experts. As a result, only 16 factors remained to be analysed by the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). Via the AHP, the weightings of each factor in the determination of the most suitable warehouse location has been assessed; the factor group of costs weighed the highest at 40.35%, followed by the marketing group at 21.68%, being the second, and the labour group at 14.76%, being the third. Furthermore, the factor groups of environment and infrastructure weighed at 12.68% and 10.53%, ranked the fourth and the fifth highest respectively. As for the experts’ conclusion on selecting the location, the warehouse site suitability of Bokeo Province was topmost determined at 54.90%, while the Luang Namtha Province was assessed at 44.69%