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Purpose – World-class total productive maintenance (TPM) status depends on critical success factors (CSF) to be properly implemented. The relevant literature has identified several CSF; however, researchers have not investigated the degree of importance of each phase of the process. The purpose of this paper is to prioritize the CSFs that influence TPM implementation during each phase of the process in order to aid decision making in companies. Design/methodology/approach – The main CSF are identified from a literature review. This paper focusses on the judgments of managers who are experts in TPM implementation in companies which have received TPM awards for excellence. The judgments are processed using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method. Three aggregation methods (geometric mean, Copeland and fuzzy) are employed for comparative analysis. Findings – Although the literature highlights some important CSF, the relevance of these factors is not the same in each phase of TPM implementation. Analysis shows that ranking using the Copeland method is most coherent. Research limitations/implications – This research was carried out in some Brazilian companies. Practical implications – If managers are aware of the CSF to be prioritized in each phase, this facilitates decision making, resulting in a more effective implementation of TPM. Social implications – If TPM implementation is effective, this stimulates the personnel involved and avoids the possibility of the program being abandoned. Originality/value – The originality of this paper consists in the proposed model to prioritize CSF during each phase of the implementation of TPM.

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Family farming is an important pillar of the global primary food sector and is characterized by a significant local and regional impact. The sustainability of these businesses depends greatly on the use of effective management practices in family farming and smallholder farmer’s activities. However, there is a lack of methodologies to support decision making in this sector related to the recognition of all aspects involved in the acquisition of inputs. Commonly, the existing approaches are focused on cost as the major criterion, which might impact on the agribusiness sustainability in the short or long term. Furthermore, traditional cost-focused approaches should be complemented with multi-criteria aspects within comprehensive and practical methodologies. This paper presents a Cost Management Model (CMM) integrating the concepts of Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) and Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA), which includes both monetary and non-monetary attributes. The use of TCO was mostly focused on industrial applications and studies on costs in agribusiness are still scarce and incomplete. The model was applied to a set of agribusiness families in Southern Brazil to support the supplier selection process of the three main inputs (i.e., fertilizer, fungicide, and soybeans). A significant cost reduction of approximately 13% for fertilizers, 7% for fungicides, and 3% for soybeans can be achieved. The CMM can be applied by smallholder farmers in any region of the world, and its flexibility allows changes in weights and criteria at any time by the decision maker. Buyers are more prepared to select the best supplier for each input and the later can recognize how they are more or less competitive when all costs and relevant criteria are taken into consideration. It can be also applied from an industry-level perspective to highlight the industry’s cost structure and value chain, supporting more focused and effective public policies namely the design of subsidies that mitigate relevant context costs and the investment in infrastructures. Both, subsidies and public investment, are of major importance in rural areas of developing countries.