PurposeA popular production model for high-tech manufacturers is that they move most production lines abroad to produce formal products for sale and just keep a few production lines in headquarters to manufacture sample products for new product development. Under such a production model, the paper aims to develop a selection model of International Air Express (IAE) for high-tech manufacturers in airfreight of sample products using the fuzzy best-worst method (BWM).Design/methodology/approachIn this paper, an assessment model based on the fuzzy BWM approach is proposed for high-tech manufacturers in selecting airfreight carriers for the shipping of sample products. Further, one high-tech electronic manufacturer in Taiwan was empirically investigated to validate the assessment model.FindingsThe result indicates that electronics manufacturer pays more attention to Promptness, Mutual trust, Freight rate and Financial status of fixed assets when selecting IAEs. Besides, FedEx is argued to be the most preferred IAE for the transportation of sample products. Based on the findings, some practical management implications were discussed.Research limitations/implicationsSome literature limitations should be addressed. Initially, the adoption of the fuzzy BWM assumes independence among criteria. Nonetheless, this assumption is not yet to confirm in this study. Accordingly, this limitation leaves room for improvement in future studies. Further, in this paper, five experienced experts from the Radiant Opto-Electronics Corporation (ROEC) case were empirically surveyed. To ensure the validity of the surveying, this paper adopted an interviewing survey instead of a traditional mailed survey. However, more representative samples are still necessary to confirm the empirical results in future research.Practical implicationsFirstly, the proposed research model provides a systematic framework to the decision-making process, which assists high-tech manufacturers in identifying the most suitable IAEs based on multiple criteria. It has been illustrated that high-tech companies deliver their sample products requiring timely and secure means of transport. In practice, manufacturers can assess various IAEs considering some main factors, such as Operational Flexibility (OF), Partner Relationship (PR), Transportation Capability (TC) and Management, using fuzzy BWM. This process ensures the selection of IAEs aligning with their logistical needs and business priorities, ultimately enhancing operational efficiency and customer satisfaction. Secondly, empirical results from the ROEC case indicate that electronics manufacturer pays more attention to Promptness, Mutual trust, Freight rate and Financial status of fixed assets when selecting IAEs. Besides, FedEx is argued to be the most preferred IAE for transportation of sample products. In other words, ROEC should consider establishing long-term contracts with preferred IAEs (i.e. FedEx) to secure favorable rates and service commitments. On top of that, results not only provide practical information for manufacturers in selecting IAEs but also for IAE partners to improve their service policies.Originality/valueThe results not only provide practical information for high-tech manufacturers in selecting airfreight carriers but also for the airfreight carriers to improve their service quality.
