The competitiveness analysis for the global furniture trade via multi-criteria decision making

Abstract

The expansion of the ready-made furniture industry over the last two decades has played a decisive role in the growth of the global furniture trade. China holds about 35% of exports in the global furniture trade, whereas the USA makes 30% of the imports, with a sector magnitude of about $380 billion in 2020. In the present study, the competitiveness of countries in the global furniture trade is determined using multi-criteria decision-making methods. In this context, new criteria such as annual growth, average distance, concentration, and exporting companies are used alongside classical competitiveness indices such as revealed comparative advantage, revealed competitiveness, trade competitiveness, and market share. The PROMETHEE and TOPSIS methods, among the multiple criteria decision-making methods that consider all these indices and criteria, are used to solve the model. Based on the findings, China, Lithuania, Poland, Vietnam, and Turkey are among the top-ranking countries in the general classification. It is also interesting that countries with a gross domestic product of less than $1 trillion are ranked high in the global furniture trade. The study provides insight into the decision-making processes of executives in countries concerning furniture investments. Moreover, the sensitivity and comparison analyses prove the proposed method's effectiveness.