Journal of Optimization in Industrial Engineering Vol.17, Issue 1, Winter & Spring, 2024, 17-34 DOI: 10.22094/QJIE.2024.1119028 17 Organizational Competitive Advantage Analysis Using SWOT Matrix and Hybrid Approach of Fuzzy-DEMATEL, ANP and DEA Ali Taherinezhad a, *, Alireza Alinezhad a , Saber Gholami b , Mahsa Abdolvand c a Department of Industrial Engineering, Qazvin branch, Islamic Azad University, Qazvin, Iran b Department of Industrial Engineering, Caspian Higher Education Institute, Qazvin, Iran c Department of Industrial Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Qom, Qom, Iran Received: 05 May 2024; Revised: 09 June 2024; Accepted: 26 June 2024 Abstract Today, due to the expansion of organizational competition, the growth of technology, and the increasing demand for customers, organizations that gain a competitive advantage over competitors by adopting scientific strategies can survive. There are various approaches to create a competitive advantage in organizations. On the other hand, in the scientific literature of this field, there is no integrated model that can cover the gap between these approaches. The aim of this paper is to present a new hybrid model for determining organizational competition strategies and criteria through decision-making tools. In this research, brands of dairy products listed in Iran were selected as a case study to demonstrate the application of the methodology. First, competitive strategies were determined through the Delphi method and expert judgment based on the SWOT technique. Then, relying on the SWOT technique, appropriate evaluation criteria were extracted through the fuzzy DEMATEL method. In the next step, each brand was considered as a decision-making unit (DMU). In addition, the output of the fuzzy DEMATEL method formed the initial values (inputs-outputs) of data envelopment analysis (DEA). Finally, after determining DEA weights via analytic network process (ANP), the efficiency of DMUs was measured by the Russell DEA model. The results of DEA showed that based on the strategies of the SWOT technique, 38% of the units under investigation are efficient. Also, the lowest efficiency obtained from the units was 82%, which shows that there is no noticeable dispersion in the efficiency values. In other words, it shows that the performance of all brands of dairy products is at a suitable level. The rest of the results and discussion are presented in detail. Analysis shows that the model of this research can be a suitable model for survival in today’s tight organi zational competition in the world. Keywords: Organizational Competitive Advantage; SWOT Technique; Fuzzy DEMATEL; Analytic Network Process; Data Envelopment Analysis. 1. Introduction In recent decades, competitive advantage is one of the important topics that has been emphasized in the literature of strategic marketing and management. Competitive advantage occurs when an organization achieves improvements and capabilities in an indicator or a combination of indicators that gives it an advantage over competitors (Fabrizio et al., 2022). Such as access to natural resources, highly specialized human resources, industrial technologies, information, etc. Also, creating and maintaining the stability of competitive advantage requires competencies that create value for customers by relying on the organization's capabilities (Leppänen et al., 2023). In this regard, different perspectives on the determining and effective factors have been presented. For example, theorists of industrial organizations consider environmental factors to determine competitive advantage. The first person among these theorists is Bean, who expressed his theory in 1968. However, the famous theorist of this group is Michael Porter (Mahirwe & Wei, 2018). According to Porter's model, the profitability of companies depends on the attractiveness of the industry and the relative position of the company in the industry. If the strategy makes the organization perform activities different from competitors, competitive advantage is achieved (Porter, 1985). Among other theories of this group, we can mention the theory of Amit and Shomiker (1993). They believed that the profitability of the company depends on the degree of compatibility of strategic assets and strategic factors of the industry. Therefore, the basis of competitive advantage is based on the interaction of industrial organization and competence theory. In contrast to this group of theories, a number of theorists emphasize the importance of internal organizational factors in gaining competitive advantage. Based on this, we can refer to the attitude based on resources and the attitude of dynamic capabilities. The resource-based attitude considers organizations as sets of resources and believes that the basis of an organization's competitive advantage is its resources. Provided that the organizations have the characteristics of being rare, valuable, low substitutability * Corresponding Author Email Address: ali.taherinezhad76@gmail.com