Logistics is an important service sector, contributing to improving the competitiveness of the economy. Therefore, along with increasing the application of technology and effective business models, it is necessary to increase the connectivity of the infrastructure systems of industrial parks, roads, and seaports of regions and the country. Over the past decades, Vietnamese businesses have been step-by-step going through many stages from production, packaging, quality, hygiene, and safety to grasping new stages in the domestic and global value chain. In many industries, businesses are increasing the content of their own designs, exploiting brands, and approaching consumption networks in the target market. The role of the distribution center is becoming more and more important in ensuring a seamless and flawless supply chain. In particular, the distribution center is the most sensitive contact point between supply and demand in each enterprise. Therefore, the key mission of a distribution center is to reconcile supply and demand requirements. Distribution center location selection problems usually involve multiple quantitative and qualitative criteria that the decision maker must take into account for assessing the symmetrical impact of the criteria to reach the most accurate result. In this study, the authors propose a hybrid MCDM model based on Spherical Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (SF-AHP) and Combined Compromise Solution (CoCoSo) Algorithm to support the distribution location selection problem of perishable agricultural products. The proposed model is then applied to the numerical case study of the sweet potato product of the Mekong Delta region of Vietnam to demonstrate the feasibility of the model. The contribution of this research is to propose an MCDM model for improving the efficiency of the agricultural supply chain through selecting a location distribution center. This proposed model can be applied to the agricultural supply chain around the world.

In the current market economic conditions, the distribution center plays an important role in the the supply chain’s operation, especially when the fruit and vegetable supply chains in Vietnam still do not have a suitable distribution center, leading to high arrival costs and slow shipping times. Therefore, researching and proposing a model to locate distribution centers, contributing to cost reduction of the fruit and vegetable supply chain is a crucial issue in Vietnam today. Therefore, using many survey methods such as in-depth interview, focus groups, face-to-face to collect a total of 439 samples in Vinh Long province, as well as secondary data from new articles, studies, research articles, other authentic sources directing the administration of provincial statistical management and yearbooks for analyzing the sweet potato supply chain in Vinh Long province of the Mekong Delta region. First, this study used mixed-integer linear programming and compromised programming based on IBM CPLEX Optimizer to choose a distribution center when trading-off between cost and transport time. Secondly, Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) for decision support based on excel software from the results of experts’ answering to increase the objectivity for determining the location of the Distribution Center as well as in accordance with both the actual situation and the comprehensive development of local socio-economy. The contribution of proposing the mathematical model is to choose a suitable place for saving costs and reducing transport times. In additon, this approach method could be applied to other Vietnamese agri-fresh products for upgrading the competitiveness, compared with other countries' agricultural products in terms of price and quality so far.