Best-worst multi-criteria decision-making method: Some properties and a linear model

The Best Worst Method (BWM) is a multi-criteria decision-making method that uses two vectors of pairwise comparisons to determine the weights of criteria. First, the best (e.g. most desirable, most important), and the worst (e.g. least desirable, least important) criteria are identified by the decision-maker, after which the best criterion is compared to the other criteria, and the other criteria to the worst criterion. A non-linear minmax model is then used to identify the weights such that the maximum absolute difference between the weight ratios and their corresponding comparisons is minimized. The minmax model may result in multiple optimal solutions. Although, in some cases, decision-makers prefer to have multiple optimal solutions, in other cases they prefer to have a unique solution. The aim of this paper is twofold: firstly, we propose using interval analysis for the case of multiple optimal solutions, in which we show how the criteria can be weighed and ranked. Secondly, we propose a linear model for BWM, which is based on the same philosophy, but yields a unique solution.     

An extension of the Electre I method for group decision-making under a fuzzy environment

Many real-world decision problems involve conflicting systems of criteria, uncertainty and imprecise information. Some also involve a group of decision makers (DMs) where a reduction of different individual preferences on a given set to a single collective preference is required. Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) is a widely used decision methodology that can improve the quality of group multiple criteria decisions by making the process more explicit, rational and efficient. One family of MCDA models uses what is known as “outranking relations” to rank a set of actions. The Electre method and its derivatives are prominent outranking methods in MCDA. In this study, we propose an alternative fuzzy outranking method by extending the Electre I method to take into account the uncertain, imprecise and linguistic assessments provided by a group of DMs. The contribution of this paper is fivefold: (1) we address the gap in the Electre literature for problems involving conflicting systems of criteria, uncertainty and imprecise information; (2) we extend the Electre I method to take into account the uncertain, imprecise and linguistic assessments; (3) we define outranking relations by pairwise comparisons and use decision graphs to determine which action is preferable, incomparable or indifferent in the fuzzy environment; (4) we show that contrary to the TOPSIS rankings, the Electre approach reveals more useful information including the incomparability among the actions; and (5) we provide a numerical example to elucidate the details of the proposed method.     

Application of the multi-criteria analysis method Electre III for the optimisation of decentralised energy systems

The optimisation of decentralised energy systems has to integrate a series of factors, by implementing an approach based on interdisciplinary comprehension. There are technical, financial, environmental and social conditions that determine the selection and dimensioning of energy systems, particularly if these aim at covering the demand of remote regions by utilising renewable energy sources. Such a study requests the overall consideration of the local geological, morphological and climatic conditions, the capacities of the networks, and also the inclusion of the economic and social limitations, an approach that leads to a number of alternative solutions. The application of multi-criteria analysis can integrate the various aspects into a uniform evaluation procedure. This paper discusses the results of a study on determining the achievable penetration of renewable energy sources into an insular system for the purpose of electricity generation. The multi-criteria analysis method Electre III was implemented for this purpose. The research relies on data produced within the framework of the SEDEPIC project, financed by the ALTENER II/DG XVII programme.     

Evaluation of the results of multi-attribute group decision-making with linguistic information

Multi-attribute group decision-making (MAGDM) has received increasing attentions in both engineering and economy fields. Correspondingly, many valuable methods have been developed to solve various MAGDM problems, but relatively, very few research results focus on the evaluation of the effect of MAGDM. In this paper, based on the existing MAGDM methods with linguistic information, three key evaluation indices, consistency, closeness and uniformity, are proposed to measure the results of MAGDM from different aspects. By comparing the individual overall preference values with the collective ones, the three indices cannot only provide a reference for judging the decision-making effect of each decision maker, but also reflect the effect of group decision-making to a certain extent. The practicality and effectiveness of the proposed method are shown by two heuristic examples. Furthermore, the proposed method will be helpful for setting and adjusting the weights of both attributes and decision makers, as well as for selecting and comparing various aggregation operators and methods in dynamic or interactive group decision-making.     

复杂决策问题形式化方法研究

在对决策问题复杂性原因研究的基础上,为复杂决策问题形式化下了准确的定义,并提 出复杂决策问题形式化方法的逻辑框架. 该框架由3 部分组成,即复杂决策问题表示层、复杂 决策问题结构化层和定量分析模型综合层. 针对各层次所要解决的关键问题,进行了深入 探讨.     

Ranking irregularities when evaluating alternatives by using some ELECTRE methods

The ELECTRE II and III methods enjoy a wide acceptance in solving multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problems. Research results in this paper reveal that there are some compelling reasons to doubt the correctness of the proposed rankings when the ELECTRE II and III methods are used. In a typical test we first used these methods to determine the best alternative for a given MCDM problem. Next, we randomly replaced a non-optimal alternative by a worse one and repeated the calculations without changing any of the other data. Our computational tests revealed that sometimes the ELECTRE II and III methods might change the indication of the best alternative. We treat such phenomena as rank reversals. Although such ranking irregularities are well known for the additive variants of the AHP method, it is the very first time that they are reported to occur when the ELECTRE methods are used. These two methods are also evaluated in terms of two other ranking tests and they failed them as well. Two real-life cases are described to demonstrate the occurrence of rank reversals with the ELECTRE II and III methods. Based on the three test criteria presented in this paper, some computational experiments on randomly generated decision problems were executed to test the performance of the ELECTRE II and III methods and an examination of some real-life case studies are also discussed. The results of these examinations show that the rates of the three types of ranking irregularities were rather significant in both the simulated decision problems and the real-life cases studied in this paper.     

An assessment of sustainable housing affordability using a multiple criteria decision making method

Housing affordability is a complex issue that must not only be assessed in terms economic viability. In order to increase quality of life and community sustainability the environmental and social sustainability of housing must also be taken into consideration.     

一种基于动态信息交互的部门间协调决策方法

加强企业部门之间的协调是克服部门信息自主性所带来的问题、提高企业决策有效性的 有效方法. 由此提出了一种基于动态信息交互的部门间协调决策方法. 在这一方法中,将企业 职能部门区分为主导部门和非主导部门,每个部门都有机会成为主导部门或非主导部门,分别 给出其一般性决策模型,并明确定义了协调决策过程的信息交换内容,对协调决策过程也进行 了详细描述,为构建基于部门协调的企业决策支持系统打下了理论基础.     

Prioritising indicators in improving supply chain performance using fuzzy AHP: insights from the case example of four Indian manufacturing companies

Abstract

In this contribution, we aim to prioritise the indicators to enhance the organisational supply chain’s (SC) effectiveness from an industrial perspective. It will help industries to develop strategies for managing the SC effectively and ensuring improvement in performance continuously. To achieve this, this work proposes to use a two-phase research methodology. First, 36 SC performance improvement indicators are recognised from a literature survey and from field and industrial expert’s inputs. Secondly, a structural model is proposed using the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (AHP) to prioritise the indicators strategically to improve the SC performance. The fuzzy AHP method helps determine the priority of concerns of the identified indicators under fuzzy surroundings. Inputs in this research are taken from four ancillary Indian plastic manufacturing firms. Research findings indicate that collaborations and information exchange dimension indicators obtained the highest priority in improving SC performance. The model proposed is considered very useful for the SC managers/practitioners/decision-makers to understand better and distinguish the essential SC performance improvement indicators and to take systematic decisions specifically to improve the performance of business in a SC context. Sensitivity analysis was conducted to examine the priority ranking of the indicators.     

Decision Making with Uncertain Judgments: A Stochastic Formulation of the Analytic Hierarchy Process*

In the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), priorities are derived via a deterministic method, the eigenvalue decomposition. However, judgments may be subject to error. A stochastic characterization of the pairwise comparison judgment task is provided and statistical models are introduced for deriving the underlying priorities. Specifically, a weighted hierarchical multinomial logit model is used to obtain the priorities. Inference is then conducted from the Bayesian viewpoint using Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. The stochastic methods are found to give results that are congruent with those of the eigenvector method in matrices of different sizes and different levels of inconsistency. Moreover, inferential statements can be made about the priorities when the stochastic approach is adopted, and these statements may be of considerable value to a decision maker. The methods described are fully compatible with judgments from the standard version of AHP and can be used to construct a stochastic formulation of it.     

企业高层管理团队特征异质性对战略决策的影响——基于中国民营企业的实证研究

本文在对TMT相关研究综述的基础上,构建了TMT特征异质性对战略决策影响的基本模型.并通过民营企业的调查,运用相关分析和结构方程,检验前因变量对结果变量的直接的影响.结果表明,西方关于TMT的研究结论在中国民营企业里基本能得到验证,这为我们研究中国民营企业的高层管理团队提供了佐证材料.但本文也发现TMT成员的任期异质性对战略决策的准确性没有显著的影响,这与国外一些文献的研究正好相反.     

DEA-based production planning

Production in large organizations with a centralized decision-making environment like supermarket chains or factories with many workshops, usually involves the participation of more than one individual unit, each contributing a part of the total production. This study is motivated by a production-planning problem regularly faced by the central decision-making unit to arrange new input and output plans for all individual units in the next production season when demand changes can be forecasted. Two planning ideas have been proposed in this paper. One is optimizing the average or overall production performance of the entire organization, measured by the CCR efficiency of the average input and output levels of all units. The other is simultaneously maximizing total outputs produced and minimizing total inputs consumed by all units. According to these two ideas, we develop two DEA-based production planning approaches to find the most preferred production plans. All these individual units, considered as decision-making units (DMUs), are supposed to be able to modify their input usages and output productions. A simple numerical example and a real world data set are used to illustrate these approaches.     

不完备判断信息情境下群组DEMATEL决策方法

为克服群组决策试行与评价实验室（DEMATEL）方法难以处理不完备专家判断信息问题,以及预先指定评价标度和群组信息集成规则不适应复杂决策环境的内在缺陷,本文基于群共识排序理论,提出一种能够有效处理不完备判断信息的群组DEMATEL决策方法。该方法的创新之处在于：第一,它能够以灵活的标度方式有效地反映群组专家的偏好判断表达。第二,它也能通过序列转换和共识度的引入较好地处理群组DEMATEL不完备判断信息。第三,它能够合理地反映决策结果因群共识水平不同而变化的复杂机理。实例验证结果表明,所提方法是切实可行的,能够有效解决实践中的决策问题。     

商业银行资本充足率的信息甄别与选择

对商业银行资本充足率的要求已经成为银行监管体系的核心。目前,世界上许多国家和地区都在遵守《巴塞尔协议》规定的资本充足率不低于8%的标准,但这个统一标准忽视了个体差异,显得不尽合理。与现有文献的分析角度不同,本文重点研究了监管部门制定该标准的信息甄别问题,并指出监管部门的监管水平与最低资本充足率要求之间存在一定的替代关系。基于数理模型推导,本文又利用数值分析的方法,对模型的结果给出直观的经济解释。最后文中对一百多个国家和地区的实证分析结果也支持了本文模型的推断。     

Time-based goal chasing method for mixed-model assembly line problem with multiple work stations

In sequencing problems for mixed-model assembly line in JIT production system, the Goal Chasing method (GC) is widely used for parts used leveling goal. The difference in assembly time of each product is not taken into consideration in the Goal Chasing method. Assembly time usually varies with product types. In recent years, the Time-Based Goal Chasing method (TBGC) has been proposed. The advantage of TBGC is to consider the influence of different assembly time of each product and idle time in production period. TBGC, however, has been only applied to single work station problems. In this paper, TBGC is applied to an assembly line problem with multiple work stations. Furthermore, the sequencing method and use of Simulated Annealing (SA) or Local Search (LS) for this problem are proposed.     

对方案有偏好的区间数多属性灰色关联决策模型

针对属性值以区间数形式给出并且已知方案偏好信息的多属性决策问题,提出了一种灰色关联分析的决策方法。该方法依据一般的灰色关联分析方法的基本思路,给出了该问题的计算步骤,其核心是通过构建并求解一个单目标最优化模型,得到属性权重信息,从而计算出每个方案客观偏好值与主观偏好值的灰色关联系数,进而得到每个方案客观偏好与主观偏好的关联度,根据关联度对所有方案进行排序。最后给出了一个数值例子,结果表明方法简单,有效和易于计算。     

考虑第三方物流竞争的第四方物流运输与库存外包决策

第四方物流在物流外包中的主导地位和第三方物流在提供服务时基于配送频率的竞争对物流外包产生重要影响。针对这一问题,本文建立基于价格、配送频率和需求分配比例的三阶段非合作动态决策模型和库存运输联合优化模型(ITIO)来分析4PL主导的业务外包和3PL之间的竞争,通过对比两个模型来分析决策权对个体和系统绩效的影响,并用算例验证了文章的结论。研究表明,在3PL同质且需求分配比例为0.5时,三阶段非合作动态决策模型的配送频率比ITIO最优值小29%,库存持有成本比ITIO最优值高41%,物流配送成本比ITIO最优值小21%,总成本比ITIO最优值大9%。库存运输联合优化模型虽然具有一定成本优势,但是其过分强调协调不利于3PL之间的竞争和提高。     

群体两两比较判断集成的最短距离方法

本文将Yu和Cook等提出的一般距离的概念应用到群体决策问题中,基于AHP原理,给出了群体决策集成问题的定义,综述了现有的两两比较判断集成方法,提出了一种基于最短距离的集成方法——最短距离方法(Mini-mum Distance Method,MSM),并用数值例示进行了说明,最后讨论了群体决策以及AHP未来可能的研究课题。