multiple-criteria decision making: techniques, analysis and applications

Multiple-criteria decision making (MCDM) is a process of making choices that are subject to various conflicting criteria. It is also called multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA). MCDM is an important subfield of operations research. Mostly, decision-making processes are complex and are subject to various internal and external factors. MCDM can be applied to many complex decisions. It is characterized as being logical, consistent, and easy to use. The MCDM problems may be categorized into two types, namely, compensatory decision making and outranking decision making. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy multi-criteria decision making process (FDM) are compensatory decision making techniques; whereas elimination and choice expressing reality (ELECTRE), and preference ranking organization method for enrichment of evaluations (PROMETHUS) are outranking decision making techniques. MCDM has applications in various areas such as material selection; energy, environment and sustainability management; supply chain, quality and production management; and construction, project, safety and risk management field. This book unravels the recent studies on multiple-criteria decision making. It explores all the important techniques, analysis and applications of multiple-criteria decision making. The book will provide comprehensive knowledge to the readers.