A PURCHASING DECISION： SELECTING A SUPPLIER FOR A CONSTRUCTION COMPANY

1. Introduction Since the purchasing function has become vital in determining the profitability and survival of business organizations, it has been receiving considerable attention. As Sarkis and Talluri (2002) indicated, buyer-supplier relationships based solely on price are no longer acceptable. The increasing importance of supplier selection decisions is forcing organizations to rethink their purchasing and evaluation strategies because a successful purchasing decision directly depends on …     

A PRACTICAL METHOD FOR IMPROVING CONSISTENCY OF JUDGEMENT MATRIX IN THE AHP

In this paper, an approach to improving consistency of judgement matrix in the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is presented, which utilizes the eigenvector to revise a pair of entries of judgement matrix each time. By using this method, any judgement matrix with a large C.R. can be modified to a matrix which can both tally with the consistency requirement and reserve the most information that the original matrix contains. An algorithm to derive a judgement matrix with acceptable consistency (i.e., C.R. < 0.1) and two criteria of evaluating modificatory effectiveness are also given.     

DECISION MAKING - THE ANALYTIC HIERARCHY ANDNETWORK PROCESSES （AHP／ANP）

This is the first part of an introduction to multicriteria decision making using the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and its generalization, the Analytic Network Process (ANP). The discussion involves individual and group decisions both with the independence of the criteria from the alternatives as in the AHP and also with dependence and feedback in the entire decision structure as in the ANP. This part explains the Analytic Hierarchy Process, with examples, and presents in some detail the mathematical foundations. An exposition of the Analytic Network Process and its applications will appear in later issues of this journal. Thomas L. Saaty holds the Chair of University Professor, Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, and obtained his Ph.D. in mathematics from Yale University. Before that he was a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania for ten years. Prior to that he spent seven years at the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency in the State Department in Washington, DC, that carried out the arms reduction negotiations with the Soviets in Geneva. His current research interests include decision-making, planning, conflict resolution and synthesis in the brain. As a result of his search for an effective means to deal with weapons tradeoffs at the Disarmament Agency and, more generally, with decision-making and resource allocation, Professor Saaty developed The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and its generalization to dependence and feedback, the Analytic Network Process (ANP). He is co-developer of the software Expert Choice and of the software Super Decisions for decisions with dependence and feedback. He has authored or co-authored twelve books on the AHP/ANP. Professor Saaty has also written a number of other books that embrace a variety of topics, including Modern Nonlinear Equations, Nonlinear Mathematics, Graph Theory, The Four Color Problem, Behavioral Mathematics, Queuing Theory, Optimization in Integers, Embracing the Future and The Brain: Unraveling the Mystery of How It Works. His most recent book is Creative Thinking, Problem Solving & Decision Making. The book is a rich collection of ideas, incorporating research by a growing body of researchers and practitioners, profiles of creative people, projects and products, theory, philosophy, physics and metaphysics...all explained with a liberal dose of humor. He has published more than 300 refereed articles in a wide variety of professional journals. He has been on the editorial boards of Mathematical Reviews, Operations Research, Naval Research Logistics Quarterly, Mathematical and Computer Modeling, Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Applied Mathematics Letters, and several others. He also served as consultant to many corporations and governments.     

MAKING AND VALIDATING COMPLEX DECISIONS WITH THE AHP／ANP

1.Introduction Rational decision-making is the talent we have to be more effective in implementing our ideas in the real world with its risks and resistance to change.Decision-making involves prioritizing our ideas according to the circumstances we face now or might face in the future.A fundamental problem in decision-making is how to measure intangible criteria and how to interpret correctly measurements of tangibles so they can be combined with those of intangibles to yield sensible,not arbi…     

AN AHP MODEL FOR BRINGING EXPERTS TO CONSENSUS ON MEDICAL PAYMENT STANDARDS

1. Introduction Many countries with health insurance systems conduct periodic payment standardsadjustments. The main reasons are to address continually rising health care costs and to ensure an equitable allocation of resources. From the248 JOURNAL OF SYSTEMS SCIENCE AND SYSTEMS ENGINEERING data of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, the proportion of health care costs as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) continues to r…     

A STRATEGIC MODEL FOR SAFETY DURING THE HAJJ PILGRIMAGE： AN ANP APPLICATION

1. Introduction The Hajj is the annual pilgrimage to Makkah in Saudi Arabia by Muslims of all races, from all over the world. Every year, for over fourteen hundred years since the farewell pilgrimage of the Prophet Mohammed, millions of Muslims, men and women, have gathered for the same ritual, which can be described as the greatest gathering of mankind. Making the Hajj pilgrimage is the fifth pillar of Islam, and is the only one that must be performed in specific places: Makkah and its su…     

AN ALGORITHM FOR THE DETERMINATION OF THE ECONOMIC ORDER QUANTITY IN A TWO-LEVEL SUPPLY CHAIN WITH TRANSPORTATION COSTS： COMPARISON OF DECENTRALIZED WITH CENTRALIZED DECISION

This paper considers a two-level supply chain consisting of one warehouse and one retailer. In this model we determine the optimal ordering policy according to inventory and transportation costs. We assume that the demand rate by the retailer is known. Shortages are allowed neither at the retailer nor at the warehouse. We study this model in two cases; decentralized and centralized. In the decentralized case the retailer and the warehouse independently minimize their own costs; while in the centralized case the warehouse and the retailer are considered as a whole firm. We propose an algorithm to find economic order quantifies for both the retailer and the warehouse which minimize the total system cost in the centralized case. The total system cost contains the holding and ordering costs at the retailer and the warehouse as well as the transportation cost from the warehouse to the retailer. The application of this model into the pharmaceutical downstream supply chain of a public hospital allows obtaining significant savings. By numerical examples, the costs are computed in MATLAB to compare the costs in the centralized case with decentralized one and to propose a saving-sharing mechanism through quantity discount.     

广义判断下AHP(GJAHP)的一致性检验与可接受性的进一步探讨

广义判断下的AHP(GJAHP)是在单准则下通过构造广义判断矩阵的数学模型而建立的一种广义AHP.本文提出了广义判断矩阵一致性的一种非参数统计检验方法--spearman秩相关系数法, 给出了广义辅助矩阵的构造性定义, 并进一步探讨了广义判断矩阵的可接受性。最后本文给出了GJAHP的应用实例。     

FROM MANUFACTURING SCHEDULING TO SUPPLY CHAIN COORDINATION：THE CONTROL OF COMPLEXITY AND UNCERTAINTY

With time-based competition and rapid technology advancements, effective manufacturingscheduling and supply chain coordination are critical to quickly respond to changing marketconditions. These problems, however, are difficult in view of inherent complexity and variousuncertainties involved. Based on a series of results by the authors, decomposition and coordination byusing Lagrangian relaxation is identified in this paper as an effective way to control complexity anduncertainty.A manufacturing scheduling problem is first formulated within the job shop context withuncertain order arrivals, processing times, due dates, and part priorities as a separable optimizationproblem. A solution methodology that combines Lagrangian relaxation, stochastic dynamicprogramming, and heuristics is developed. Method improvements to effectively solve large problemsare also highlighted. To extend manufacturing scheduling within a factory to coordinate autonomicmembers across chains of suppliers, a decentralized supply chai     

ADVANCES IN DECISION ANALYSIS AND SYSTEMS ENGINEERING FOR MANAGING LARGE-SCALE ENTERPRISES IN A VOLATILE WORLD： INTEGRATING BENEFITS, OPPORTUNITIES, COSTS AND RISKS （BOCR） WITH THE BUSINESS MOTIVATION MODEL （BMM）

1. Introduction Recent advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have occurred in a number of areas includinginformation quality (Chutimaskul and Wangpipatwong 2004), strategy (Sha, Hung and Lin 2004) organization (Crowne 2004), technological change (Mitchell 2004), and utility1. Introduction Recent advances in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) have occurred in a number of areas includinginformation quality (Chutimaskul and Wangpipatwong 2004), strateg…     

属性具有不同形式偏好信息的群决策方法

针对决策者给出属性具有不同形式偏好信息的多目标群决策问题,提出了一种新的集结方法。该方法首先将多个决策者提供的属性的三类偏好信息———属性重要程度的序关系、AHP判断矩阵和语言描述作一致化处理———转化为AHP判断矩阵,重点针对如何将属性重要程度的语言描述转化成AHP判断矩阵的方法进行了研究。其次,关于属性偏好信息建立了一个能集成决策群体意见的线性目标规划模型。最后给出了算例说明该方法能最大程度地反映每个决策者的偏好意见。     

一种基于满意与公正的群决策方法

在群体决策问题,如何将群成员的偏好集结构群体的偏好并构造一个群体的效用函数是基于效用函数的群决策方法的核心问题,本文给出了公正和满意的概念和测度方法,提出了一种基于满意和公正的群体效用函数构造方法,并通过求解一个规划问题来获得群体效用函数。     

群决策群体意见的一致性模糊分析

研究了群决策中群体意见一致性问题．根据群体决策的基本特征，提出一种称为决策歧意的概念，结合模糊数理论，定义了一种度量决策者意见相似程度的一致性模糊数及其一致性测度，进一步给出群弱一致性和群强一致性定义，提出并证明了有关群体意见一致性的几个充要条件．最后，通过算例计算分析，说明了理论方法的可行性和有效性．     

面向决策局部环境的群决策方法

对具体群决策问题,决策者之间和属性之间的某种联系分别由具体问题形成,由偏好关系表示的关系结构为决策局部环境：由变量分析矩阵、任意属性间的偏好相似性和任一组决策者对某一属性的偏好一致性构成的属性邻接矩阵和决策者邻接矩阵构成。对属性信息集结进行三次修正,由决策者局部重要性对属性一致性进行修正,以属性局部偏好一致性强度对属性权重进行调节,由决策者局部重要性权重修正最终评价结论。提出的方法可以在决策进程中聚焦影响一致性的相关属性,发掘可能冲突的属性及影响具体方案排序的主要属性,更有效提供解决群决策问题的建议和方案。     

不完全信息多属性群体决策方法

考虑到决策过程中信息的不完全性,对一类不完全信息的多属性群体决策问题进行了研究。在此基础上,建立一组线性规划模型,得到个体对每一个方案的效用区间数,并利用区间数可能度的定义对两个方案进行比较,从而得到个体对方案的排序。在偏好集结过程中,考虑了决策成员对方案给出的排序指标值,同时也考虑了决策成员权重的不完全信息。最后利用一个算例说明了在不完全信息条件下提出的方法能够作出比较合理的决策。     

权重信息不完全的多粒度犹豫模糊语言群决策

针对属性权重信息不完全的多粒度犹豫模糊语言型多属性群决策问题,提出了一种基于指派模型的决策方法.本文的主要贡献在于:1)基于犹豫模糊语言术语集的得分函数,提出了从犹豫模糊语言术语集向量中确定备选方案序频次矩阵的算法;2)给出了专家关于备选方案的群体加权序频次矩阵的计算方法,将决策者给出的不完全属性权重信息作为约束条件,建立了混合0-1二次规划模型来确定备选方案的群体排序;3)通过将该方法应用于医疗废物处理技术选择问题,说明了所提决策方法的可行性和有效性.     

基于群体理性行为的GDSS设计及实现

分析了群决策支持系统发展现状,认为除了提供信息处理和交流平台的技术支持外,有必要更多地结合人的决策行为等理论和方法来构建新一代决策支持系统,从分析理性决策行为入手,提出新的群决策支持系统应主要在消除信息不对称,实现完备性;群一致性达成和判断,和选择择优处理的适应性三个方面的支持,并以此为基础设计群决策支持系统的方法和技术框架,给出了设计中应考虑的原则和要点,并通过一个验证性GDSS系统的实现过程证实了可行性,最后简介了下一步研究思路。     

基于熵权的多属性大群体决策方法

针对传统的大群体决策方法只能处理单方案决策问题的缺陷,提出了一种基于多属性的多方案大群体决策方法。该方法首先将单方案大群体偏好模型与算法推广成多方案大群体偏好模型与算法,获得大群体偏好矩阵,然后利用熵权法获得各个方案的排序权重,最后利用各个方案的排序权重和大群体偏好矩阵获得各个方案的综合评价值矢量。通过该综合评价值矢量中的综合评价值得出各方案的综合排序结果,较好地解决了多属性多方案大群体决策问题。通过计算机仿真实验证明该方法的有效性。     

基于模糊语言群体决策的一致性协调技术

本文提供语言群体决策的匹配集结方法 ,发展了一致性达成过程的协调技术 ,它包括语言一致度、语言距离及学习模型 .最后讨论一个实例及计算步骤 .     

基于熵的模糊群体评价合成方法

研究了模糊决策环境下群体评价意见的合成问题。应用距离函数来计算两个梯形模糊数之间的相似性函数,使得相似性函数的应用范围得到拓展。基于熵来度量个体与群体的一致性,建立了群体决策的熵模型,减少了群体的不确定性。利用此模型对专家的初始主观权重进行迭代运算得到修正权重,再把初始主观权重和修正权重线性合成作为专家的综合权重。最后,通过算例说明了该方法的可行性和有效性。