Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis

Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis

The field of multiple criteria decision analysis (MCDA) - also sometimes termed multiple criteria decision aid, or multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) - has developed rapidly over the past quarter century and in the process a number of divergent schools of thought have emerged. Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis: An Integrated Approach provides a comprehensive yet widely accessible overview of the main streams of thought within MCDA. Two principal aims are: To provide sufficient awareness of the underlying philosophies and theories, understanding of the practical detail of the methods, and insight into practice to enable researchers, students and industry practitioners to implement MCDA methods in an informed manner; To develop an integrated view of MCDA, incorporating both integration of different schools of thought within MCDA and integration of MCDA with broader management theory, science and practice, thereby informing the development of theory and practice across these areas. It is felt that this two-fold emphasis gives a book which will be of value to the following three groups: Practicing decision analysts or graduate students in MCDA for whom this book should serve as a state-of-the-art review, especially as regards techniques outside of their own specialization; Operational researchers or graduate students in OR/MS who wish to extend their knowledge into the tools of MCDA; Managers or management students who need to understand what MCDA can offer them.

Multiple Criteria Decision Making

Multi-criteria Decision Making Methods

Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) has been one of the fastest growing problem areas in many disciplines. The central problem is how to evaluate a set of alternatives in terms of a number of criteria. Although this problem is very relevant in practice, there are few methods available and their quality is hard to determine. Thus, the question `Which is the best method for a given problem?' has become one of the most important and challenging ones. This is exactly what this book has as its focus and why it is important. The author extensively compares, both theoretically and empirically, real-life MCDM issues and makes the reader aware of quite a number of surprising `abnormalities' with some of these methods. What makes this book so valuable and different is that even though the analyses are rigorous, the results can be understood even by the non-specialist. Audience: Researchers, practitioners, and students; it can be used as a textbook for senior undergraduate or graduate courses in business and engineering.