Assessing competitiveness of foreign and local supermarket chains in Vietnamese market by using Fuzzy TOPSIS method

Considering the strategic importance for supermarket chains and to understanding the critical elements affecting their competitiveness and their relative level of competitiveness, this study tries to assess competitiveness of foreign and local supermarket chains in Vietnam using the fuzzy TOPSIS method. The results show that, even smaller size Vietnamese supermarket chains, when compared to foreign chains, are still slightly higher in competitiveness.Competitiveness; Supermarket chains; Fuzzy TOPSIS

A Fuzzy Based Approach for New Product Concept Evaluation and Selection

Product developers make many decisions during the early stages of product development which have a profound impact on the final cost of the product. These decisions include selecting a product concept that best meet customer needs.  Product concept selection involves using the collective knowledge of many experts who possess different backgrounds and expertise in various fields to evaluate a set of product concepts developed to meet certain customer needs. This paper proposes a concept evaluation and selection methodology capable of capturing the fuzziness and vagueness impeded in concept evaluation. The proposed methodology integrates the Weighted Concept Selection Matrix with the Analytical Hierarchal Process (AHP) under a Fuzzy environment. The developed methodology has the capability of capturing the fuzziness and vagueness in the concept evaluators’ ratings. The methodology consists of eight steps that begins with retrieving the product concepts, developing the evaluation criteria and selecting the evaluators, and ends up by choosing the best concept. The criteria are prioritized and assigned fuzzy weights according to their importance with respect to the nature of the product and based on the capabilities of the manufacturing company.  Furthermore, the evaluators are prioritized and assigned fuzzy weights with respect to the criteria based on their different backgrounds. These weights are aggregated with the concepts’ fuzzy rating done by the evaluators in order to compute a final score for each concept. The usage of the methodology is verified and tested by using an illustrative example. Keywords: Product Design, Fuzzy systems, Multi-criteria Decision Making, Analytical Hierarchal Proces

Fuzzy Range Query in XML

This writing project presents a new approach to implement a fuzzy range query solution for retrieving Extensible Markup Language (XML) data. Ever since XML was introduced, it has become a web standard to describe data on the Internet. The need for performing range query against XML data is growing day by day. Many search service providers are eager to improve their solutions on range query against XML data. The project studies and analyzes the limitations on the current range query solutions. The project also proposes a new solution using fuzzy semantic analysis to quantify XML data so that it can be represented within a range. This is accomplished by applying fuzzy logic algorithm to classify and aggregate XML data based on the semantic closeness. An intuitive web interface is also introduced to aid the user to input fuzzy search criteria. Instead of specifying crisp values in the current solutions, the user can simply drag and drop to indicate fuzzy values. Therefore, it’s more user-friendly and desirable for fuzzy range query

A new fuzzy MCDA framework for make-or-buy decisions: A case study of aerospace industry

One of the primary managerial decisions for manufacturing units is to find out which activity must be outsourced. A good outsourcing decision is normally involved with different criteria such as opportunity costs, cost saving, etc. In this paper, we present a multi criteria decision-making method to find a suitable solution for outsourcing activities called preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluations (PROMETHEE). The proposed model of this paper uses fuzzy numbers to determine the relative importance of different criteria and it is implemented for a real-world case study of aerospace industry

Application Of Fuzzy Ahp on Transportation Mode Selection: The Case of Cut Flower Business

The aim of this study, which was carried out in an enterprise exporting cut flowers, is to determine the criteria that are important in the selection of transportation types used by cut flower enterprises in international trade and to rank them according to their importance. For this purpose, face-to-face interviews were conducted with the personnel in charge of logistics of an enterprise operating in the cut flower sector and engaged in export activities. As a result of the data obtained from these interviews and detailed literature review, the criteria affecting the choice of transportation type of the enterprise were determined as speed, cost, reliability, traceability and flexibility and the officials compared these criteria in pairs according to their importance. The data obtained from the comparisons were analyzed with the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) method, one of the multi-criteria decision-making methods. As a result of the analysis, it was determined that the criteria with the highest level of importance for the cut flower business were speed and reliability, while cost and traceability had a medium level of importance and flexibility had a low level of importance

Matrix Game with Payoffs Represented by Triangular Dual Hesitant Fuzzy Numbers

Matrix Game with Payoffs RepresentedDue to the complexity of information or the inaccuracy of decision-makers’ cognition, it is difficult for experts to quantify the information accurately in the decision-making process. However, the integration of the fuzzy set and game theory provides a way to help decision makers solve the problem. This research aims to develop a methodology for solving matrix game with payoffs represented by triangular dual hesitant fuzzy numbers (TDHFNs). First, the definition of TDHFNs with their cut sets are presented. The inequality relations between two TDHFNs are also introduced. Second, the matrix game with payoffs represented by TDHFNs is investigated. Moreover, two TDHFNs programming models are transformed into two linear programming models to obtain the numerical solution of the proposed fuzzy matrix game. Furthermore, a case study is given to to illustrate the efficiency and applicability of the proposed methodology. Our results also demonstrate the advantage of the proposed concept of TDHFNs

The estimation of normalized fuzzy weights

AbstractThe estimation of a normalized set of positive fuzzy weights constitutes the most important aspects in the fuzzy multiple attribute decision making process. A systematic treatment of this problem is carried out in this paper. The concept of fuzzy normalization is first defined and the meaning of consistency in a fuzzy environment is discussed. Based on these definitions and discussions, the various approaches in the literature are examined and several improvements or new approaches are proposed. Numerical examples are used to evaluate and to compare the various existing and the newly proposed approaches

An Efficient Ranking Technique for Intuitionistic Fuzzy Numbers with Its Application in Chance Constrained Bilevel Programming

The aim of this paper is to develop a new ranking technique for intuitionistic fuzzy numbers using the method of defuzzification based on probability density function of the corresponding membership function, as well as the complement of nonmembership function. Using the proposed ranking technique a methodology for solving linear bilevel fuzzy stochastic programming problem involving normal intuitionistic fuzzy numbers is developed. In the solution process each objective is solved independently to set the individual goal value of the objectives of the decision makers and thereby constructing fuzzy membership goal of the objectives of each decision maker. Finally, a fuzzy goal programming approach is considered to achieve the highest membership degree to the extent possible of each of the membership goals of the decision makers in the decision making context. Illustrative numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed methodology and the achieved results are compared with existing techniques