Interaction among the Criteria Affecting Main Battle Tank Selection: An Analysis with DEMATEL Method

Main battle tanks (MBTs) have always been in the heart of all military campaigns and have enabled armies to fight across the full spectrum of war. Countries need to consider the complex interactions between subsystems of MBTs in the decision phase of a design process or MBT acquisition. In order to define the interaction among the subsystems of ‘system of systems’, which is MBT system for this case, this study aims to determine the criteria and their sub criteria affecting MBT selection problem and to analyse the cause and effect relations among these criteria. The criteria and the complex interaction among them have been determined by consulting a group of experts. Because of multiple complex criteria interactions in MBT selection problem, decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method is used as a multiple criteria decision making method. DEMATEL method is applied on the main and the sub criteria separately to understand the cause and effect relations. The results show that Survivability main criterion has the strongest central role among the main criteria for MBT selection, while the followers are firepower, mobility and command and control (C2). It is also shown that, in terms of sub criteria for MBT selection, ballistic protection, a sub criterion of survivability main criterion, has the highest degree of influence over most of the other sub criteria. However, physical dimensions/silhouette, another sub criterion of survivability, is the most affected sub criteria. The top five sub criteria in terms of central role are determined as physical dimensions/silhouette, ballistic protection, power/weight ratio, ground pressure and suspension system

A hybrid approach to apply dematel in a multi-criteria setting

The DEMATEL method has been applied in the Decision Sciences in several studies. However, one has not been able to apply DEMATEL directly to a multi-criteria matrix formed by a set of alternatives and a set of criteria yet. In order to approach this, we propose a novel way to apply DEMATEL to a multi-criteria matrix for ranking a set of alternatives according to their performances in a set of criteria. For accomplishing this, we consider the set of alternatives in a classical multi-criteria problem as the set of components used in a usual DEMATEL application. To set up the influence degree among studied components, we used the preference index of PROMÉTHÉE II. Such preference index takes into consideration the performances of alternatives on all criteria to establish each influence degree. Thereby, we denote the influence degree by preference degree. This new approach is applied to a case study and results are compared against those of three multi-criteria methods. It is then possible to note small, understandable differences among the rankings. This hybrid approach has therefore shown to be theoretically sound and feasible to be used in the practice of Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis

Assessment and Selection of Technologies for the Sustainable Development of an R&D Center

The central role of R&D centers in the advancement of technology within industrial enterprises is undeniable and clearly a ects their strategies, their competitiveness and their business sustainability. R&D centers assume responsibility for technology recognition, collection, acquisition, development and transition. Among their activities, the e cient choice of emerging technologies in the Technology Management Process is becoming a real challenge. In such heterogeneous scenarios, Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) models are commonly proposed as an appropriate decision-making approach. Multiple research works address the selection of particular technologies in industrial applications, but very few references can be found related to research institutions, and R&D centers in particular. Therefore, a decision-making model is provided in this study following the MIVES multi criteria method for the assessment of one or more technologies. The model is then applied to two case studies related to the selection process of new technologies at a Spanish R&D Center specialized in manufacturing

Determining the Life Cycle Phase of a Technology Based on Patent Data

Developing new technologies is one of the most important goals of today’s scientific and industrial research. Understanding how technology evolves, as well as its current state, is invaluable in an ecosystem where technology is evolving at an increasingly rapid pace. In this paper, patent data is used to determine a technology’s life cycle. Two patent maps are created, one based on patent citations and one based on keywords. The citation patent map visualizes how patents cite each other, while the keyword patent maps visualize keywords used to describe patents and their relations. Both of these patent maps are dynamic, meaning they change over time thus giving insight into an examined technology’s evolution. A growth analysis of both networks is conducted as well as a degree distribution analysis. Both of these analyses are used to help determine the technology’s lifecycle phase as well as its patterns of growth. This insight is invaluable to stakeholders tasked to make strategic decisions related to technology development

A methodology for project portfolio selection under criteria prioritisation, uncertainty and projects interdependency – combination of fuzzy QFD and DEA

© 2018 Elsevier Ltd Resources of an organisation (people, time, money, equipment, etc) are never endless. As such, a constant and continuous challenge for decision makers is to decide which projects should be given priority in terms of receiving critical resources in a way that the organisation's productivity and profitability is best guaranteed. Previous literature has already developed a plenitude of project portfolio selection methodologies ranging from simple scoring to complex mathematical models. However, most of them too often fail to propose one integrated and seamless method that can simultaneously take into account three important elements: (1) prioritisation of selection criteria over each other, (2) uncertainty in decision-making, and (3) projects interdependencies. This paper aims to fill this gap by proposing an integrated method that can simultaneously address all these three aspects. The proposed method combines Quality Function Development (QFD), fuzzy logic, and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to accounts for prioritisation, uncertainty and interdependency. We then apply this method in a numerical example from a real world case to illustrate the applicability and efficacy of the proposed methodology

Valuation under randomness of players in coalitions, with an application to the Dutch filmindustry

In this paper we introduce a new and objective method to measure the quality of proposals from collaborating professionals. The quality or potential of a professional in a proposal is in uenced by a random environment. We derive a (numerical) value which measures the potential of a proposal by collaborating professionals. Furthermore, we provide the best linear unbiased estimator of the potential of a professional.\ud We apply our method to estimate the values of Dutch films, from collaborating producers and filmmakers, released in 2010. Our method is shown to obtain good results. Furthermore, as a by-product we rank producers, directors and screenwriters of Dutch films up to 2011. These rankings are concluded to be fair

R&D project selection: which criteria should we use?

Many companies around the world lay on R&D their chances to be profitable and still standing in a dynamic market. Tokeep the changes going, many ideas surge and some are transformed into projects. Since the resources are limited, organizations are obliged to select only the most suitable projects to attend their objectives. This is an old practice. However, project portfolio characteristics has changed. The portfolio objectives of today go beyond profit: strategy, environment and society has also become import, along with manyother decision criteria. The computational power was also enhanced, making multidata decision approaches feasible, even forsmall-profitable organizations. On the last half century, many author shave proposed multicriteria decision making (MCDM) methods for project portfolio selection (PPS) on Research and Development (R&D). However, only a few gave importance to the criteria used, which would be a central issue on any multicriteria decision. Thus, in order to contribute to R&D PPS field of study, this thesis investigates two propositions: (1) most criteria used in R&D PPS may be represented by a smaller list of criteria, and (2) the criteria used in R&D PPS can be selected in a fuzzy environment, according to their influence and importance. To do so, we explore the 227 criteria used in R&D PPS from 1970 to 2019, summarizing them in a list of 23 criteria with broader scopes and 8 criteria groups. We have also performed a Systematic Literature Review to get to the initial 227 criteria and to lighten the research opportunities in MCDM-based R&D PPS explored by this thesis. We also propose a novel MCDM approach for criteria selection, that integrates Fuzzy-based DEMATEL and Fuzzy-AHP Extend Analysis methods. Experts from a representative electrical-public Brazilian R&D organization have built and validated bothlist and method. Experts from other representative public Brazilian R&D organizations have also contributed in other research steps. All involved organizations manage together R&D portfolios valued around US$ 5 billion each year, which account for 38% of all Brazilian annually expenditures in R&D projects. In a overall manner, the results provide guidance on the topic and facilitate knowledge accumulation and creation concerning the criteria selectionprocessinMCDM-basedR&D PPS

Social sustainable supply chains in the food industry: A perspective of an emerging economy

The purpose of this study is to identify a list of important social sustainable supply chain indicators and determine the cause and effect group from the food sector of an emerging economy of Pakistan. The Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) based methodology is introduced to aid the evaluation of these indicators. The results show that the “balance between work and life” is the topmost influential and cause indicator among the cause group indicators. Similarly, a “safe and healthy working environment” is the topmost effect indicator among the effect group indicators. These results will inform managers and policy makers in the food sector, especially from the emerging economies such as Pakistan to formulate strategies that could aid in advancing social sustainability and transitioning towards a truly sustainable supply chain

Sustainable supply chain management towards disruption and organizational ambidexterity:A data driven analysis

Balancing sustainability and disruption of supply chains requires organizational ambidexterity. Sustainable supply chains prioritize efficiency and economies of scale and may not have sufficient redundancy to withstand disruptive events. There is a developing body of literature that attempts to reconcile these two aspects. This study gives a data-driven literature review of sustainable supply chain management trends toward ambidexterity and disruption. The critical review reveals temporal trends and geographic distribution of literature. A hybrid of data-driven analysis approach based on content and bibliometric analyses, fuzzy Delphi method, entropy weight method, and fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory is used on 273 keywords and 22 indicators obtained based on the experts’ evaluation. The most important indicators are identified as supply chain agility, supply chain coordination, supply chain finance, supply chain flexibility, supply chain resilience, and sustainability. The regions show different tendencies compared with others. Asia and Oceania, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Africa are the regions needs improvement, while Europe and North America show distinct apprehensions on supply chain network design. The main contribution of this review is the identification of the knowledge frontier, which then leads to a discussion of prospects for future studies and practical industry implementation

Tradition and Innovation in Construction Project Management

This book is a reprint of the Special Issue 'Tradition and Innovation in Construction Project Management' that was published in the journal Buildings