VIKOR Technique:A Systematic Review of the State of the Art Literature on Methodologies and Applications

The main objective of this paper is to present a systematic review of the VlseKriterijuska Optimizacija I Komoromisno Resenje (VIKOR) method in several application areas such as sustainability and renewable energy. This study reviewed a total of 176 papers, published in 2004 to 2015, from 83 high-ranking journals; most of which were related to Operational Research, Management Sciences, decision making, sustainability and renewable energy and were extracted from the “Web of Science and Scopus” databases. Papers were classified into 15 main application areas. Furthermore, papers were categorized based on the nationalities of authors, dates of publications, techniques and methods, type of studies, the names of the journals and studies purposes. The results of this study indicated that more papers on VIKOR technique were published in 2013 than in any other year. In addition, 13 papers were published about sustainability and renewable energy fields. Furthermore, VIKOR and fuzzy VIKOR methods, had the first rank in use. Additionally, the Journal of Expert Systems with Applications was the most significant journal in this study, with 27 publications on the topic. Finally, Taiwan had the first rank from 22 nationalities which used VIKOR technique

The evolution of web pages for a strategic description of large firms

Carefully examining the site map of a firm with a well-developed website can provide both patterns about its corporate strategy– considering all the elements that surround the organization–and a primary source for benchmarking. Our paper’s aim is to use this technique: (a) to highlight the key strategic management issues which affect the top large Spanish firms; and (b) to show trends identified amongst such companies during the last ten years. Our methodology consists of a content analysis focused on websites of the Ibex35 companies listed on the Spanish Stock Market. It includes drawing a comparison with these same websites as two photos with a difference of ten years. Rather than carrying out a breakdown of the businesses developed by each corporation, the appropriate approach is the assessment of their respective corporate principles, as this would allow for a better identification of the underlying managerial, organisational and strategic realities of these organisations. The results evidence the high usefulness of this technique when it comes to detecting the most significant strategic management issues faced by the leading large Spanish firms, as well as their evolution over time

CPA firm’s cloud auditing provider for performance evaluation and improvement: an empirical case of China

While CPA (Certified Public Accountant) firms utilize cloud auditing technologies to generate auditing reports and convey information to their clients in the Internet of Things (IoT) Era, they often cannot determine whether cloud auditing is a secure and effective form of communication with clients. Strategies related to cloud auditing provider evaluation and improvement planning are inherently multiple attribute decision making (MADM) issues and are very important to the auditor industry. To overcome these problems, this paper proposes an evaluation and improvement planning model to be a reference for CPA firms selecting the best cloud auditing provider, and illustrates an application of such a model through an empirical case study. The DEMATEL (decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory) approach is first used to analyze the interactive influence relationship map (IIRM) between the criteria and dimensions of cloud auditing technology. DANP (DEMATEL-based ANP) is then employed to calculate the influential weights of the dimensions and criteria. Finally, the modified VIKOR method is utilized to provide improvement priorities for performance cloud auditing provider satisfaction. Based on expert interviews, the recommendations for improvement priorities are privacy, security, processing integrity, availability, and confidentiality. This approach is expected to support the auditor industry to systematically improve their cloud auditing provider selection

The evolution of web pages for a strategic description of large firms

Carefully examining the site map of a firm with a well-developed website can provide both patterns about its corporate strategy– considering all the elements that surround the organization – and a primary source for benchmarking. Our paper’s aim is to use this technique: (a) to highlight the key strategic management issues which affect the top large Spanish firms; and (b) to show trends identified amongst such companies during the last ten years. Our methodology consists of a content analysis focused on websites of the Ibex35 companies listed on the Spanish Stock Market. It includes drawing a comparison with these same websites as two photos with a difference of ten years. Rather than carrying out a breakdown of the businesses developed by each corporation, the appropriate approach is the assessment of their respective corporate principles, as this would allow for a better identification of the underlying managerial, organisational and strategic realities of these organisations. The results evidence the high usefulness of this technique when it comes to detecting the most significant strategic management issues faced by the leading large Spanish firms, as well as their evolution over time

Uncertain Multi-Criteria Optimization Problems

Most real-world search and optimization problems naturally involve multiple criteria as objectives. Generally, symmetry, asymmetry, and anti-symmetry are basic characteristics of binary relationships used when modeling optimization problems. Moreover, the notion of symmetry has appeared in many articles about uncertainty theories that are employed in multi-criteria problems. Different solutions may produce trade-offs (conflicting scenarios) among different objectives. A better solution with respect to one objective may compromise other objectives. There are various factors that need to be considered to address the problems in multidisciplinary research, which is critical for the overall sustainability of human development and activity. In this regard, in recent decades, decision-making theory has been the subject of intense research activities due to its wide applications in different areas. The decision-making theory approach has become an important means to provide real-time solutions to uncertainty problems. Theories such as probability theory, fuzzy set theory, type-2 fuzzy set theory, rough set, and uncertainty theory, available in the existing literature, deal with such uncertainties. Nevertheless, the uncertain multi-criteria characteristics in such problems have not yet been explored in depth, and there is much left to be achieved in this direction. Hence, different mathematical models of real-life multi-criteria optimization problems can be developed in various uncertain frameworks with special emphasis on optimization problems

Corporate Social Responsibility in Sports: Efforts and Communication

The practice of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has always been integral to sports organizations and is increasing rapidly in popularity. However, scholars have found that there is no true definition of CSR that describes what it is, whom it should help, and how it should be communicated to stakeholders. This thesis examines the CSR initiatives of four major U.S. sports leagues and their teams, as well as how these initiatives are communicated to fans and other stakeholders through the websites associated with these organizations. This study found these organizations make CSR information readily accessible to their stakeholders and participate in similar initiatives

Multi-Objective and Multi-Attribute Optimisation for Sustainable Development Decision Aiding

Optimization is considered as a decision-making process for getting the most out of available resources for the best attainable results. Many real-world problems are multi-objective or multi-attribute problems that naturally involve several competing objectives that need to be optimized simultaneously, while respecting some constraints or involving selection among feasible discrete alternatives. In this Reprint of the Special Issue, 19 research papers co-authored by 88 researchers from 14 different countries explore aspects of multi-objective or multi-attribute modeling and optimization in crisp or uncertain environments by suggesting multiple-attribute decision-making (MADM) and multi-objective decision-making (MODM) approaches. The papers elaborate upon the approaches of state-of-the-art case studies in selected areas of applications related to sustainable development decision aiding in engineering and management, including construction, transportation, infrastructure development, production, and organization management

Dynamics under Uncertainty: Modeling Simulation and Complexity

The dynamics of systems have proven to be very powerful tools in understanding the behavior of different natural phenomena throughout the last two centuries. However, the attributes of natural systems are observed to deviate from their classical states due to the effect of different types of uncertainties. Actually, randomness and impreciseness are the two major sources of uncertainties in natural systems. Randomness is modeled by different stochastic processes and impreciseness could be modeled by fuzzy sets, rough sets, Dempster–Shafer theory, etc