Profiling analysts and actors in interaction: how behavioural aspects can positively affect the decision aid process

The behaviour of the actors in a decision aid process is determined by different factors, all of which have an impact on the effectiveness of the process and its results. A framework, originally created to document decision aid processes and to study the reasons for backward and forward cycles in the process, has been used to comparatively analyse several multi-criteria decision aid interventions. The study has led to the identification of three basic process typologies, in relation with some organisational and processual complexities and factors which, as behavioural aspects, have the main influence on the interaction between the analysts and actors of a decision aid process. The work is a proposal for the behavioral OR research agenda

A multiple criteria approach to map ecological-inclusive business models for sustainable development

The paper presents the first attempt to apply a multiple criteria approach to map ecological-inclusive business models and to structure their main features, in terms of sustainable development. Ecological-inclusive business models are presented in this study, and 15 cases pertaining to agro-food organisations located in Sub-Saharan Africa are considered. These companies simultaneously deliver positive social and environmental value, and confirm a well-established market presence. As far as social value is concerned, the companies included in the sample use a Bottom-of-Pyramid approach, involving low-income customers and/or low-income business partners. As for environmental value, all the analysed companies implement frugal innovation or sustainable exploitation of natural resources in the afro-food sector. One of the results that has been achieved is that of disentangling the complexity behind a triple bottom-line business model through a multidimensional analysis framework that identifies the aspects that play a fundamental role in ecological-inclusive business models. An evaluation model and the application of a multiple criteria outranking method are proposed as examples of how some criteria, such as the extent of socio-environmental concerns, strategy orientation and value of partnerships can be used to compare, rank and/or select business models to facilitate decision makers. This work presents the results of an interdisciplinary study on the social entrepreneurship field of knowledge

What Is a Decision Problem? Designing Alternatives

International audienceThis paper presents a general framework for the design of alternatives in decision problems. The paper addresses both the issue of how to design alternatives within "known decision spaces" and on how to perform the same action within "partially known or unknown decision spaces". The paper aims at providing archetypes for the design of algorithms supporting the generation of alternatives

SISTI: a multicriteria approach to structure complex decision problems

A decision aid process should be the result of interactions between analysts, decision makers, knowledge sources and stakeholders. However, decision aiding is sometimes required when the problem situation is so complex and new that a decision process is not yet activated and a formal decision system does not exist. Any type of interaction with the participants in the decision process becomes very difficult or even impossible. SISTI is a methodological approach that can be used to deal with these situations; it involves cyclic applications of a multicriteria method and the analyses of the results of these applications. Draft models and unprocessed data are used in the first applications, and sensitivity analysis is used to orient and control the model evolution. Several possible paths and modelling hypotheses can be iteratively proposed and tested in this knowledge structuring context, until the conceptual structure of the problem and its model are considered consistent with the situation. SISTI is a SImulated decision aid approach, because the decision process and system are not yet activated and a decision aid process is not oriented towards an immediate decision. However, it may also be described as a STImulating approach, because the study is developed together with a few actors that perceived the need to understand and propose structured elements for later phases of a still not activated decision process. SISTI is not a new multicriteria method, but rather a methodological modelling approach that uses a multicriteria method to structure a new and complex problem and to elaborate and validate a new model, when decision makers do not exist or cannot participate, or do not want to be involved in the decision aid process. This approach has been applied several times to clarify and structure complex situations and has been made more and more general so that it can be proposed to young practitioners to help them understand what a “good“ model is and how the robustness of their conclusions can be improved

The monitoring of social innovation projects: an integrated approach.

When the Municipality of Turin first decided to invest in social innovation, a public program and a network of partners were created, and a procedure to support social innovation start-ups was developed, and applied for the first time in 2014. After selection and funding of several young social entrepreneur projects, the Municipality activated a monitoring process. Different methodological approaches, including cognitive mapping, actor network analysis and multicriteria analysis, have been combined to analyse the behaviour of these start-ups and to evaluate whether they would address the social needs of their specific fields, and develop business projects as part of an inclusive and sustainable economy. Each element of this analysis has been proposed and discussed in relation to the monitoring and decision processes. The adopted multi-methodology and its results are here presented as a proposal for new models, metrics and methods for the social economy