Multiple Criteria Decision Making and Multiattribute Utility Theory

T his paper is an update of a paper that five of us published in 1992. The areas of multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) and multiattribute utility theory (MAUT) continue to be active areas of management science research and application. This paper extends the history of these areas and discusses topics we believe to be important for the future of these fields

An aspiration-level interactive model for multiple criteria decision making

A simple, eclectic approach for solving discrete alternative multiple criteria decision problems is presented. It is based on the concept of the level of aspiration, and draws on ideas of various researchers. It assumes that the user has a set of alternatives with each alternative having a score on each of a number of objectives or measures of performance. The user determines his levels of aspiration for different objectives. He is then provided with considerable feedback as to the degree of feasibility of each level of aspiration as well as the degree of feasibility with respect to all levels of aspiration as a whole. The closest nondominated solution to the solution specified by the levels of aspiration is provided. The proposed method is easy to use and easy to understand and has been implemented on a personal computer (an IBM PC or compatible with 512K RAM). We describe an experimental application in which 49 students in an MBA program used the method to solve two discrete alternative multiple criteria decision problems.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/29826/1/0000173.pd

Some Empirical Tests of the Criss-Cross Method

Randomly-generated linear programming problems of three different types and five different sizes were solved by the criss-cross method and by the simplex method. One hundred problems of each type and size were solved, and the results are overwhelmingly favorable to the criss-cross method. An improvement to the criss-cross method used in these tests is given, and the extension of the results of the paper to variations of the criss-cross and simplex methods is discussed.

An Interactive Multiple Objective Linear Programming Method for a Class of Underlying Nonlinear Utility Functions

This paper develops a method for interactive multiple objective linear programming assuming an unknown pseudo concave utility function satisfying certain general properties. The method is an extension of our earlier method published in this journal (Zionts, S., Wallenius, J. 1976. An interactive programming method for solving the multiple criteria problem. Management Sci. 22 (6) 652--663.). Various technical problems present in predecessor versions have been resolved. In addition to presenting the supporting theory and algorithm, we discuss certain options in implementation and summarize our practical experience with several versions of the method.programming: multiple criteria, utility/preference: multi-attribute