Chin-Tsai Lin

Hierarchical MADM with fuzzy integral for evaluating enterprise intranet web sites

In the real world, most criteria have inter-dependent or interactive characteristics so they cannot be evaluated by conventional additive measures. Thus, to approximate the human subjective evaluation process, it would be more suitable to apply a fuzzy integral model, in which it is not necessary to assume additivity and independence. This research proposes an effective algorithm to determine the λ-value using the input data of fuzzy densities and the fuzzy integral based on λ-fuzzy measure to determine the overall evaluation. This research also gives an example of evaluating enterprise intranet web sites with illustrations of the hierarchical structure of λ-fuzzy measure for a Choquet integral model. The results show that the fuzzy integral is more suitable than a traditional multicriteria evaluation method for human subjective evaluation, or when criteria are not mutually independent.

An ERP model for supplier selection in electronics industry

Asus Tech. is the largest motherboard manufacturer in Taiwan. Hundreds of suppliers cooperate with the company in business. So that supplier selection is the most important function of a purchasing department in the enterprise. An enterprise resource planning (ERP) system in the process of supplier selection may result in the great savings in both costs and man hours. In the concept of push and pull, an ERP system acts as an efficient tool in the resource integration and profit creation for a company. Through ERP, a decision manager can clearly realize the strength and weakness of the purchasing operation. To establish a real-time purchasing environment, a methodology of analytic network process (ANP), technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) and linear programming (LP) are effectively applied in the supplier selection process. ANP and TOPSIS are used to calculate the weight and give suppliers a ranking; LP effectively allocates order quantity to each vendor. As to the result, four PC board suppliers are given orders for 1200, 727, 1000 and 73 pieces.

Selecting the preferable bancassurance alliance strategic by using expert group decision technique

Bancassurance has enjoyed considerable success in Europe, but this concept is relatively new for Asian countries, having emerged only in 2002. Thus, the aim of this paper is to search and identify the preferable bancassurance alliance structure from the executive management perspectives. We adopt the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) and Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) to construct an evaluation method. Finally, this study proves that Financial Holding Company model in bancassurance alliance models is preferable for the executive.

Using fuzzy analytic hierarchy process to evaluate service performance of a travel intermediary

This study applies a fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to evaluate service performance of a foreign travel intermediary (destination tour operator, DTO) through the host travel agencys vision. Service performance is a composite of various attributes, including many intangible attributes difficult to measure. Therefore, the present research adopts an AHP method and further integrates a fuzzy set theory into the service performance measurement to overcome the problem. This work collected evaluation criteria from 36 senior travel managers’ opinions, using the critical incident technique, and 56 general managers from different travel agencies to weight and rank the overall criteria by applying fuzzy AHP. Research results could help DTOs increase service performance and quality, and provide Asian travel agencies with objective standards to evaluate the most suitable business cooperators.

Optimizing a marketing expert decision process for the private hotel

The study builds on the marketing strategy decision process for marketing experts. Marketing strategy decision-making is necessary for marketing experts to determine a more efficient appropriate marketing strategy. Selecting the best marketing strategy is a multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem, due to the complexity and difficulty of allocated specific resources and capabilities. This study provides a five-step decision-making process to enable careful marketing strategy assessment, and contributes to practical implementation for fuzzy analytic network process (fuzzy ANP) utilization by marketing experts in a real industry. The results also provide marketing strategy guidance to practitioners for capturing competitive advantage in elaborating specific and limited marketing resources. The proposed process is easily understood and followed by marketing experts to determine appropriate marketing strategy.

FUZZY GROUP DECISION MAKING IN PURSUIT OF A COMPETITIVE MARKETING STRATEGY

To determine marketing strategy may well be the most critical function of management. The pursuit of competitive advantage always requires much deliberate thought and discussion. The current study attempts to develop a marketing strategy evaluation framework based on the resource-based view (RBV) of the firm to competitive advantage. It tries to identify the most important marketing-specific resources and capabilities using a multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) method. This study employs the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (AHP) method as an analytical tool to determine a unique competitive marketing strategy for a small tourism venture such as a privately owned hotel. The findings indicate that the differentiation strategy is the best competitive marketing strategy for allocating specific and limited resources and capabilities toward sustainable competitive advantage.

An expert system approach to assess service performance of travel intermediary

Asian travel industry, in terms of outbound travel markets, has been confronting the global accelerating competition in 21st century. Regarding to the outbound travels, the incumbent travel intermediaries (destination tour operators), the ultimate front-liners of tourism packages provisions is accordingly essential. Technically, estimation on the incumbent travel intermediaries is a series of multiple-criteria decision making (MCDM). Subsequently, this paper executes the implementation of focus group which interviewed 35 travel experts and further integrates the analytic network process approach (ANP) via the insights of host travel agency. Research results objectively enable the Asian travel agencies to evaluate the sustained travel intermediary as well as elaborating the service performance and quality.

Development of an expert selection system to choose ideal cities for medical service ventures

For ensuring the successful implementation of medical service investments, here an expert selection system of how ventures can better evaluate and select a favorable city to invest before that implementation has been developed. However, selecting an ideas city is a kind of multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem requiring to consider a large number of complex factors that are based on the independence assumption. The analytic network process (ANP) is a relativly new MCDM method which can deal with all kinds of dependences systematically. With the advantages of ANP in hand, in this paper, we develop an effective method based on the ANP combined with the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) to help medical service inventors who need to evaluate and select proper city. Additionally, an empirical study is presented to illustrate the application of the proposed method.

A Green Purchasing Model by Using ANP and LP Methods

Economic growth and development bring not only prosperity but also environmental degradation to the earth. In recent years, people have changed their views on traditional supply chain management (SCM). Green purchasing is a current trend in today’s business process management. Green purchasing is a purchasing behavior for buying goods that emphasizes environmental protection. Due to governments’ environmental regulations, such as WEEE and RoHS, directives have been formed and personal consciousness concerning the environment has been raised; therefore, green purchasing is strongly emphasized in SCM. In some high-tech industries, environmental consciousness may dominate the whole purchasing process, since vendors are asked to use environmentally-friendly materials. Customers thereby influence the component providers toward supplying environmentally-friendly products. For instance, in the PC board industry, the customers influence the suppliers’ product manufacturing process with the aim of reducing the negative environmental impact of the materials used by vendors. This study models a green purchasing system by applying the analytic network process (ANP) and linear programming (LP) methods. The ANP provides the solution for green supplier selection and LP resolves the problem of order allocation for each vendor.

Applying hierarchical grey relation clustering analysis to geographical information systems - A case study of the hospitals in Taipei City

Deng proposed grey clustering analysis (GCA) in 1987. Later, Jin presented a new method in 1993, called grey relational clustering (GRC) method that combined grey relational analysis with clustering. However, the GRC method cannot use a tree diagram to make appropriate classification decisions without re-computation. This study thus attempts to combine GRC and hierarchical clustering analysis. Given the existence of an excess of medical resources in the Taipei area, this study attempts to understand the degree of concentration of medical resources in this area. Specifically, this study applies a geographical information system (GIS) to present the geographical distribution of hospitals in Taipei. Additionally, a new-type of cluster analysis, known as hierarchical grey relation clustering analysis, is used to analyze the distribution of hospitals and understand how they compete with one another. The analytical results demonstrate that hierarchical grey relation clustering analysis is a suitable method of analyzing geographical position. Tree diagrams can help policymakers make appropriate classification decisions without re-computation. The study results can inform hospitals of their competitors and help them to develop appropriate responses. Additionally, the analytical results can also provide a reference to government or hospital policymakers to help them position hospitals in areas, thus achieving a better distribution of medical resources in Taipei.