Mei-Chen Lo

Decision-making for the best selection of suppliers by using minor ANP

There are many studies on the application examples and the definitions of the super-matrix in the Analytic Network Process (ANP). The ANP applies network structures with the alternatives and the criteria to clarify a complex decision-making. It is important to obtain the consent from both the criteria and the alternatives because the evaluation is relative and reciprocal. In addition, there are very few studies on the interaction between the criteria and the alternatives. There is no realistic interpretation of the maximum eigenvalue in the ANP and the negative elements of the criteria matrix. Based on our study, the evaluation with only the alternatives consists of the missing values or the non-square matrix, it is not easy to make. The ANP that contains these irregular alternatives is defined as “Minor ANP”. Then, we describe these methods of making the priority of only the alternative’s matrix values by using the ANP. This study has proven that the missing values in the alternative matrix can be replaced by zeros such that the criteria matrix can be derived without using the inverse alternative matrix. Then, the priority of alternative selection can be obtained through the calculation of eigenvector. An empirical case of the best selection of supplier illustrates our proposed methods for applying to the manufacturing industry. The result reveals the methods can be well adopted in the real world.

Fuzzy MCDM application for strategy evaluation

The essence of strategy formulation is coping with competition. Therefore, the nature and degree of competition in an industry hinge on four basic forces: Production, Technology, Marketing and R&D are defined. To establish a strategic agenda for dealing with these contending currents and to grow despite them, a company must understand how they work in its industry and how they affect the company in its particular situation. This study adopt Fuzzy MCDM methods and details how these forces operate and suggests ways of adjusting to them, and, where possible of evaluation, of taking advantage of them. Knowledge of these underlying sources of competitive pressure provides the groundwork for a strategic agenda of action. The result highlights the critical strategies distance of the company, animate the positioning of the company in its industry, clarify the areas where strategic changes may yield the greatest payoff, and highlight the places where industry trends promise to hold the greatest significance as either opportunities or threats.

A Hybrid MCDM Model on Technology Assessment to Business Strategy

The wave of globalization, and government’s policy towards joining regional market with boundary-less. The entire market becomes a fair and fully competitive market environment, and in order to develop feasible technology strategies. Technology Assessment (TA) is being increasingly viewed as an important tool to aid in the shift towards technology development. The paper aims at to reflect different aspects of technology assessment and their relative importance for future business strategy. We adopt the hierarchical model with multiple criteria to evaluate the alternative concepts in approaching technology assessment process for business strategy (BS). This paper use DANP methods includes DEMATEL, and ANP to establish the investment model. The preference of strategies is demonstrated by VIKOR for selecting appropriate alternatives. The relationship of interdependence and feedback from criteria to influence the setting priority of strategies are discussed. The presented model appears to be comprehensive, flexible and easy to implement in managerial practice. The numerical example is illustrated.

Building priority strategies of brand equity measurement with AHP - case of mobile companies in Taiwan

The complexity of enterprise has increased along with advance in technology and increases in development speed. Branding concerns in both producer and customer for market feedback are the keys to running an efficient branded company. Therefore, this paper uses upon brand equity theory to propose a model from two different aspects (by producers and by customers) to view product/service branding behavior features. This is done by aggregating the synthetic performance value of all possible alternatives and feasible strategies in multiple attribute decision-making (MADM) problem-solving approach. This process is based on branding behaviors of empirical study where the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) technique was employed to survey the performance of brand equity measurement system upon strategy management enquiry. This study aims at quantifying relative priorities for a given set of alternatives, based on the intuitive judgments of the decision-makers in seeking consistency within the comparison of alternatives in the decision-making process. From the overall synthesis performance value, the results demonstrate consistent results from the top five alternatives, indicating that perceived quality, brand knowledge, brand credibility, brand image and brand identity are the most issues for the branding process improvement.

Entrepreneur's priority traits on creative and innovative behavior in technology era - case of innovative new start-up businesses

Creativity and innovation activities become an important way of entering new business mode. And it becomes a tool in the process of introducing innovative design to production and commercial phases. This paper presents a theoretical exploration on corporate entrepreneurship and demonstrates different aspects of entrepreneurship based on creative and innovative behavior framework and their relative importance in technology era. A hierarchical model is developed with multiple criteria to evaluate the alternative concepts in approaching creativity and innovation process on the corporate level. The presented model appears to be comprehensive, flexible and easy to implement in managerial practice. The illustrative example shows that in the cases of mature companies, the self-cultivation becomes a focus effort of the innovation and creativity process.

Fuzzy Hybrid MCDM for Building Strategy Forces

The nature and degree of competition in an industry hinge on four basic forces: Production, Technology, Marketing and Research & Development (R&D). To establish a strategic agenda for dealing with these contending currents and to grow despite them, a company must understand how they work in its industry and how they affect the company in its particular situation. This study adopts Fuzzy MCDM methods and details how these forces operate and suggests ways of adjusting to them, and, where possible, of taking advantage of them. Knowledge of these underlying sources of competitive pressure provides the groundwork for a strategic agenda of action. The result highlights the critical strengths and weaknesses of the company, animate the positioning of the company in its industry, clarify the areas where strategic changes may yield the greatest payoff, and highlight the places where industry trends promise to hold the greatest significance as either opportunities or threats.

Hybrid MCDM Model for the Value Evaluation of the Restoration of Historical Objects

As time goes by, every historic object dilapidates and wears out. As the result, the values that it used to represent become obliterated and its effete on the public is weakened. Conservation and restoration of art works aim at preserving the extant matter and, if possible, at bringing the antiques to their former glory in historical value; the more so that the historical value of the objects also increases with time. Conservators’ work, independently of their special fields of interest, should be preceded by research whose goal is the determination of the guidelines for the conservation efforts and the selection of the best methods of action in interdependence and feedback among dimensions and criteria. A thorough analysis determines several possibility methods of action, emphasizing various groups of values. In this study, a hybrid Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) model based on DNP (DEMATEL-based ANP) is used to assess the historical objects relative values viewed by different groups of experts in inter-relationship problem of real world. The procedures provide a reference guide of improvement directions and efficient art work reservation of historical objects for achieving the aspiration levels.

MCDM Applications on Effective Project Management for New Wafer Fab Construction

This paper presents a multicriteria analysis approach for finding a route of evaluation on construction project in semiconductor manufacturing fabrication (fab). The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method is used to determine the weights for evaluation criteria among decision makers, including fab construction team, users and top management. The subjectivity and vagueness in the categorization process is dealt with by using fuzzy numbers for linguistic terms. This empirical study orients a project management on design change requirement (DCR) during construction a new wafer fab in Taiwan, and illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed approach. This study provides empirical evidence on project management effectiveness with the intent of contributing to a better understanding and improvement of project management practices. It looks into the causes of DCR and then provides possible solutions to minimize the occurrence of the DCR in the future fab construction project.

New Evaluation Method for Imperfect Alternative Matrix

In the presumption of the missing values for the imperfect alternative matrix, there are two methods; the Harker method and the Nishizawa method. However, it is often difficult to determine which method is appropriate. This paper focuses on the decision-making process of the Analytical Network Process (ANP) by examining the evaluation matrix as an imperfect matrix. The proposed method is composed of the alternative matrix and the criterion matrix, which is based on the matrix inverse of the alternative matrix, and presumes the missing values in the four by four matrix from the eigenvector. The same estimate obtained by the Harker method is stably obtained by artificially providing information in the imperfect matrix. Furthermore, the essence of the decision-making is considered through these examination processes.

Analysis of competitive advantages - approach of transnational interregional I-O table

The basic picture and framework of the transnational interregional Input-Output (I-O) table cross countries is introduced, and conventional impact analyses will be conducted to capture cross-border transactions and inter-linkages, from one region to another region, and vice versa. Also, the relationship between regional linkages and the import/export trades will be investigated. The I-O tables-received were used to consider different scenarios of the regional development such as the well-balanced scenario, the inertia scenario, and the scenario of economic development followed by loading of idle capacities. The I-O analysis applied to estimate business ecological situation in a region varying the total output or final demand indices. Instantly, the evaluation of the total investments required for nature protection activity is possible as well. This study also has analyzed FDI strategies via a scenario of increasing consumption up to normative standards among population. The simulations were made to estimate multiplicative effects caused by upsizing industries in the regional economy. Furthermore, from a macroeconomic perspective, structural changes may alter the relationship between the construction sector and other sectors. With this view, it is possible to explore the capability of I-O tables in tracking inter-sectoral relationships and explaining changes in such relationships with respect to structural changes. Lessons are expected to be learned from comparing the patterns of change of one sector of an economy against other sectors.