Serkan Altuntas

A novel approach based on DEMATEL method and patent citation analysis for prioritizing a portfolio of investment projects

A novel approach is proposed for prioritizing a portfolio of investment projects.The proposed approach uses the DEMATEL method and patent citation analysis.The proposed approach reflects the governments perspective.A case study from Turkey is presented to demonstrate the proposed approach. The aim of this article is to propose a novel approach based on a method called Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) and patent citation analysis for prioritizing the portfolio of investment projects. The proposed approach reflects the governments perspective and takes into account two important prioritization criteria. They are: (i) the decreasing rate of foreign trade deficits in the country and (ii) the potential to attract new investments which are not considered in the literature before. A case study from Turkey is presented to demonstrate the benefits of the proposed approach. The findings show that the proposed approach can be used easily and efficiently to prioritize investment projects among available project proposals.

Multi-criteria decision making methods based weighted SERVQUAL scales to measure perceived service quality in hospitals: a case study from Turkey

The main objectives of this study are to: (i) measure hospital service quality by using analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and analytic network process (ANP) as a multi-criteria decision making method to acquire the relationship and the level of the importance among service quality measurement (SERVQUAL) dimension; (ii) find perceived service quality with respect to different hospital classes (A, B and C) in Istanbul, Turkey; (iii) compare AHP- and ANP-based weighted SERVQUAL scales with the unweighted SERVQUAL scale for public hospital service quality in terms of different hospital classes (A–B and C). First, four hospitals are selected randomly for each class and then, a questionnaire based on the SERVQUAL model is conducted for each class to measure perceived service quality with respect to five major criteria, namely tangible, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy, from patients’ viewpoints at hospitals. Next, the second questionnaire based on ANP is developed to evaluate the importance of criteria and construct the relations among the criteria. The study sample contains 281 outpatients totally. Three important findings are obtained in this study. First, there is a significant difference among different hospital classes regarding the perceived service quality. Second, according to the patients, the most important service quality dimensions are empathy, the knowledge of employees, sympathetic and reassuring employees, services provided at the time promised to do so, and safe feeling of patients in interactions with hospital employees. Thirdly, the, perceived service quality through the AHP- and ANP-based SERVQUAL scale is higher than that with the unweighted SERVQUAL scale.

Evaluation of excavator technologies: application of data fusion based MULTIMOORA methods

Abstractexcavators are quite expensive vehicles. therefore, there may be huge losses for decision makers if a wrong decision is made during the purchasing process. A good evaluation of excavator alternatives both reduces costs and increases the benefits the excavator for the purchaser. The aim of this study is to prioritise excavator technologies to help decision makers during the purchasing process and to apply three different “data fusion methods” instead of the “theory of dominance” of the original MULTIMOORA method. the MULTIMOORA method is composed of three methods, namely: the ratio analysis as a part of MOORA, reference Point theory (the reference point approach as a part of MOORA) and the Full Multiplicative Form. it is used to prioritise excavator technologies in this study. the MULTIMOORA method combines three results obtained from these three methods using the theory of dominance. Dominance directed graph, rank position method and Borda count method as data fusion methods are also used to combi...

Comparing the innovation performance of EU candidate countries: an entropy-based TOPSIS approach

Abstract Innovation is important for countries in the competitive global economy. It is one of the main criteria for countries to be superior, to remain competitive, and to produce high technology products. Countries allocate different types of incentives to encourage innovation activities in their countries. Innovation is also one of the strategic issues for the European Union (EU). The aim of this study is to compare the innovation performance of four EU candidate countries, Macedonia (FYR), Iceland, Serbia and Turkey. The entropy-based Technique for Order Performance by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) approach is proposed in this paper. First, the importance of each variable is computed by the entropy method to reflect on the differences among the variables in the calculation process. Subsequently, the TOPSIS method is performed by using the value and importance of variables for prioritisation of the candidate countries with respect to their innovation performance. Four case studies are conducted to show the viability of the proposed approach. Each cases study uses different reports, namely The Global Competitiveness Index, Innovation Union Scoreboard, Knowledge Assessment Methodology (KAM) and Global Innovation Index. The results of this study show that the proposed approach provides the same ranking as Innovation Union Scoreboard and KAM.

Fuzzy Dematel Method to Evaluate the Dimensions of Marketing Resources: An Application in SMEs

Identifying the cause and effect factors of marketing resources and prioritizing them with respect to their level of importance can build superior market performance for companies. Although there have been some studies in the literature which have used marketing resource dimensions to conduct their research, these studies have not considered the relationships between marketing resource dimensions. Therefore, the aim of this study is to identify the cause and effect factors of marketing resources and to prioritize them in terms of their importance using the fuzzy Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory method. The findings of this study suggest that the dimension managerial capabilities , composed of financial management , effective human resource management and good operations management expertise , exerts a greater influence on marketing strategy than other criteria. In addition, the criterion credibility with customers through being well established in the market is the most important aspect of marketing resources.

Assessment of corporate innovation capability with a data-mining approach

A fuzzy-logic based data-mining approach is proposed in this paper.Two industrial case studies are conducted to illustrate the proposed approach.The fuzzy-grid based rule-mining algorithm is used to verify the proposed approach. The interest in assessment of innovation capability of manufacturing systems is fueled by the growing competition. At this time, there is no generally accepted model to evaluate innovation capability of manufacturing systems. In this paper, a fuzzy-logic based data-mining approach is proposed to assess innovation capability of manufacturing systems. The proposed algorithm is illustrated with two industrial case studies representing two different industry sectors. The results derived from these case studies demonstrate advantages of the proposed algorithm in assessing corporate innovation capability.

Monitoring patient dissatisfaction: a methodology based on SERVQUAL scale and statistical process control charts

In this study, a methodology has been suggested to monitor patient dissatisfaction in hospitals. The proposed methodology uses the service quality (SERVQUAL) scale and statistical process control charts, namely standardised u-control chart. An empirical research including 618 random samples is conducted to show how the proposed methodology works in practice. A survey study based on the SERVQUAL scale is performed to obtain patient dissatisfaction level with respect to five major criteria, namely tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance and empathy, in a public hospital in Istanbul, Turkey. This study extends the current limited researches related to monitoring and obliterating patient dissatisfaction in hospital services. The current study also contributes to the literature on health-care research in the context of service business by proposing a methodology to monitor patient dissatisfaction in hospitals. The findings show that the proposed methodology can be easily and efficiently conducted in practice.

Relationships among advanced manufacturing technology, innovation, export, and firm performance

The purpose of this study is to find the relationships among advanced manufacturing technology (AMT), innovation, export and firm performance by using data obtained from 310 Turkish manufacturing firms.,A survey study was performed to obtain data from manufacturing firms. Multiple-item scales were adapted from the literature to conduct the survey in this study. Data were collected from five cities located in the Southeastern Anatolia Region in Turkey (Gaziantep, Adiyaman, Kilis, Diyarbakir and Sanliurfa). Structural equation modeling was utilized to investigate the relationships among AMT, innovation, export and firm performance in Turkish manufacturing firms operating in several industries. The direct and indirect relations between these variables are examined in the proposed conceptual model. In addition, the complex relations including in the proposed model are assessed in detail through the mediation analysis.,Six of the proposed ten hypotheses related to manufacturers are validated by the empirical evidence from manufacturing companies in Turkey. Significant findings obtained in this study include the following: there are strong positive associations between the use of AMT and innovation and between export and firm performance. In addition, innovation mediates the relationship between AMT and firm performance and between AMT and export. Finally, export mediates the relationship between AMT and firm performance and between innovation and firm performance. It is expected that the results obtained from this empirical analysis will help decision makers and managers to construct a good technology and production management strategy for manufacturing systems.,In this study, a novel conceptual model is proposed to examine the relationships among AMT, innovation, export and firm performance via the use of survey responses from 310 Turkish manufacturing firms. To the authors’ best knowledge, this is the first study that proposes such a conceptual model in the literature.