Implementation of MCDM-Based Integrated Approach to Identifying the Uncertainty Factors on the Constructional Project

Presently, environmental management for companies emphasizing environmental protection has become one of the most critical issues for customers, shareholders, governments, employees, competitors, and global pressures requiring organizations to produce environmentally-friendly products and services. This challenge has created a new concept called green supply chain management in business, which combines environmental thinking with the supply chain. Selection of suppliers by considering risk criteria is a category that has attracted the attention of a large number of researchers in order to select the best suppliers according to uncertain factors. In this research, we aim to select a green supplier considering risk factors using a new MCDM approach under uncertainty. For this selection problem, HF-MAIRCA, a new multicriteria sorting method for many alternatives, has been developed. This is used for sorting the alternatives into predefined, ordered supplier categories. This sorting method can be applied to different environmental problems that have a large number of alternatives. As a result of Iran’s case study, the result shows that materials flexibility and materials quality are essential criteria for green supplier selection.

Flexible and Interactive Tradeoff Elicitation for Multicriteria Sorting Problems

In this paper, we propose a new method for solving multiple criteria decision-making/aiding (MCDM/A) sorting problems in the context of multi-attribute value theory (MAVT), based on a flexible and interactive elicitation process. It uses partial information to require less information from the decision maker (DM), which is given in the form of preference statements. The proposed method keeps the axiomatic structure of the traditional tradeoff elicitation procedure, without requiring exact values of indifference to be set, which can be a difficult task for the DM to perform. The use of linear programming, combined with the decision rules, allows an alternative to be assigned into a class without the need to provide complete information. By being flexible and interactive, the proposed method allows the DM to monitor the range of possible classes for each alternative at any level of information available during the process, which can save time and effort. The applicability of the method is shown by solving a project management problem on sorting activities.

Sovereign Credit Risk Assessment with Multiple Criteria Using an Outranking Method

In view of the records of failures in rating agencies’ assessments for sorting countries’ quality of credit in degrees of default risk, this paper proposes a multicriteria sorting model using reference alternatives so as to allocate sovereign credit securities into three categories of risk. From a numerical application, what was observed from the results was a strong adherence of the model in relation to those of the agencies: Standard & Poor's and Moody's. Since the procedure used by the agencies is extremely subjective and often questioned, the contribution of this paper is to put forward the use of an objective and transparent methodology to sort these securities. Given the agencies’ conditions for undertaking the assessment, a complete similarity between the results obtained and the assignments of the agencies was not expected. Therefore, this difference arises from subjective factors that the agencies consider but the proposed model does not. Such subjective and questionable aspects have been partly responsible for the credibility of these credit agencies being diminished, especially after the 2007-2008 crisis.