Title: Management decision-making by the analytic hierarchy process: a proposed modification for large-scale problems

Authors: Rafikul Islam, Nur Anisah Abdullah

Addresses: Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences, International Islamic University Malaysia, Jalan Gombak, 53100 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. ' Department of Management Science, University of Strathclyde, 40 George Street, G1 1QE, Glasgow, UK

Abstract: The use of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) for decision making is sometimes marred by the laborious effort of conducting a large number of pairwise comparisons, especially in the presence of a large number of criteria. The present empirical study attempts to investigate the possibility of eliminating insignificant criteria in order to reduce AHP computational time. Using Expert Choice software, findings confirmed that criteria assigned with comparatively lesser weights can be excluded from the hierarchy and thereby the total time required for making pairwise comparisons is reduced. To solve large-scale enterprise multi-criteria decision-making problems (that involve large number of criteria) by AHP, it is proposed that, at the very outset, decision-makers can apply nominal group technique to identify the more significant criteria and drop lesser important criteria from the list. This proposed methodology is expected to enhance the applicability of AHP in solving various kinds of larger sized multi-criteria decision-making problems in any enterprise.

Keywords: analytical hierarchy process; AHP; decision support; international business; large-scale problems; multiple criteria decision-making; MCDM; nominal group technique; management decision making; pairwise comparisons.

DOI: 10.1504/JIBED.2006.011949

Journal for International Business and Entrepreneurship Development, 2006 Vol.3 No.1/2, pp.18 - 40

Published online: 04 Jan 2007 *

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