An extended simple additive weighting decision support system with application in the food industry

Abstract

This study aims to expand the application of the multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) technique based on expanded information on the alternatives from sub-alternatives. For this purpose, some initial information is collected at the sub-alternative level. Then, based on the scores obtained for the sub-alternative level, the main alternatives are ranked using the simple additive weighting (SAW) method. The goal is to analyze decision alternatives and sub-alternatives, rank the alternatives according to criteria and sub-criteria, and analyze sensitivity based on their criteria and weights. A program is developed in MS Excel to dynamically explore a large amount of information. The results confirm the designed model’s ability to rank all alternatives and sub-alternatives. The model has been used to rank 220 products and 12 product portfolios in a food industry company. Five categories of decision criteria, including production, procurement, finance, product and sales, and competitors, were selected with 36 quantitative and qualitative sub-criteria. The results show that the market indicators and competitors directly impact the product portfolio’s priority. Some of the contributions of this research can be considered as a method for ranking alternatives based on the expanded information from sub-alternatives. As a management tool, the proposed model can be used in other fields and with different techniques to manage the portfolio of alternatives and sub-alternatives.