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The analytic hierarchy process and analytic network process: an overview of applications

Seyhan Sipahi (School of Business, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey)
Mehpare Timor (School of Business, Istanbul University, Istanbul, Turkey)

Management Decision

ISSN: 0025-1747

Article publication date: 1 June 2010

14248

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present a detailed literature review of the recent applications of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and analytic network process (ANP) group decision‐making methodologies.

Design/methodology/approach

Among more than 600 related papers published in the period 2005‐2009, a total of 232 application articles published in highly reputed international academic journals were selected and referenced in this paper. Papers were categorized according to application areas, subject titles, publication date, country of origin, academic journals, and integrated methodologies, and are summarized herein by various tables and charts.

Findings

The findings show that during the years 2005‐2009, use of the AHP technique has continued to increase exponentially. Moreover, it is expected that ANP will gain more popularity in the future, as the benefits of ANP become better understood. Applications of AHP have been dominant in manufacturing, followed by the environmental management and agriculture field, power and energy industry, transportation industry, construction industry, and healthcare. Other remarkable application fields include education, logistics, e‐business, IT, R&D, telecommunication industry, finance and banking, urban management, defense industry and military, government, marketing, tourism and leisure, archaeology, auditing, and the mining industry.

Research limitations/implications

The study does not consider theoretical based AHP or ANP articles. Also the search excluded conference proceedings, masters' theses, and doctoral dissertations.

Practical implications

It is hoped that this study will guide practitioners in future work towards advancement of these techniques and will help the managers to select better decisions by making use of these methodologies.

Originality/value

The paper presents a comprehensive literature review of recent applications of AHP, and also ANP decision tools over the period 2005‐2009. Furthermore, the paper covers fuzzy AHP and fuzzy ANP extensions that are becoming popular methods in some application areas of traditional AHP and ANP.

Keywords

Citation

Sipahi, S. and Timor, M. (2010), "The analytic hierarchy process and analytic network process: an overview of applications", Management Decision, Vol. 48 No. 5, pp. 775-808. https://doi.org/10.1108/00251741011043920

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2010, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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