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With increasingly complex logistics information technology and dynamic logistics operations in a global setting, today′s logistics managers confront an overwhelming number of decision alternatives. Perhaps the most effective way of evaluating such a large number of alternatives is to utilize advanced information technologies. These technologies encompass decision support systems (DSS), artificial intelligence (AI), expert systems (ES), electronic data interchange (EDI), and barcoding. Since the performance of these technologies is greatly influenced by their supporting software, their success often hinges on the selection of proper software packages. In selecting proper logistics software, an analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is proposed which can effectively deal with both qualitative and quantitative factors in multiple‐criteria decision environments.

The main purpose of this study is to provide some empirical evidence to support the consistency measure as an essential component in the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), which is known to be a research method useful to both decision making and empirical research in construction information and management. The measure helps to affirm that individual decision makers capture logical and reasonable preferences when making decisions. It also supports empirical research conducted by either practitioners or academic researchers to ensure that the questionnaires are not poorly answered. Measure of the consistency level is expected to be able to detect inconsistent responses. In this study, strategies have been adopted to compare the AHP with the simple rating method to justify the criticality of consistency using data from a study of construction supply chain information. Three groups of responses (overall, consistent and inconsistent) based on the consistency measure were compared. Results indicate that responses to the AHP method having acceptable consistency (the consistent group) were shown to be consistent with the responses from the simple rating method. This supports that the consistent responses are reliable. Suggestions are given to improve the undertaking of AHP research.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Since its introduction in the mid‐1970s, Saaty′s Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) has been applied to a variety of decision problems. A new area of application is introduced in this article. We present here the application of the AHP to a strategic planning problem as faced by one local Ann Arbor business man. Through an interviewing process and analysis of his operation the model was built and the data was collected. The analysis of the model yielded a clear cut alternative that was then implemented by the business owners.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a disaster logistics center location selection decision support system, based on analytic hierarchy/fuzzy analytic hierarchy process methods, which will serve to fulfill the needs of disaster victims and rescue teams after a possible earthquake, and to implement the proposed systems for Istanbul.

Determining the appropriate location from among the possibilities by taking many sophisticated and inter‐related processes and parameters into consideration under stringent constraints is one of the keystones of logistics. Disaster logistics center location selections are extremely complex and vital. In this paper, analytic hierarchy/fuzzy analytic hierarchy process methods are used to compose a decision support system for determining the location of disaster logistics centers. The criteria and the weighting for the criteria that are used are determined via a questionnaire technique applied to specialists working in the Istanbul Center of Disaster Coordination.

Results gathered from the implementation of the proposed models to the chosen case illustrate that systems successfully determine the location, and both models point out the same result with different weights.

The paper introduces two disaster logistics center location selection decision support systems (fuzzy and crisp) and presents an empirical case study of the proposed models for Istanbul. The proposed model and outcomes from the application may shed light on future work, especially in the field of disaster logistics management.

In recent years, many organisations responsible for economic infrastructure have developed asset management systems to improve the financial and service performance of their facilities. Asset management is an integrated approach to improving the ability of an irrigation system to deliver water at a defined level of service in the most cost‐effective manner. This paper describes how the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is applied to identify priorities for asset renewals in the La Khe irrigation scheme in North Vietnam. The AHP methodology was coupled with the expected maximum utility (EMU) to evaluate renewal priorities of assets grouped by types and by location within the hydraulic system.

The purpose of this study is to identify key performance indicators (KPIs) for badminton halls and, through a case study, illustrate how the facilities performance of a university badminton hall can be evaluated from the user perspective.

After a desktop literature review, the findings were discussed by a focus group, and the discussion result formed the basis for establishing an analytic hierarchy of facilities performance for the badminton hall. Then, interviews were made with 169 badminton hall users to solicit their perceived facilities’ importance and performance levels of the hall. Using MATLAB, a computer program incorporated with an Analytic Hierarchy Process was devised to compute the importance weights of the performance attributes under assessment. The outcomes were interpreted using an importance-performance evaluation matrix.

A facilities performance hierarchy, comprising nine KPIs, was established for the badminton hall. The factors influencing the users’ perceptions, the importance and performance levels of the KPIs and the areas of the hall requiring improvements were identified.

Future studies can take a similar approach of this study to develop KPIs and facilities performance hierarchies for other types of sports venues.

The method used to identify the improvements required for the badminton hall can be applied to investigations on other sports facilities.

The methodology of this research was first applied to study a badminton hall – as reported in this paper.

The purpose of this paper is to show that there is a wealth of academic literature that qualitatively examines the outsourcing and offshoring from a go/no go perspective. The paper examines the complex “where to outsource” question by applying a quantitative approach called Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP).

The authors examine a Fortune 500 company's real‐world decision about where to outsource and summarize the current selection process employed by the company. We then apply our AHP model to the company's decision and compare the results.

There are four major findings: the location selection decision is a component of the outsource supplier selection decision; the AHP model effectively manages the complexity of the decision making process, incorporating all decision criteria harmoniously; a method such as AHP, which is able to incorporate both qualitative and quantitative criteria into evaluations, would streamline the decision‐making process; and the AHP process allows firms to look at a portfolio of choices and determine which firms are basically equal in qualifications.

The research implies that: (AHP may be more applicable in these areas by providing a rigorous framework for assessment of qualitative and quantitative factors together; and AHP offers substantial flexibility to accommodate the variety and quantity of decision criteria set forth by the firm.

As firms are more active in pursuing opportunities in global markets, identifying the right offshoring location is critical. The selection process is complex, involving a set of qualitative and quantitative factors and requiring rigorous and careful analysis. Therefore, a scientific method that not only offers flexibility and simplicity, but also simultaneously accommodates a wide variety of decision criteria is invaluable. The research demonstrates that AHP provides these benefits and is an effective technique for analyzing the where‐to‐outsource decision.

The extensive literature review suggests that the majority of the existing works focus on analyzing the go/no‐go decision using a qualitative approach. This paper applies the AHP method to the “where to outsource” question to demonstrate one quantitative approach to this complex decision. Additionally, the paper provides a detailed description of how the AHP method is implemented in analyzing the decision by using a Fortune 500 company's data and information as an example.

This paper will be focused in one of the stages included in a reference framework proposed for the improvement of the warranty management. Particularly, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) is a multi‐criteria decision‐making method that will be depicted throughout this document and applied to a particular case study.

Once the warranty program objectives and strategy are defined, the referred stage here considered will be the Criticality Analysis. Those decisions and actions taken from the warranty program will involve the possibility of a certain deviation from business objectives in terms of profit losses, redirection of resources, possible delays etc., or the use of assembly pieces as spares, among others.

The application is required of a technique which helps systematically to decide which assets should have priority related to the management of the warranty program, in accordance of course with the existing program strategy.

The paper will show how this method can help and improve the decision‐making related to some aspect of the warranty management, obtaining as a result a criticality matrix, which offers a prioritized view of warranty issues, which allow us to align after sales actions with the business targets.

This paper aims to explore different aspects related to the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), which can influence in the management of warranty assistances. In the process of warranty management for a specific product, many decisions and actions appear presenting a great impact on the total cost of the product warranty service. The paper contains an example study where AHP concepts are applied in a simple way in order to provide a practical application view of the theoretical development, useful to after sales managers as a decision‐making tool.

The purpose of this paper is to warrant the success of applying information and communications technology (ICT) in e‐government projects, particularly in developing countries, through risk management and modeling of multi‐decision situation. This analytical approach would lead to effective and efficient management of e‐government projects.

Risk management showed that other than information security risk, failures are common in e‐Government projects due to other factors particularly in most parts of developing countries. The problem is a complex multidimensional situation, since project mangers are usually faced with critical diverse decisions and alternatives from which to choose. Employing the multivariate technique of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) allowed decision makers to implement the most important and efficient actions for successful e‐Government projects.

The difficulty of e‐government projects is further complicated due to its compound multi‐attribute environment, considerable economic loss, and mal‐distribution of causes of failure. Using the AHP approach, e‐government case study revealed that – for e‐government success – the decision maker should tackle the highest influence of ICT skill issue because it is of more value than other alternatives: specifically twice, three times, and eight times more than, respectively, culture, leadership, and technology.

This case study can provide an understanding into the risks and multi‐decision problem of e‐government projects success. Rather than disastrous subjective decisions, a systematic approach using AHP offered decision makers a rational answer to what are the highest priority obstacles to tackle to safe guard against failure of e‐government projects.