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This study aims to propose a method known as the fuzzy technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (fuzzy TOPSIS) for complex project selection in organizations. To fulfill study objectives, the factors responsible for making a project complex are collected through literature review, which is then analyzed by fuzzy TOPSIS, based on three decision-makers’ opinions.

The selection of complex projects is a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) process for global organizations. Traditional procedures for selecting complex projects are not adequate due to the limitations of linguistic assessment. To crossover such limitation, this study proposes the fuzzy MCDM method to select complex projects in organizations.

A large-scale engine manufacturing company, engaged in the energy business, is studied to validate the suitability of the fuzzy TOPSIS method and rank eight projects of the case company based on project complexity. Out of these eight projects, the closeness coefficient of the most complex project is found to be 0.817 and that of the least complex project is found to be 0.274. Finally, study outcomes are concluded in the conclusion section, along with study limitations and future works.

The outcomes from this research may not be generalized sufficiently due to the subjectivity of the interviewers. The study outcomes support project managers to optimize their project selection processes, especially to select complex projects. The presented methodology can be used extensively used by the project planners/managers to find the driving factors related to project complexity.

The presented study deliberately explained how complex projects in an organization could be select efficiently. This selection methodology supports top management to maintain their proposed projects with optimum resource allocations and maximum productivity.

The objective of the study is to develop a methodology to strategically rank store locations using criteria such as population, store site characteristics, economic considerations, competition and so on to select the most optimal retail convenience store location.

A case of National Capital Region, India, for a 24-h convenience store was considered for the study and the major criteria that affect the performance of a convenience store are identified, such as population characteristics, economic criteria, competition, consumer accessibility, store size, total cost, site attractiveness and security. Fuzzy AHP is utilized to find the weightage for each criteria and a combination of fuzzy TOPSIS and grey relational analysis (GRA) is applied to rank the alternative using these criteria weight. Further, results obtained are compared with results from fuzzy TOPSIS and fuzzy VIKOR methods. Sensitivity analysis is also performed for ensuring the robustness of the framework.

It is observed that outcomes do not change under various settling coefficient values, demonstrating that the methodology is very robust. The developed framework will be quite useful to diverse retailers looking to expand and generate substantial profits.

A large sample size of number of locations encourages generalization of results. Strategic ranking of the selected locations is carried out on a few selected criteria. The study was limited by the designated geographical area.

The study contributes to the few available articles on convenience store selection using combination of fuzzy AHP, fuzzy TOPSIS and GRA for a developing country.

There is great uncertainty and volatility in the evaluation and measurement of green supplier satisfaction. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap based on the information entropy theory (IET) to describe the probability of green supplier satisfaction degree.

The authors introduce a formal model using analytic hierarchy process (AHP), IET and entropy technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS) method to evaluate green supplier satisfaction and promote them for the better implementation of green supply chain management practices.

The first finding is developing an effective framework for green supplier satisfaction, incorporating various measures of environmental dimension. Second, a hybrid uncertainty decision method is introduced, by integrating AHP and IET and entropy-TOPSIS.

One of the main limitations of the research is that the authors introduced a conceptual example. Real-world applications need to investigate the accuracy and effectiveness of these measures, and the operational feasibility of this method.

This is one of the first works to provide a comprehensive appraisal model for evaluation of green supplier satisfaction. This study and research method can form general guidelines, and organizations can increasingly benefit from using green supplier satisfaction evaluation as a management tool. Green supplier satisfaction evaluation is just the beginning.

The purpose of this paper is to assess the financial performance of the intermediary institutions that have operated in the Turkish capital markets taking the issue of bank-origin and non-bank-origin institutions into account.

Financial performance of the intermediary institutions has been measured by the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method between the years 2005 and 2016. In order to implement the TOPSIS method, the relative importance of financial performance indicators has been determined by Entropy, survey results and considering equal weights approaches.

Empirical findings indicate that the average performances of continuously operating intermediary institutions during the concerned period are above the average performance levels of all intermediaries. Additionally, the average rank of bank-origin intermediary institutions have been found higher than the non-bank origins for all years. This reveals that the average financial performance of the bank-origin intermediary institutions is higher than the average score of non-bank origins during the related years.

This study is unique in terms of evaluating the performance of intermediary institutions in Turkish capital markets with a comprehensive framework. Determining the relative importance of financial performance indicators according to entropy, survey results and equal-weight approaches and revealing the average financial performance ranking methodology for bank-origin and non-bank-origin intermediary institutions have added value.

Coastal zone ecological restoration project is of great significance to alleviate marine ecological degradation. Evaluating the effect of coastal ecological restoration projects and identifying the obstacle factors affecting their restoration level can provide an empirical basis for future Marine ecological restoration projects.

However, due to the initial stage of coastal zone ecological restoration projects, the actual monitoring data of coastal zone ecological restoration is relatively lacking. Based on the CRITIC-TOPSIS (combination of CRITIC method and TOPSIS method) method, combined with the subjective perception of the public and the actual data of the restoration project, this paper proposes an evaluation method of the coastal zone ecological restoration effect to obtain the specific implementation effect of the coastal zone ecological restoration project. The main obstacle factors affecting the evaluation of coastal ecological restoration effect are identified by using the obstacle degree model.

This paper conducted an empirical study on the restoration of sandy shoreline and coastal wetland in Qinhuangdao city. Based on the data of restoration projects and the subjective perception of ecological restoration by the public in Qinhuangdao city, the research results showed that the coastal zone ecological restoration effect of Qinhuangdao city was general. The quality of the restoration project and the public perception have an important influence on the evaluation of the restoration effect. Improving the quality of the restoration project, strengthening the public's participation in ecological restoration and allowing the public to better participate in the ecological restoration of the coastal zone can improve the effect of ecological restoration of the coastal zone in an all-round way.

The research results of this paper have a guiding role in the ecological restoration of coastal cities in the future, and also have a demonstration and reference role for the assessment of the effect of ecological restoration of coastal zones.

The purpose of this research is to identify major barriers to the implementation of reverse logistics (RL). Also, the study addresses best practices among reuse, remanufacture, recycling, refurbishment and repair as alternatives for RL processes.

This study targets supply chain management experts for their opinions regarding the identification of critical barriers and alternatives for RL implementation. Their opinions were extracted through a Web questionnaire based on 14 criteria with 5 alternatives. The tools of multi-criteria decision-making are used for analysis, i.e. fuzzy VIKOR and fuzzy TOPSIS.

The results indicate that lack of recognition of competitive advantage to be gained through RL practice is the most critical barrier to RL implementation. The least barrier or major facilitator for RL is “supportive initiative for end-of-life products.” The top-ranked alternative in this study is reuse followed by remanufacturing. The least important alternative is “repair” in the case of Pakistan. These alternatives are ranked based on “q values” derived through fuzzy VIKOR.

The results of this study can only be generalized for the manufacturing sector of Pakistan during the period of the study.

The findings of this study will assist managers in deploying the best practices concerning RL.

Fuzzy VIKOR and fuzzy TOPSIS have not been applied to RL alternatives in previous research.

Considering the human factor, the quality of the personnel is vital to ensure especially the value creation in the ports. Therefore, employee quality stands out for withstanding the pressures that stem from global trade on its operational speed felt by ports in recent years. Accordingly, the selection of the qualified personnel at the ports is very critical and a tool based on dynamic capabilities is needed to manage this process well. The aim of this study is to develop a model based on dynamic capabilities for recruitment process of ports.

Port personnel should have dynamic capabilities detected from the literature. These capabilities were approached as criteria. In this study, Buckley's proposed fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (AHP) method was employed for weighting the whole criteria. After that, weights of the criteria were used to prioritize alternatives with the fuzzy TOPSIS method.

This model reflects port managers' priorities and port customers' evaluations. Thus, the model can also reflect the level of integration of ports' related department managers into the recruitment process. The analyses allow the evaluation of the attitudes of the human resources department in the related port while fulfilling the personnel recruitment function. As a result of analyses, differences between perceptions of port managers and customers served as a feedback to the human resource management department of the ports.

One of the originalities of this study was derived from its customer-oriented perspective. This is a unique study that gathers common personnel capabilities related to the operation, planning and customer relationship departments and evaluates the success of these capabilities from the customer perspective.

Governments around the world instituted guidelines for calculating energy efficiency of vehicles not only by models, but by the whole universe of new vehicles registered. This paper compiles Multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) studies related to automotive industry. We applied a Systematic Literature Review on MCDM studies published until 2015 to identify patterns on MCDM applications to design vehicles more fuel efficient in order to achieve full compliance with energy efficiency guidelines (e.g., Inovar-Auto). From 339 papers, 45 papers have been identified as describing some MCDM technique and correlation to automotive industry. We classified the most common MCDM technique and application in the automotive industry. Integrated approaches were more usual than individual ones. Application of fuzzy methods to tackle uncertainties in the data was also observed. Despite the maturity in the use of MCDM in several areas of knowledge, and intensive use in the automotive industry, none of them are directly linked to car design for energy efficiency. Analytic Hierarchy Process was identified as the common technique applied in the automotive industry.

The aim of this study is to depict the spatial pattern of the development level of China's state-owned forest farms, thereby providing theoretical reference and empirical evidence for the improvement of the corresponding development policies.

A development evaluation index system was established in this paper to comprehensively measure the development level of China's state-owned forest farms based on the Pressure-State-Response (PSR) model analysis framework and the actual situation of state-owned forest farms by using the entropy weight - technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (entropy weight TOPSIS) evaluation method and exploratory spatial analysis method.

Studies show that the state-owned forest farms in China are generally not well developed. The pressure system that represents the input level displays an apparent restrictive effect on provinces whose comprehensive score <0.15. The response system, which represents development dynamism, has an apparent restrictive function on the provinces whose comprehensive score is 0.35. In terms of the specific spatial characteristics, the V-shape displayed by southwest–northwest and southeast–northwest has an inward trend of gradual reduction, with high-low agglomeration and low-low agglomeration correlation effects as well as apparent basin characteristics.

In this paper, the development level and spatial pattern of state-owned forest farms in China were accurately depicted, and the development path support and decision-making basis were provided for improving the overall development level of state-owned forest farms in China.

This study aims to identify the characteristics of the maritime shipping network in Northeast Asia as well as compare the level of port connectivity among these container ports in the region. In addition, this study analyses the change in role and position of 20 ports in the region by clustering these ports based on connectivity index and container throughput and route index.

This study employs Social Network Analysis (SNA) to delineate the international connectivity of major container ports in Northeast Asia. Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) is used to identify each port's connectivity index and container throughput index, and the resulting indexes are employed as the basis to cluster 20 major ports by fuzzy C-mean (FCM).

The results revealed that Northeast Asia is a highly connected maritime shipping network with the domination of Shanghai, Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Busan. Furthermore, both container throughput and connectivity in almost all container ports in the region have decreased significantly due to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. The rapid growth of Shenzhen and Ningbo has allowed them to join Cluster 1 with Shanghai while maintaining high connectivity, yet decreasing container throughput has pushed Busan down to Cluster 2.

The originality of this study is to combine indexes of SNA into connectivity index reflecting characteristics of the maritime shipping network in Northeast Asia and categorize 20 major ports by FCM.