Multicriterion decision in management - Jean-Charles Pomerol

Multicriterion Decision in Management: Principles and
Practice is the first multicriterion analysis book devoted
exclusively to discrete multicriterion decision making. Typically,
multicriterion analysis is used in two distinct frameworks: Firstly,
there is multiple criteria linear programming, which is an extension
of the results of linear programming and its associated algorithms.
Secondly, there is discrete multicriterion decision making, which is
concerned with choices among a finite number of possible alternatives
such as projects, investments, decisions, etc. This is the focus of
this book.

The book concentrates on the basic principles in the domain of
discrete multicriterion analysis, and examines each of these
principles in terms of their properties and their implications. In
multicriterion decision analysis, any optimum in the strict sense of
the term does not exist. Rather, multicriterion decision making
utilizes tools, methods, and thinking to examine several solutions,
each having their advantages and disadvantages, depending on one's
point of view. Actually, various methods exist for reaching a good
choice in a multicriterion setting and even a complete ranking of the
alternatives. The book describes and compares these methods, so-called
`aggregation methods', with their advantages and their shortcomings.
Clearly, organizations are becoming more complex, and it is becoming
harder and harder to disregard complexity of points of view,
motivations, and objectives. The day of the single objective (profit,
social environment, etc. ) is over and the wishes of all those
involved in all their diversity must be taken into account. To do
this, a basic knowledge of multicriterion decision analysis is
necessary. The objective of this book is to supply that knowledge and
enable it to be applied.

The book is intended for use by practitioners (managers, consultants),
researchers, and students in engineering and business.