A Novel Extension of VIKOR Method for Decision Making Problems

Abstract

The VIKOR method is a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) or multi-criteria decision analysis method. It was originally developed by Serafim Opricovic to solve decision problems with conflicting and noncommensurable (different units) criteria, assuming that compromise is acceptable for conflict resolution, the decision maker wants a solution that is the closest to the ideal, and the alternatives are evaluated according to all established criteria. VIKOR ranks alternatives and determines the solution named compromise that is the closest to the ideal. The idea of compromise solution was introduced in MCDM by Po-Lung Yu in 1973, and by Milan Zeleny. S. Opricovic had developed the basic ideas of VIKOR in his Ph.D. dissertation in 1979, and an application was published in 1980. The name VIKOR appeared in 1990 from Serbian: VIseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje, that means: Multicriteria Optimization and Compromise Solution, with pronunciation: vikor. The real applications were presented in 1998. The paper in 2004 contributed to the international recognition of the VIKOR method. (The most cited paper in the field of Economics, Science Watch, Apr.2009). The MCDM problem is stated as follows: Determine the best (compromise) solution in multicriteria sense from the set of J feasible alternatives A1, A2, ...AJ, evaluated according to the set of n criterion functions. The input data are the elements fij of the performance (decision) matrix, where fij is the value of the i-th criterion function for the alternative Aj.