A diversified AHP-tree approach for multiple-criteria supplier selection.

A decision maker usually holds various viewpoints regarding the priorities of criteria, which complicates the decision making process. To overcome this concern, in this study, a diversified AHP-tree approach was proposed. In the proposed diversified AHP-tree approach, the judgement matrix of a decision maker is decomposed into several subjudgement matrices, which are more consistent than the original judgement matrix and represent diverse viewpoints on the relative priorities of criteria. Thus, a nonlinear programming model was established and optimized, for which a genetic algorithm is designed. To assess the effectiveness of the proposed diversified AHP-tree approach, it was applied to a supplier selection problem. The experimental results showed that the application of the diversified AHP-tree approach enabled the selection of multiple diversified suppliers from a single judgement matrix. Furthermore, all suppliers selected using the diversified AHP-tree approach were somewhat ideal.