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Shopping center plays an important role in distribution system and marketing. These canters provide an appropriate atmosphere for customers; so that, the customers achieve the best service within a short time. However, there is an intense competition among shopping centers to attract more customers for increasing the profit. Therefore, a powerful model assists authorities in identifying the critical competitive aspects and directing their efforts toward performance improvement. However, a number of strategies have been developed to identify the most relevant components. The Delphi technique under intuitionistic fuzzy environment, called intuitionistic fuzzy Delphi method (IFDM) study, is a group-based technique that can simply formulate the uncertainty imposed by decision making circle. On the other hand, multi criteria decision making (MCDM) method such as analytical network process (ANP) is a mathematical tool for taking into account mutual relationships in order to rank a number of criteria. Nonetheless, the ANP is unable to account for the uncertainty involved in the decision-making process. Similarly, the intuitionistic fuzzy set (IFS) can express ambiguity and vagueness by utilizing the given scale. Because the IFS is robust in dealing with complexity and ambiguity, the IFS-GANP (an integrated model of the IFS and ANP methods under group decision) can result in a more specific description of the situation. As a result, the IFS-GANP approach outperforms both conventional ANP and fuzzy ANP. To demonstrate the model's feasibility, a case study rating the essential aspects impacting the attractiveness of retail centers is shown. The result demonstrates factor C31 (Location) with value of 0.202 plays the greatest role in attracting customers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the post-recession period, the business environment in developing countries is still relatively undesirable. Based on the reports published, the number of closed entrepreneurs are significantly more than the number of those newly established. These statistics also reflect that the development of entrepreneurship faces several challenges. However, a strategic management program must be accurately conducted to effectively control entrepreneurial challenges based on the limitation of time and financial resources. On the other hand, the program should provide an appropriate opportunity for competitiveness by producing better quality goods and services successfully marketed to consumers. The aim of this paper is to propose a robust model with a high potential for evaluation of entrepreneurial challenges in order to identify and control the most critical ones. To achieve the aim, the most critical parameters should be identified to prevent wasting the resources. Likewise, the analytical network process (ANP) method, a branch of multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) techniques, is a powerful tool that can consider all interrelationships and interdependencies between criteria. On the other hand, neutrosophic sets are among the most widespread approaches in coping with vagueness and unknown environment. The methodology employed in this paper uses a combination model based on ANP and neutrosophic sets using sustainable development indicators to prioritize the challenges of entrepreneurship. The results show that the proposed model has a high potential to provide a process for decision-making under a vague environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brand extension is one of the most popular strategies in marketing. This is due to the fact that consumers usually take into account the brand first because it indirectly reflects the design, quality, and functions. According to the significant role of brand in creating benefit and diminishing risk for a new product, this study intended to develop a novel model for selecting the most appropriate strategy in brand extension. However, there are a number of criteria influencing the possible strategies, and they often are interdependent. Therefore, a multi-criteria decision making model based on Analytic Network Process and Additive Ratio Assessment methods has been developed to systematically clarify the interdependent relationships among the evaluation criteria of brand extension and then, scientifically evaluate the feasible strategies and rank the priorities of brand extension strategies. The results of the proposed model show that “Production cost” is the most important factor, followed by “Quality of parent brand” and “Perceived risk” while “Ice cream” is the highest satisfaction of brand extension. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Mining plays one significant role in most countries and it acts as a foundation for growth and development. It produces raw material for other sectors such as industry, agriculture, etc. So, determining and prioritizing the strategies of mining are so important. Miscellaneous types of tools are offered for determining and evaluating of operational strategies. Analyzing the internal and external environments using strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) helps to determine the current situation and to identify major prospects and challenges that could significantly impact strategy implementation in mining sector. Multi criteria decision making (MCDM) methods are appropriate tools to prioritize under sophisticated environment. Analytical network process (ANP) and TOPSIS are two hands of MCDM methods that are used in different researches. In this paper, we proposed an integrated model for prioritizing the strategies of Iranian mining sector. We employed the SWOT analysis to assign feasible strategies; then, ANP was applied in order to obtain the weight of SWOT factors, finally the strategies were ranked through TOPSIS technique. The results show that improving the ability of exploitation and production outperforms other strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Using the balanced scorecard approach based on sustainable development parameters is a powerful and useful methodology to evaluate the sustainable performance of organization or company. In this paper, a new approach based on sustainability balanced scorecard (SBSC) and multi criteria decision making (MCDM) approaches is developed for evaluating the performance of oil producing companies in Iran. For reflecting the interdependent relationships among factors influencing the problem under consideration, analytical network process (ANP), a branch of the MCDM techniques, is employed. However, using the ANP method for calculating the preference ratings of alternatives is a time-consuming and bothersome process; therefore, COPRAS (COmplex PRoportional ASsessment) technique is adopted to prioritize the feasible alternatives in terms of linguistic variables. Based on this study, the results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model. The performance evaluation model proposed by using a combination of the MCDM methods and the SBSC approach helps authorities to make an attempt for achieving a competitive advantage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]