A Multi-Criteria Decision Support System for the Formation of Collaborative Networks of Enterprises

In this paper we present a Decision Support System (DSS) to deal with the partner selection problem taking place in the formation or re-organization of a Virtual Enterprise (VE). This DSS is based on a multi-criteria model and handles several types of data (numerical, interval, linguistic and binary). This approach is used to facilitate the expression of the decision maker’s preferences and assessments about the potential partners and can be performed individually or by group. The system also allows the assignment of a degree of confidence to each linguistic statement. The operation of the DSS is structured in two phases. In the first phase it determines the set of non-dominated alternatives (potential VEs) through the use of meta-heuristics. The second phase ranks the alternatives for a possible network of enterprises configuring the VE. This is achieved through a procedure based on linguistic analysis and distance measures.

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