Integrated Short-Term and Long-Term MCDM Model for Solving Location Selection Problems

Location selection problems have become one of most popular and important issues in the transportation and logistics systems. The purpose of this paper is to propose an integrated short-term and long-term multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) model for solving location selection problems. The advantages of the proposed integrated short-term and long-term MCDM model in this paper are not only to evaluate the short-term investment environment, but also consider the long-term operation environment. Many location selection methods have been proposed in the past, most of these methods were short-term evaluation approaches. Few studies proposed long-term evaluation methods for solving location selection problems. Short-term evaluation methods cannot be used to solve all manners of location selection problems. Sometimes, it is more realistic to deal with some specific location selection problems in the real world by using long-term evaluation methods. Thus this article attempts to fill this gap in current literature by proposing an integrated short-term and long-term MCDM model for solving location selection problems. Finally, the utilization of the proposed MCDM model is demonstrated with two case studies. In the first case study, a short-term transshipment location selection problem is shown. A long-term international distribution center location selection problem is introduced in the second case study. Furthermore, this paper presents a sensitive analysis of some examples of the problem while there is such integration. It highlights the importance of integrating the short and long-term evaluation method. The results show that the integrated short-term and long-term MCDM model in this paper can be used to explain the decision-making procedures for location evaluation and selection well.