Choosing a hybrid car using a hierarchical decision model
by David Fenwick, Tugrul U. Daim
International Journal of Sustainable Society (IJSSOC), Vol. 3, No. 3, 2011

Abstract: This paper describes and analyses an operational decision model of the customer decision process in selecting a new hybrid automobile. Three types of extreme customer profiles are introduced which represent disparate customers of hybrid cars. These profiles provide rankings, or priorities, which are used to establish a baseline of possible user entry. A hierarchical decision model (HDM) implemented in Microsoft Excel uses these priorities, along with expert's pairwise comparisons of the effects of vehicle attributes on these priorities, to select a vehicle make and model from a database of cars and their attributes. An iterative process is described to fine-tune the attribute weightings, or to obtain alternate choices. After the expert weightings are tuned using the three extreme profiles, users need only to enter their priorities for the HDM to choose the best hybrid matching their criteria. Finally, the model is critiqued and suggestions are offered for improvement.

Online publication date: Wed, 08-Apr-2015

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Sustainable Society (IJSSOC):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

    Username:        Password:         

Forgotten your password?


Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com