Title: Absolute measurement with analytic hierarchy process: a case study for Italian racecourse

Authors: Fabio De Felice; Antonella Petrillo

Addresses: Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, Via G. Di Biasio, 43, 03043 Cassino (FR), Italy ' Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, Via G. Di Biasio, 43, 03043 Cassino (FR), Italy

Abstract: One often wonders why more people in organisations do not rush today to use a formal decision-making approach to make their complex decisions. This paper places special emphasis on the measurement of intangible criteria and on their incorporation into the allocation process through a proper decision making approach. In this work, a well-known decision-making method, the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is applied to identify a quality model to evaluate Italian racecourses performances based upon the criteria: quality organisation of racing, infrastructure and equipment, attractiveness and finally management skill. The motivation on which the study is based is the need to identify a model to evaluate Italian racecourses and to distribute economic resources. The main conclusion is that the AHP model adopted can manage all the information of the real-world problem and can help to structure the decision process in order to achieve the optimum solution.

Keywords: analytical hierarchy process; AHP absolute model; absolute measurement; racecourses; decision science; Italy; intangible criteria; formal decision making; racecourse performance; quality performance; horse racing; racecourse infrastructure; racecourse equipment; racecourse attractiveness; racecourse management skills; performance evaluation; economic resources; resource allocation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJADS.2013.054931

International Journal of Applied Decision Sciences, 2013 Vol.6 No.3, pp.209 - 227

Received: 09 Oct 2012
Accepted: 06 Jan 2013

Published online: 28 Nov 2013 *

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