Title: A hierarchical and fuzzy competitiveness evaluation methodology based on DEA

Authors: Mohamed Dia; Fouad Ben Abdelaziz; Yoser Gadhoum

Addresses: School of Commerce and Administration, Laurentian University, 935 Ramsey Lake Road, Sudbury, ON, P3E 2C6, Canada ' Rouen Business School, 1 rue Maréchal Juin, Mont Saint Aignan, 76130, France ' Al Yamamah University, P.O. Box 45180, Riyadh, 11512 Saudi Arabia

Abstract: In this paper, we present a fuzzy multi-criteria methodology for measuring the competitiveness of heterogeneous firms in an economy where several competitiveness indicators are considered ambiguous or fuzzy. We homogenise the companies into groups to better address their specificities enabling a better identification and definition of the comparison criteria in each specific grouping. In this context, the competitiveness of a company in an economy was seen as the composite of its competitiveness in its sector with that of its sector in this economy. The methodology, in two phases, consists in determining, first, the fuzzy performances and indices of competitiveness of companies and sectors in their groups using the DEA approach; then, examining the fuzzy indices of competitiveness of these companies in the economy. We illustrate the methodology in the competitiveness measurement of several companies from different sectors in an economy and discuss its advantages and disadvantages.

Keywords: data envelopment analysis; DEA; multicriteria decision making; fuzzy MCDM; heterogeneity; hierarchies; fuzziness; competitiveness measurement; fuzzy indices.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMCDM.2013.052456

International Journal of Multicriteria Decision Making, 2013 Vol.3 No.1, pp.21 - 35

Received: 31 Jan 2012
Accepted: 27 Apr 2012
Published online: 29 Jan 2014 *

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