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The stability and efficiency of the waste supply chain (WSC) is related to the urban environment. This study constructed a framework of barriers to coordinating the WSC based on four perspectives: the costs and benefits, mechanisms involved, behaviors of the subjects, and technologies and standards used. We used an analytic network process based on the fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory to calculate the centrality and weight of each barrier factor, and we determined the critical barriers to coordination by combining their results. A causality diagram of the barriers was drawn, and a scheme of coordination of the WSC was designed based on a closed-loop supply chain around the critical barriers. The results show that contradictions in benefits between subjects, contradictions between economic and social benefits, excessive subsidies, the failure of the market mechanism, the lack of a mechanism for supervision, and blocked information and distrust among the subjects are the five most critical barriers to the coordination of the WSC, with excessive subsidies the root cause of the lack of coordination. The subsidy for direct waste disposal should be used to reduce the cost of the operation of the WSC, waste recycling should be improved, an information-sharing platform should be built, and the cost of recyclable waste for manufacturers should be reduced to improve the efficiency of the WSC.

Sugar is a significant commodity for Indonesia because the need for sugar reaches 7 million tons. Meanwhile, imports from Thailand, Australia, and Brazil were approximately 5.54 million tons in 2020. Sugarcane and sugar production in East Java province is also supported by Lamongan Regency. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the possible sugarcane plantation expansion areas in Lamongan. The evaluation process carried out in this study was an analysis of land suitability using the analytic network process (ANP) and land availability using an overlay analysis of several policy maps. Three parameters with the highest weight of the ANP were soil drainage (0.181), cation exchange capacity and base saturation (0.134), and rainfall (0.133). The total possible area for sugarcane plantations expansion in Lamongan was 32,552.37 ha and the largest class was Possible Area 2 (65.67%). The three sub-districts with the highest possible areas include Solokuro, Ngimbang, and Mantup. We recommend that the government and stakeholders extend the area allocated to sugarcane plantations in Lamongan because the possible expansion areas are still more than 30 ha, while in the 2011–2031 spatial plan they were only 8927 ha. Expansion plans must take into consideration other uses such as residence, industry, food crops, and protected areas.

The machine tool industry is an economically important industry in Taiwan. However, due to the limited natural resources in Taiwan, many of the raw materials required for production must be imported. In 2020, COVID-19, the most serious infectious disease in modern times, broke out across the globe. This has had a great impact on the economic and industrial development of various countries and indirectly affected the development of the machine tool industry. The machine tool industry generally is facing shocks and crises. Therefore, this research article mainly discusses a sustainable operation strategy for the machine tool industry during the COVID-19 epidemic period in Taiwan. Firstly, through the literature on dynamic capability theory (DCT) and expert interviews, the relevant dimensions and criteria are summarized. Then, the fuzzy Delphi method (FDM) and the analytic network process (ANP) are integrated to confirm the relevant dimensions and criteria and to sort the criteria. The five dimensions, in order, are integration ability, learning ability, quality improvement, environmental adaptation, and marketing ability. The ten criteria are diversified learning and innovation ability, integration of multiple sources of knowledge, the ability to learn across departments, the ability to adapt to the external environment, marketing strategy ability, organizational learning ability, integration of resources, improved management efficiency, market research ability, and backward integration. Finally, we put forward business strategies for the ranking results and provide relevant research and industry references.

[EN] Since establishing the Sustainable Development Goals in 2015, the assessment of the sustainability performance of existing and future infrastructures has been in the spotlight of the scientific community. This is because the construction sector is essential for promoting the social welfare and economic development of countries, but is also one of the main environmental stressors existing to date. However, assessing infrastructure sustainability throughout its life cycle remains a significant challenge, as the criteria involved in sustainable design are often complex and conflicting. The Analytic Network Process (ANP) is recognized as a powerful decision-making tool to model such problems. Here, the life cycle sustainability performance of different design alternatives for a concrete bridge near the shore is evaluated using ANP. The obtained results are compared with those obtained using the conventional Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP). The results obtained using ANP are more reliable than those derived from the conventional AHP in terms of the expert¿s consistency and the number of comparisons made., Grant PID2020-117056RB-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by "ERDF A way of making Europe".

The condition of railway infrastructure, such as rails, ballasts and sleepers, should always be monitored and analyzed to ensure ride safety and quality for both passengers and freight. It is hard to assess the condition of railway infrastructure due to the existence of various components. The existing condition assessment models are mostly limited to only assess track geometry conditions and structural condition of the railway infrastructure. Therefore, the present research develops a defect-based structural and geometrical condition model of railway infrastructure. The defects of each component are identified and examined through literature and experts in the field. Two main inputs are used to develop the model: (1) the relative weight of importance for components, defects and their categories and (2) defects severities. To obtain the relative weights, the analytic network process (ANP) technique is adopted. Fuzzy logic is used to unify all the different defect criteria and to interpret the linguistic condition assessment grading scale to a numerical score. Hence, the technique for order preference by similarity to ideal Solution (TOPSIS) is used to integrate both weights and severities to determine the railway infrastructure condition. The developed model gives a detailed condition of the railway infrastructure by representing a three-level condition state, for defect categories, components and an overall railway infrastructure. The developed model is implemented to five case studies from Ontario, Canada. The developed model is validated by comparing its results with the real case studies results, which shows similar results, indicating the robustness of the developed model. This model helps in minimizing the inaccuracy of railway condition assessment through the application of severity, uncertainty mitigation and robust aggregation

Studies on regional development have generally focused on major cities, to the neglect of minor ones. In this research, a secondary city in Taiwan, namely Keelung, was selected as a case study for urban development assessment from the perspective of regional resource integration. This study combined the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method and analytic network process (ANP) to determine how dimensions influenced each other in Keelung and what their weights were. We used six dimensions that comprised 14 criteria. The adopted dimensions were economics, governance, society, physical environment, natural environment, and culture and creativity. On the basis of the DEMATEL-based ANP, experts considered the governance, economics, and society dimensions to be highly important and influential on the other dimensions. In elucidating the relationships between dimensions, our method allows policymakers to formulate holistic solutions rather than piecemeal ones. The satisfaction of experts and residents (who have expertise and considerable living experience in Keelung, respectively) with the current situation in Keelung regarding the dimensions and criteria was also determined.

Sudden environmental pollution accidents (SEPAs) in small towns are characterized by high uncertainty, complex evolution, and fast spread speed, and they cause serious harm to a wide geographic range. Thus, SEPAs greatly challenge the emergency management systems of enterprises and governments. Therefore, improving the emergency capacity of small towns (ECST) to withstand SEPAs deserves more attention. In this study, the evolution mechanism of SEPAs is systematically analyzed, revealing the interactions among various situational elements in the SEPA occurrence process. Then, an evaluation index system of the ECST response to SEPAs is constructed based on four dimensions: monitoring and early warning capacity, preparedness and mitigation capacity, response, and recovery capacity. The system includes 68 indicators and covers the key stages of the SEPA life cycle. Finally, an evaluation model of the ECST to SEPAs is proposed based on the analytic network process method, and the small town of Jiangyin City is selected as a case study for empirical evaluation. The proposed evaluation model considers the interactions and interdependent feedback between indexes, effectively improving the accuracy and scientific nature of the evaluation results. Thus, this model provides a solid decision-making reference for governments and a quantitative theoretical basis for the formulation of measures targeted at SEPAs.

The development of sports tourism is gaining momentum around the world, with many tourism industries combining sports events and programs to attract more domestic and overseas customers to promote economic and culture. Sustainability awareness has been gaining attention from many international organizations, resulting in the rise of sports tourism that incorporates sustainability. Therefore, the development of a valid and applicable sustainable sports tourism (SST) assessment model is an important task. In this study, a hybrid Multiple Attribute Decision-Making (MADM) model is proposed to measure the development performance of SST. The aims of this study include developing a SST assessment framework, identifying the mutual influential relationships among attributes, generating attribute influence weights, and calculating the performance of the evaluated items. The proposed model is divided into three stages. First, a cause-and-effect diagram is generated using the Grey Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (GDEMATEL) to describe the interactions and feedback among the attributes. Then, the GDEMATEL-based Analytic Network Process (GDANP) is applied to generate the influence weights of the attributes and their rankings. Finally, the expanded Probability-based Grey Relational Analysis (expanded PGRA) was applied to calculate the performance of the evaluated items and to determine the gap between evaluated items and the aspiration level. This study improves the original PGRA technique by introducing the concept of aspiration level into the PGRA calculation process, thereby replacing the traditional concept of “relative satisfaction” with “aspiration level”. In addition, the expanded PGRA can assess a single rated item without being limited to at least two items. We used the Sun Moon Lake Scenic Area in Taiwan as a model demonstration. The results show that the top three attributes that need to be strengthened are disease prevention and treatment, local social welfare and protection, and sports diversity. In the Sun Moon Lake, intersection control should be set up to ensure the health status of visitors and local residents. In addition to epidemic prevention, more measures and behaviors should be developed to deal with tourism diseases. We suggested that subsidies be provided to local residents to rebuild the fences around their homes to avoid disturbances caused by the influx of tourists. Moreover, the local government can create more sports events with special characteristics that can attract tourists to come again and again.

The COVID-19 epidemic has caused unprecedented impacts on the travel and tourism industry. The current study traced the impacts of COVID-19 on tourism in Iran using an “Impact Pathway (IP)” approach to identify impacts and possible mitigation strategies. The results illustrate two main impact pathways: negative impacts along the economic-institutional and socio-cultural dimensions, and positive impacts along the physical-environmental dimension. Using SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) and ANP (analytic network process) models, we identified defensive and review strategies as optimal for increasing resilience against the impacts of COVID-19. These strategies control the threats and weaknesses of negative impacts and enhance the opportunities and strengths emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic for tourism. We use this information to identify optimal strategies for dealing with the impacts of this crisis on tourism. Most prominently among them is the development of an integrated management system that improves the coordination of the response of local government to crisis and that better orchestrates the combined efforts and integration of non-governmental organizations.

The Taoyuan International Airport in Taiwan encountered service capacity bottlenecks for insufficient facilities before COV-19 break. In order to increase the service capacity efficiency on check-in, security checks, and customs clearance, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications R.O.C. (MOTC), Taiwan, rerouted the airport traffic flow by implementing the in-town check-in (ITCI) concept to decrease crowding in the airport waiting hall. This research examined the structure of critical success factors (CSFs) for ITCIs, deriving three hierarchies of three dimensions, eight criteria, and 18 evaluation indexes from the previous literature, expert interviews, and analysis results from Analytic Network Process (ANP) via Super Decisions software. The three CSF dimensions were: first-level hierarchy &ldquo, advantageous environments,&rdquo, followed by &ldquo, marketing&rdquo, and &ldquo, service value,&rdquo, which is a second-level hierarchy. The study concluded that the third level item of &ldquo, transferred vehicles system and management&rdquo, can play an important key role in ITCTs and &ldquo, users&rsquo, usage preference&rdquo, has a high correlation to ITCT management strategy. Those findings are expected to be a valuable reference as operating guidelines for Taoyuan Airport MRT Company and management strategy for airport companies.

Sustainable development is the concept of coordinating people and the environment and achieves contemporary development without compromising the interests of the next generation. It can also be thought of as not exceeding the biosphere&rsquo, s carrying capacity. Urban metabolism emphasizes resource recycling and use to achieve balance between resource input and product output in urban areas. However, the scale of cities has expanded rapidly in recent years along with resource and energy demands. Waste and pollution also cause major threats to the environment and ecology. Given increasingly serious environmental problems, the original linear metabolism must be converted into a cyclical one to ensure urban sustainability. From the policy implementation report of Taipei City, this study used the fuzzy Delphi method to develop evaluation factors and integrated this with the analytic network process decision-making tool to determine the priority weights of each policy and evaluate development strategies for urban development based on the metabolism concept. The study results reveal that natural environmental sustainability and sustainable energy strategies were prioritized plans for evaluating urban development with the metabolism concept, and the results can be used as a reference for future urban development strategies.

Global warming and climate change are the most pressing issues in the world. This is the inevitable result of human beings pursuing a better quality of life and materials. If the green design concept is used in the design and manufacture of products, the impact of production on the environment will be greatly reduced. Because of this, green product design assessment and improvement activities play an important role in achieving the 2030 sustainable development goals. Product design is the forefront of the entire product development process, and it plays a very critical role. The purpose of this study is to develop a decision-making model for helping decision makers to evaluate and improve the performance of product design systematically. The model combines the design standard of the iF world design guide and multi-attribute decision-making methods. First, the DEMATEL-based analytic network process is used to establish the influential relationship and weights of attributes. Next, the VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno with aspiration-level method is used to obtain the gap between each evaluation attribute and the aspiration level of each design. Finally, this evaluation result uses the influential network relationship map (INRM) to propose various improvement strategies with causal influence. This study uses products from a Taiwanese furniture design company as an empirical case, which is a leading brand and benchmark in Taiwan&rsquo, s furniture industry. The research results show that the proposed model can help decision makers to choose the most appropriate design scheme (i.e., the design with the smallest gap from expectations), designers can also improve the gap between product design and expectations.

This paper presents a methodology for quantifying the impact of Total Quality Management TQM elements on organisational strategic sustainable development, integrating within it the well-known strategic management tool of Balanced Scorecard to represent the strategic part of the organisations, and the multi-criteria technique Analytic Network Process (ANP) to identify and quantify the mentioned impact. Additionally, the application of TQM generates directly some organisational improvements&mdash, or outputs&mdash, which help model a decisional ANP network constituted by all three building blocks&mdash, TQM elements, strategic objectives and outputs&mdash, and their interrelationships. The application of the methodology to an oil firm carried out by an expert group offered, from a decision-making point of view, meaningful results that were developed following three different analyses: Global analysis, which identified the global weight of each variable, Analysis of Influences, which established sound cause&ndash, effect relationships between the variables to identify the elements&mdash, TQM and outputs&mdash, that are more important to achieve the strategic objectives, and the Integrated analysis, which pointed out which TQM elements should be fostered in order to achieve the most important sustainable strategic objectives. Finally, it is suggested to apply the methodology to other types of size and sector activity organisations, as well as to use other techniques that introduce fuzzy elements.

The efficient vehicle procurement is an important business segment of different companies with their own vehicle fleet. It has a significant influence on reducing transport and maintenance costs and on increasing the fleet&rsquo, s energy efficiency. It is indispensable that managers consider various criteria from several aspects when procuring a vehicle. In that sense, we defined 13 relevant criteria and divided them into four multidisciplinary aspects: Construction-technical, financial, operational, and environmental. Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory-Based Analytic Network Process (DANP) method was applied to evaluate the significance of defined criteria and aspects and their interdependency. It is established that the three most important criteria for vehicle procurement are vehicle price, vehicle maintenance, and vehicle selling price. The most important aspect is construction technical aspect, while the aspect of the environment is the least important. The technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method was used to rank eight different vehicles, which were considered by vehicle fleet manager at the observed company. This model assists fleet managers in the selection of the most suitable vehicle for procurement, while significantly reducing decision-making time and simultaneously observing all necessary criteria and their weights. Moreover, we have considered 10 different scenarios to establish whether and how the rank of the observed alternatives would change.

Building energy saving transformation is an inevitable requirement to achieve sustainable development, which can bring considerable economic, environmental, and social benefits. The key to healthy development of the market lies in the orderly operation of the financing platform. The effectiveness of the financing platform depends on scientific evaluation. Therefore, it is necessary to design a set of systematic and practical evaluation indicators for operational effectiveness of the buildings energy saving transformation financing platform, so as to provide reference for the effective operation of the financing platform, and provide measurement means for scholars to conduct quantitative research on the financing platform. This paper analyzes the effectiveness evaluation content for the financing platform operation of buildings energy saving transformation from the two levels of operation mechanism and operation subject behavior. Combined with the particularity of the financing platform of building energy saving transformation, the operational effectiveness evaluation index system of the financing platform is designed from three levels. The Analytic Network Process (ANP) method is applied to construct network structure, to describe element correlation, and to calculate index weight. The fuzzy comprehensive evaluation (Fuzzy) method was used to carry out quantitative evaluation of qualitative indicators. The Energy Performance Contracting (EPC) financing platform in Beijing was taken as an example to make an empirical analysis. The results show that the operational effectiveness evaluation system of the financing platform of buildings energy saving transformation constructed in this paper has certain practicability. In this evaluation system, scores of target consistency, the degree of information sharing among departments and coordination of operation mechanism are low. Finally, some policy suggestions are put forward to optimize financing platform of buildings energy saving transformation in China.

Community resilience is a key index for describing the response of human habitat systems to hazards. Evaluating and enhancing the community resilience requires indicators, identification, and quantitative measurements, especially for urban flooding management. In this study, an advanced index framework for measuring community resilience to urban flooding is proposed, integrating the fuzzy Delphi method (FDM) and the analytic network process (ANP). Seven indicators (public facilities, spatial structure of land use, flood management organizations, rescue capability, accuracy of weather forecasts, vulnerable population, and individual capability) of community resilience are identified using the fuzzy Delphi method. The indicators are classified into four dimensions, and the weights are determined by the analytic network process. This approach is applied to three different types of communities, namely, a newly built neighborhood, an ancient college, and a flood-prone village in the city of Nanning, China, using data collected from questionnaires, interviews, and field investigations. The neighborhood (with a total averaged score of 2.13) has the largest community resilience to urban flooding, followed by the college (1.8), and finally the village (0.91). Flooding management organizations play a leading role in the urban flooding resilience of the neighborhood and college, while the vulnerable population has a great impact on the community resilience of the village. Results of the strategy analysis suggest that science and technology improvement (0.543) is more important than social&ndash, economic status improvement (0.325) and built-environment improvement (0.132) for mitigating urban hazards in Nanning. The proposed framework in this study contributes to the interdisciplinary understanding of community resilience for urban flooding and is expected to be applied to sustain urban planning and flood evacuations.

Companies nowadays strive to gain public recognition through corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. However, what are consumers&rsquo, cognition and evaluations of these CSR efforts, and can they be explained by the concentric circle model, the pyramid model, the intersecting circles model, or by a combination of all three? The novelty of this study is to reexamine the traditional theoretical models in order to find an empirical answer and offer it as a reference to companies. First, we specified the causal relationships of the principles using the modified decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL)-based analytic network process (ANP) (DANP), then we identified and examined consumers&rsquo, cognition and evaluation of these CSR efforts by importance-performance analysis (IPA). The research result demonstrates that, in a Taiwanese community, consumers&rsquo, cognition and evaluation of companies&rsquo, CSR rarely follows one single model. On basic economic and legal levels, consumers indicate characteristics of the intersecting circles model. On higher ethical and philanthropic levels, they exhibit characteristics of the pyramid/concentric circles models. Notably, consumers&rsquo, demands and expectations of companies have reached an ethical level but have not yet placed great value on a philanthropic level. Moreover, the actual phenomenon may be interpreted by a combination of the above-mentioned models. Low- and high-level CSRs reveal different characteristics, therefore, companies should cultivate various communication strategies to improve effectiveness.

In recent years, the Zayanderood River in Isfahan-Iran has been encountered by hydrological imbalance and drought. Literature review shows that long-term climate change, drought, and disruption of the river’s water supply has led to depletion of underground aquifers and, consequently, gradual subsidence of the river and serious damage to old buildings and structures along the riverbank. This fact would be followed up by adverse environmental, social, and economic effect that could threaten the sustainable development of urban space. Therefore, it is necessary to use efficient risk identification and assessment approaches toward a more effective risk management. The goal of this study is to identify and prioritize the risks of river drought with regards to all three sustainable development areas including environmental, social, and economic. The research methodology was a mixed field method that included a set of questionnaires and interviews. To evaluate collected data, the analytic network process (ANP) method was used. Eighteen important risks were identified. Based on the results, decrease in the groundwater level, climate change, and gradual soil degradation were ranked first, second, and third, respectively. As this study examined the impacts of river drought on all three areas of sustainable development simultaneously and comprehensively, it is expected that the results will fill the existing theoretical and practical gap affecting improvements in assessment and management of sustainable development risks., This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability and Risks in Construction Management

The relevant role of freight lorry parking facilities as a tool to reduce nuisances and impact of economic activities in densely populated urban areas is widely recognised in the literature. Nevertheless, the literature currently lacks specific contributions addressing the use of a complex Multiple Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) approach for coping with an optimal location of freight lorry parking facilities in the urban context. This paper contributes to filling this gap by analysing a real-world case study motivated by the problem of intense freight vehicles traffic around the city of Bradford, Yorkshire (UK). Since it is necessary to include diverse analysis perspectives, reflecting the different classes of involved stakeholders, this study proposes adopting the Analytic Network Process (ANP) approach as a tool to support the selection and evaluation of alternatives for a freight lorry parking facility, followed by the design of software based on this approach. The proposed web Spatial Decision Support System provides a valuable tool to foster extended discussions with experts and facilitate the decision process in this class of location problems.

The increase of environmental pollution has led to the rise of sustainable awareness in recent years. This trend has motivated various industries to recognize the importance of implementing sustainable supply chain practices to seek economic, environmental and social advantages. From a sustainability perspective, selecting a suitable supplier is the main component of modern enterprises. It is also a challenging problem since several criteria concerning supplier selection are interdependent with a complex character. Therefore, the contribution of this paper is a new extension to multi-criteria decision-making model (MCDM) under an intuitionistic fuzzy environment for sustainable supplier selection (SSS) based on sustainable supply chain management SSCM practices. It consists of intuitionistic fuzzy set theory (IFS) with a decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) combined with an analytic network process (ANP) to identify uncertainties and interdependencies among criteria as well as analyzing the criteria weights. We modified Vise Kriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) to evaluate and rank the desired level of sustainable supplier performance. The suggested approach is conducted by a case study from the Thailand palm oil industry. Results show that the proposed model not only can find the most suitable sustainable supplier, but also the enterprises can aid their suppliers in improving sustainability by using the proposed method and can improve enterprises&rsquo, socio-environmental performance, which is key to achieving sustainable development.

The secure layout of traditional settlements is key to their sustainability. The criteria and assessment framework for spatial safety have not yet been systematically summarized, and their safety assessment criteria and dimensions have not yet been established. Therefore, this study aims to develop the constructs, assessment framework, and relational network, and analyze the association among and roles of key criteria of the spatial safety of traditional settlements using the Delphi method, DANP (DEMATEL (Decision Making and Trial Evaluation Laboratory)-based ANP (Analytic Network Process) method), and IPA (Importance&ndash, Performance Analysis) for case studies. Based on the results, this study extracted the localized elements of traditional settlements to create special local settlements. This study found that: (1) the dimensions of spatial safety include spiritual, physical, and behavioral aspects, and 16 criteria, eight of which are key criteria, (2) religious beliefs are important and have mutual influence on the organization and source of other criteria, (3) the use of IPA found that key criteria together makes up safe living places. Spiritual defense combines trust with the sense of belonging, the physical defense constructs a spatial environment, and behavioral defense involves daily life activities. Spiritual defense consists of psychological consolation and has a complementary relationship with physical defense. Behavioral defense has a social organizational system, which it reflects in spiritual and physical defenses. The spiritual, physical, and behavioral defenses are related to each other, and are reflected in the psychological, spatial, and living aspects. Overall, when taken together, the spiritual, physical, and behavioral aspects of the spatial safety criteria of settlements construct safe living places.

For teaching architectural design, if creativity in students&rsquo, practice assignments can be effectively evaluated, it will help make certain the ranking of the performance of different design schemes and provide a critical decision basis for the continuous improvement of each scheme. Based on the review of related literature, this study integrates the grounded theory (GT) from the social sciences&rsquo, domain and the method of multiple attribute decision making (MADM) from operations research by analyzing their advantages and congruence to create a qualitative&ndash, quantitative evaluation model such as the GT-DANP-mV (GT, DEMATEL-based analytic network process [ANP] with modified VIKOR) model. Then, the characteristics and advantages of this evaluation model were examined by applying it to empirical research. Overall, this evaluation model fully utilized the advantages of the analytical techniques of GT and the MADM method to solve the corresponding problems at different stages of the evaluation study, which realizes their complementary advantages. More crucial is that, whether in the related evaluation study or practice assignments, the application of the GT-DANP-mV model could facilitate the formulation of continuous improvement strategies for architectural design schemes based on performance evaluation results under conditions of limited resources.

With the deepening reform of the power market, the external environment of China&rsquo, s power industry is going through a huge change. China&rsquo, s traditional power generation groups (TPGGs), with assets all over the country, are, due to a lack of market awareness about energy policies, facing serious challenges in developing competitive advantages, improving power transaction modes, optimizing profit models, and even realizing basic corporate strategies. In this study, we focus on identifying the key factors influencing sustainable development in an unprecedented market environment for TPGGs, so as to achieve overall sustainable development for the whole power generation sector in China. A hybrid framework based on Multiple-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) was proposed to recognize the key influencing factors under vague rule conditions. We developed a novel method combining three different MCDM methods with triangular fuzzy numbers (TFNs), fuzzy Delphi, fuzzy Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL), and Analytic Network Process (ANP), to cover uncertainty and make the problem-solving approach closer to the actual problem. A series of analyses indicate that the final 14 factors covering the five dimensions are considered to be important factors in the sustainable development of TPGGs. Based on the results, it can be said that &ldquo, Gross energy margin&rdquo, and &ldquo, Pricing bidding strategy&rdquo, dominate the impacts of TPGG&rsquo, s sustainable development. Finally, we give some advice relating to practical measures to help TPGGs achieve sustainable development in the market-oriented industry environment.

There is varied natural landscape in Taiwan. Erosion and sediment control engineering used to be a major strategy for watershed management and planning but ecological conservation in natural environments and industrial development, as well as the development of a sustainable watershed, have become priorities. This study established the factors that are used for landscape assessment for stream regulation works and their weights using a questionnaire survey of experts with different professional backgrounds in order to determine a method to assess the landscape. The factors, &ldquo, texture and form&rdquo, &ldquo, color&rdquo, and &ldquo, ecology&rdquo, were used to assess scenic beauty. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and the analytic network process (ANP) were used initially and an expert questionnaire was used to determine the criteria and weights for landscape assessment for watershed stream regulation works. The questionnaire results showed that &ldquo, integration with natural environment&rdquo, was the most important factor for the assessment of landscape aesthetics for watershed stream regulation works, followed by &ldquo, availability of greening and vegetation space&rdquo, To preserve scenic beauty after watershed stream regulation works, an expert landscape assessment was undertaken beforehand. This study established a means to integrate the design of engineering structures with the natural landscape. Landscape assessments, strategies for architecture, and landscape design were combined to give an aesthetic solution for soil and water conservation engineering in Taiwan.

Public administrations are organizations whose mission is to serve the interests of society by providing efficient and sustainable services. Much of the information received from public administrations uses social media due to their versatility and capacity to reach a large number of citizens. Among them, Twitter is the most widely used, especially to disseminate messages with a high social content. This type of messages falls within the discipline of social marketing. However, when public administrations use Twitter for social marketing communication, it is not known which factors are the most decisive to achieve the social objective for which they are issued. This article provides an answer to this question, using the Analytic Network Process Multicriteria method to determine which factors matter and how they are interrelated when issuing social marketing messages through Twitter. The result of this research reveals that from the 22 factors analyzed, the most influential from a social marketing point of view are the average age of population, the existence of a strategic communication plan, the number of tweets and the average number of tweets per day, the number of followers, retweets and mentions, as well as the efficiency of the account.

Wind turbine selection is an evaluation problem involving many factors, such as technology, economy, society, etc., and there exist internal dependencies and circular relationships among these factors. This increases the complexity of the selection problem. At the same time, with the development of wind power technology, the types of wind turbines on the market are increasing. Therefore, it is necessary to establish a scientific and comprehensive evaluation system to guide the selection work. This paper extends the traditional indicator system, selecting a total of twelve evaluation indicators from three aspects: operation reliability, economy, and supplier cooperation. The selected indicators are defined in detail to clarify the relationship between them. Then the triangular fuzzy number is introduced to accurately reflect the preference information obtained from experts, and a fuzzy analytical network process (FANP) model for wind turbine unit selection is constructed by combining fuzzy preference programming (FPP) with analytic network process (ANP). In the end, a case study in China is carried out. Results show that the 2.5 W unit produced by Goldwind obtains the best comprehensive evaluation value, which is consistent with the expanding market share permanent magnet direct-drive wind turbines. This paper could provide references for future wind turbine selection questions.

This research developed a new integrated method for addressing the deficiencies and gaps generally found in past studies on benchmarking and for benchmarking intellectual capital (IC) in the underdeveloped domain of logistics. To resolve the lack of consideration of relationships among past benchmarking concepts and the impacts of their managerial factors, as well as to examine the wide range of elements and indicators of IC influencing the sustainable development of organizations, the proposed approach integrated the analytic network process and the concept of thinking and non-thinking assets with the generic benchmarking procedure. This new hybrid method was implemented in four commercial companies in courier service. The proposed method prioritized and identified the magnitudes of the factors focused upon, including the IC elements, and their performance measures by considering the fundamental characteristics of intangible assets. The obtained results highlight that management focuses on the IC of the best performer and other companies. This benchmarked outcome showed gaps and improvement as well as sustainable development opportunities for inferior logistics companies. The improved framework provides more systematic and specific benchmarking processes to consider, obtain, and compare the in-depth details of IC management. Moreover, ours is the first research on benchmarking that specifically focused on IC management in logistics service providers.

Identifying the key influencing factors that affected users&rsquo, adoption of sustainable mobile health care and improving alternative mobile health services continuously can help ordinary consumers (especially vulnerable populations) use extensive health resources cheaply and conveniently, which can increase the quality and equity of health services, so as to promote the sustainable development of medical resources. We integrated decision making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMETEL)-based analytic network process (DANP) and a modified VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) method to form a DDANPMV (DEMATEL+ DANP + Modified VIKOR) model to examine consumers&rsquo, adoption of mobile health care. This method was developed to not only help decision-makers evaluate alternative mobile health care and determine the best option, but also use to identify and improve the performance gap of alternative products with the goal of satisfying the aspirations of consumers. Four types of mobile health care products were analyzed. The results indicate that social norms, product image, and consumer trust are three key factors in consumer adoption. The results can guide policy design and implementation. The government and enterprises should improve mobile health care through these three aspects.

As a sustainable and cleaner type of facility, prefabricated buildings face more design barriers than traditional non-prefabricated buildings. Identifying and managing these barriers is key to improving the success rate of prefabricated building design. However, direct studies on these design barriers are extremely rare. The present study solved this problem by combining multiple methods, including grounded theory (GT), structured self-intersection matrix (SSIM), analytic network process (ANP), and the linear weighted sum method (LWSM). GT was adopted to identify the barriers to prefabricated building design and then SSIM was used to analyze the interactions among them. The eight design barriers were finally identified and classified into three clusters: technical barriers, economic barriers, and management barriers. A further analysis found that there is dependence and feedback among these clusters. The technical barrier cluster and management barrier cluster experience self-feedback. A network model based on ANP was next established to calculate the weights of the barrier elements and then this model was combined with LWSM to evaluate the overall design barrier strength of a project case. The results showed that architectural individualization has the greatest impact on prefabricated building design, followed by the collaborative issues among multiple units and professional designer issues. The overall design barrier strength of the project case was larger. Therefore, the first suggestion provided to the facility management sector is to establish a library for standard house types to achieve architectural design through multihouse combinations.

The Romanian market for plant protection products (PPP) is fragmented, dispersed, and very competitive. In recent years, there has been a constant decrease of farmers&rsquo, profitability, which has cascaded into the distribution of pesticides, fertilizers, and seeds. Since the structure of any market is dynamic over time, companies can determine the effectiveness of their different marketing strategies using analytical tools. As an alternative to econometric tools for predicting the market share in the farming industry, we propose the analytic network process (ANP) model, in which the market share is described as a network of nodes and clusters. Domain experts validate the ANP structure with respect to criteria and alternatives. The model allows the quantification of qualitative judgments provided by either experts or customers, through the highest eigenvalues. The eigenvalues are then further aggregated to deliver conclusive scores for the distribution of a particular market among competitors. The purpose of this research is twofold: (1) to develop an ANP-based tool for analyzing the competitive position (market share) of a company and (2) to help companies use the new tool in order to improve their business. The paper is of interest to PPP distributors, PPP manufacturers, customers, and policy-makers. The first two categories of stakeholders can use the analysis to better direct their marketing efforts, the customers can use it to select their providers, and the policy-makers can use it to evaluate and improve the control of PPP.

Globally, many enterprises are currently focusing on big data technology to improve their performance and operations. Recent literature points out several factors that influence the adoption of big data. However, enterprises often resist using the business value of big data due to a lack of knowledge. The purpose of this study is to investigate the factors influencing big data adoption by Chinese enterprises and to develop an indicator system based on the Motivation–Opportunity–Ability (MOA) model. Moreover, the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method is used to construct a network relationship map and to analyze its effects. Using the DEMATEL-based Analytic Network Process (ANP) (DANP) method to identify the weight distribution of index, this study quantitatively evaluates the influencing factors. The results show that leadership support, perceived usefulness, financial support, data resources, industrial development, data talents, and technical capability are key elements affecting the application of big data. Accordingly, some targeted suggestions are proposed.

Management strategies play an important role in enhancing the competitive advantage and sustainable development of national museums. The purpose of this study is to focus on evaluating the management strategies of national museums to reduce the gaps in visitor satisfaction that are caused by the interdependence and feedback problems of the so-called BOCR dimensions (namely, benefits, opportunity, costs, and risks) and 24 criteria. This study creates a hybrid competitive advantage multiple-criteria decision-making model for national museums by integrating the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory-based analytic network process and modified VIKOR (VlšeKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje) techniques to solve the problems. We consider five different types of national museums to illustrate how the proposed new evaluation model enhances the competitive advantage of national museums. Our results provide national museum curators with the knowledge and understanding to create promotional and marketing strategies that reduce the gaps in dimensions and criteria to satisfy visitors’ needs and to enhance their competitive advantage.

Technological innovation is a vital method for enterprises to remain sustainably competitive. Highlighting the emerging information technology such as cloud computing, big data, and Internet of Things (IOT) provides grounds for options of technological innovation for service-orientated enterprises, how could the service-orientated enterprises make appropriate and effective decisions? This paper constructs the evaluation criteria system of a technological innovation scheme selection based on the four-dimensional model of service innovation and uses the hybrid multi-criteria decision model (MCDM) to make systematic selection. That is, to analyze the relationship between every dimension and criteria based on Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method, draw out the network diagram, calculate the weighted ratio of each indicator using the Analytic Network Process (ANP) method, and finally through integrating the modified VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (mVIKOR) method to order the enterprise innovation scheme. The result of this paper shows that Beacons technology is the best service innovation scheme, and the sequencing of each dimension&rsquo, s weight is the new service delivery system, new client interface, new service concept, and technology choice. It also, combining with the research conclusion, gives out advice on enterprises&rsquo, technological innovation selection process.

As a crucial part of producer services, the logistics industry is highly dependent on the manufacturing industry. In general, the interactive development of the logistics and manufacturing industries is essential. Due to the existence of a certain degree of interdependence between any two factors, interaction between the two industries has produced a basis for measurement, identifying the key factors affecting the interaction between the manufacturing and logistics industries is a kind of decision problem in the field of multiple criteria decision making (MCDM). A hybrid MCDM method, DEMATEL-based ANP (DANP) is appropriate to solve this problem. However, DANP uses a direct influence matrix, which involves pairwise comparisons that may be more or less influenced by the respondents. Therefore, we propose a decision model, Grey DANP, which can automatically generate the direct influence matrix. Statistical data for the logistics and manufacturing industries in the China Statistical Yearbook (2006&ndash, 2015) were used to identify the key factors for interaction between these two industries. The results showed that the key logistics criteria for interaction development are the total number of employees in the transport business, the volume of goods, and the total length of routes. The key manufacturing criteria for interaction development are the gross domestic product and the value added. Therefore, stakeholders should increase the number of employees in the transport industry and freight volumes. Also, the investment in infrastructure should be increased.

Due to rigorous quality requirements and high unit prices, the manufacture of machines used in the aerospace industry is characterized by a high entry threshold, high risk and a long payback period. A good decision-making model for evaluating and selecting suppliers is vital for sustainable enterprise development. Therefore, this study presents a new two-stage model for evaluating and selecting suppliers in the aerospace industry. In the first stage, a hierarchical structure is built with five main and 16 sub-criteria for supplier evaluation and selection following the modified Delphi method; in the second stage, the best alternative solution is selected following the analytic network process (ANP) method. Finally, this study verifies the feasibility of the above model based on the purchase of high-precision and high-cost 3D measuring tools by Aerowin Technology Corporation, which is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The results show that the five criteria in the above model are ranked by their degree of importance, as follows: quality > cost > delivery > marketing > organizational planning. The findings of this research can be used as a reference for decision-making during the purchase of high-precision and high-priced machine tools in the aerospace industry.

In recent decades, the performance of economic and non-economic activities has required them to be friendly with the environment. Transport is one of the areas having considerable potential within the scope. The main assumption to achieve ambitious green goals is an effective green transport evaluation system. However, these systems are researched from the industrial company and supply chain perspective only sporadically. The aim of the paper is to design a conceptual framework for creating the Green Transport (GT) Balanced Scorecard (BSC) models from the viewpoint of industrial companies and supply chains using an appropriate multi-criteria decision making method. The models should allow green transport performance evaluation and support of an effective implementation of green transport strategies. Since performance measures used in Balanced Scorecard models are interdependent, the Analytic Network Process (ANP) was used as the appropriate multi-criteria decision making method. The verification of the designed conceptual framework was performed on a real supply chain of the European automotive industry.

This study proposes a novel hybrid multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method to evaluate green suppliers in an electronics company. Seventeen criteria in two dimensions concerning environmental and management systems were identified under the Code of Conduct of the Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalition (EICC). Following this, the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) used the Analytic Network Process (ANP) method (known as DANP) to determine both the importance of evaluation criteria in selecting suppliers and the causal relationships between them. Finally, the VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) method was used to evaluate the environmental performances of suppliers and to obtain a solution under each evaluation criterion. An illustrative example of an electronics company was presented to demonstrate how to select green suppliers.

The wind-solar hybrid power generation project combined with electric vehicle charging stations can effectively reduce the impact on the power system caused by the random charging of electric cars, contribute to the in-situ wind-solar complementary system and reduce the harm arising from its output volatility. In this paper, the site selection index system of a landscape complementary power generation project is established by using the statistical methods and statistical analysis in the literature. Subsequently, using the Analytic Network Process to calculate the index weight, a cloud model was used in combination with preference ranking organization method for enrichment evaluations to transform and sort uncertain language information. Finally, using the results of the decision-making for the location of the Shanghai wind-solar complementary project and by carrying out contrast analysis and sensitivity analysis, the superiority and stability of the decision model constructed in this study was demonstrated.

This study aims to propose design strategies for low environmental impact (low-EI) housing in the tropics while incorporating user needs to increase its acceptance in the market. The Fuzzy Delphi method (FDM) is adopted initially to draw the user needs for contemporary housing, after which the crucial design factors are identified. The analytic network process (ANP) and house of quality (HOQ) are further utilized to incorporate weightings of user needs into crucial design factors to establish appropriate design strategies. The results show “utility” (0.177), “durability” (0.169), and “comfort” (0.168) are the three greatest user needs for housing. After incorporating the weightings of user needs into design factors, building layout (0.334) and materials (0.302) turned out to be the most important considerations during the planning phase of the design procedure. Correspondingly, during the detailed design phase in the procedure, the most important factors are “low-EI material” (0.195), “orientation” (0.176), “building relationship” (0.158), and “energy-saving material” (0.107). The findings stress the significance of architectural programming and passive design for wider acceptance of low-EI housing in the tropics.

In today’s rapidly changing economy, technology companies have to make decisions on research and development (R&D) projects investment on a routine bases with such decisions having a direct impact on that company’s profitability, sustainability and future growth. Companies seeking profitable opportunities for investment and project selection must consider many factors such as resource limitations and differences in assessment, with consideration of both qualitative and quantitative criteria. Often, differences in perception by the various stakeholders hinder the attainment of a consensus of opinion and coordination efforts. Thus, in this study, a hybrid model is developed for the consideration of the complex criteria taking into account the different opinions of the various stakeholders who often come from different departments within the company and have different opinions about which direction to take. The decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) approach is used to convert the cause and effect relations representing the criteria into a visual network structure. A consistent fuzzy preference relations based analytic network process (CFPR-ANP) method is developed to calculate the preference-weights of the criteria based on the derived network structure. The CFPR-ANP is an improvement over the original analytic network process (ANP) method in that it reduces the problem of inconsistency as well as the number of pairwise comparisons. The combined complex proportional assessment (COPRAS-G) method is applied with fuzzy grey relations to resolve conflicts arising from differences in information and opinions provided by the different stakeholders about the selection of the most suitable R&D projects. This novel combination approach is then used to assist an international brand-name company to prioritize projects and make project decisions that will maximize returns and ensure sustainability for the company.

Culture, an intellectual capital of a city, is accumulated through the intellect and wisdom of the government, citizens, businesses and other organizations. Cities regardless of their size are seeking their own distinguishing features and positions. By combining culture and creativity to improve international visibility, cities can develop new potentials, create job opportunities and boost economic growth. Therefore, cultural and creative industries have become the core industries that cities worldwide actively seek to develop; furthermore, various city governments have unanimously agreed that the creative industry will effectively improve urban economic competitiveness. This study investigated how the creative industry improved urban competitiveness, developed relevant assessment indexes and formulated policies for developing the creative industry. First, the fuzzy Delphi method was adopted to determine the indexes for assessing the creative industry’s positive influence on urban competitiveness. Subsequently, the analytic hierarchy process and the analytic network process were integrated to establish a model for assessing city-based creative industry development policies. City governments seeking to promote such policies can refer to this model. Finally, an importance-performance analysis was performed to investigate the satisfaction for policies related to creative industries, providing a reference for governments to promote pertinent policies. The results of this study indicated that the indexes of innovation capability, industrial cooperation, innovation incubation and industry-government-academia integration are crucial bases for cities to develop the creative industry. In addition, the policies of industrial R&D and clustering, talent training and industrial consulting and expanding industrial and marketing channels and networks can be adopted to enhance creative industry development.

Cities are exploding, occupying rural territory in dispersed and fragmented ways. A consequence of this phenomenon is that the demand for utilities includes more and more extensive territories. Among them, fulfilling the demand for services related to integrated water service presents many difficulties. The economic costs needed to meet service demand and the environmental costs associated with its non-fulfilment are inversely proportional to the population needing service in rural areas, since that population is distributed across a low-density gradient. Infrastructure planning, within the area of competence, generally follows a policy of economic sustainability, fixing a service coverage threshold in terms of a “sufficient” concentration of population and economic activity (91/271/CEE). This threshold, homogenous within the territorial limits of a water infrastructure plan, creates uncertainty in the planning of investments, which are not sized on the actual, appropriately spatialized, demand for service. Careful prediction of the location of infrastructure investments would guarantee not only economic savings but also reduce the environmental costs generated by the lack of utilities. Therefore, is necessary to create a link between water infrastructure planning and urban planning, which is responsible for the future spatial distribution of service demand. In this study, the relationships between the instruments of regulation and planning are compared by a multi-criteria spatial analysis network (analytic network process (ANP)). This method, tested on a sample of a city in southern Italy, allows us to optimize the design and location of the investment needed to meet the service criteria, looking at the actual efficiency of the networks. The result of this application is a suitability map that allows us to validate the criteria for defining urban transformations.

The extreme change of climate has recently influenced numerous cities around the world. This change has resulted in a higher frequency and increased intensity of natural disasters. Habitat and development types even cause complex disaster types. In 2005, the report of Natural Disaster Hotspots-A Global Risk Analysis declared that 73% of world population and land area are exposed to more than three types of natural disasters. Ninety-nine percent of the land area and population are exposed to natural disasters worldwide. These above records are much higher than those of other countries worldwide. Taiwanese people face high risks of natural disasters. The present study attempts to look into sustainable development policies that seek to prevent disasters through an expert questionnaire. The results of the questionnaire are further analysed with methodologies of the fuzzy Delphi method (FDM) and analytic network process (ANP). The analyses suggest that disaster prevention strategies should be prioritised in urban planning, accounting for the effects of climate change. In addition to disaster prevention and mitigation, pre-disaster preparation in daily life is critical because it ensures the execution of appropriate emergency responses in the event of a disaster. Although the current mainstream environmental policy emphasises non-structural mitigation, conventional structural mitigation remains imperative. By and large, the priority of disaster prevention strategy in Taiwan must be land use management and planning, as well as the public advocacy and training.

This study presents a model for evaluating the carbon and energy management performance of suppliers by using multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM). By conducting a literature review and gathering expert opinions, 10 criteria on carbon and energy performance were identified to evaluate low carbon suppliers using the Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM). Subsequently, the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method was used to determine the importance of evaluation criteria in selecting suppliers and the causal relationships between them. The DEMATEL-based analytic network process (DANP) and VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) were adopted to evaluate the weights and performances of suppliers and to obtain a solution under each evaluation criterion. An illustrative example of a hotel company was presented to demonstrate how to select a low carbon supplier according to carbon and energy management. The proposed hybrid model can help firms become effective in facilitating low carbon supply chains in hotels.

Along with economic development and social progress, environmental issues are increasingly becoming the subject of public concern. Through green credit, banks intentionally direct money into resource-conserving technology development and environmental protection industries, thus, encouraging enterprises to focus on green products. Therefore, establishing a reasonable green credit evaluation mechanism for banks is an important issue. Based on this, this study combines grey relational analysis (GRA), the Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory technique (DEMATEL), analytic network process (ANP) and the Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) to develop a hybrid multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) model for quantifying data and, thereby, to establish a green credit rating mechanism. In order to verify the model, this study combines credit risk and economic, environmental and social performance evaluation criteria as green credit evaluation criteria. There are 55 high-tech listed companies in Taiwan in 2014 taken as the evaluation objects and conducted for a performance ranking. The empirical results can serve as a reference for financial authorities promoting green finance policies and for investors making investment decisions.

Taiwan’s government has promoted investment in an offshore wind power farm, and local fishermen have protested. A social impact assessment (SIA) has examined the impact of the proposed offshore wind power farm on all stakeholders. The main objective of the present study was to develop an indicator system for measuring the social sustainability of offshore wind power farms; this study also reports on the particular case of Taiwan’s offshore wind power project. This study began by defining 35 social sustainability indicators and selecting 23 representative indicators by using rough set theory. Subsequently, 14 key indicators were constructed using the social construction of technology (SCOT) method. Finally, we developed a social impact index for evaluating the social sustainability of offshore wind power farms by using the analytic network process and Dempster-Shafer theory. Our social impact index yields a total score of 0.149 for Taiwan’s pilot offshore wind power project; this result indicates that the pilot project is socially sustainable. A substantial contradiction exists between the fishermen’s protest and the results of the social impact assessment. The findings can assist the government in building a coordination platform for the investors and the fishermen. Government regulation is necessary to set boundaries for fishing areas that protect both the fishermen’s and investors’ rights.

Using an analytic network process (ANP) as an analytical tool, this study aims to construct an ANP evaluation model of interactive website design indicators. Through a review of the literature, interactive website design of e-entrepreneurship is generalized to the following dimensions: (1) Design; (2) Checking; (3) Service; (4) Interactive; and (5) Promotion, including 19 design indicators. The research is conducted for a case company. According to the findings, the model helps the case company review its current execution of interactive website design indicators and the experts’ opinions of the importance of interactive website design indicators. In addition, by comprehensive comparison, it confirms key design indicators and analyzes the managerial implications to help the case company set up precise strategic planning and resource distribution to enhance corporate operational performance and competitiveness.

This study aims to establish a green supplier selection and guidance mechanism by integrating the features of an ANP (Analytic Network Process) and an IPA (Importance–Performance Analysis) to achieve sustainable management for green supply chains. Using an expert survey, this study developed green supplier selection criteria. It adopted an ANP, which allows for interdependencies and feedback between the various criteria, to select competitive green suppliers. Then, it used an IPA, which can analyze the criteria’s significance and performance levels, to provide green suppliers with direction for guidance and improvements. The green supplier selection and guidance mechanism featuring an ANP and IPA is thus established and validated through case studies. The research results showed the following: (1) the green supplier selection criteria comprise a total of 11 performance evaluation criteria from the three dimensions of operation, competence, and environmental consciousness; (2) as shown by the APN evaluation results, environmental benefits, environmental regulations, finance, technological competence, and delivery time are the top five among the overall green criteria of the company; the performance of the various suppliers is thus arranged in order, and the most competitive supplier is selected; (3) an IPA is used to analyze the criteria’s significance and supplier performance levels and to provide the suppliers with suggestions on priority improvements, including implementing the requirements in the environmental regulations, establishing comprehensive financial management procedures, improving corporate technological competence, and consolidating customer service; (4) it is suggested that an ANP and IPA should be integrated in the applications, which could simplify the green supplier selection and guidance mechanisms and increase the efficiency of supplier management, thus creating a three-win situation for the clients, the company, and the suppliers.

Fishing is a popular leisure activity all over the world. However, due to the differences in local customs and cultures, fishing shows regional differences. This study aims to explore the charm of fishing in Southern Taiwan. In this study, the Miryoku engineering method was used to analyze and determine the charm characteristics of fishing in Southern Taiwan and draw the EGM evaluation structure chart. Thereafter, with the analytic network process method, the evaluation model was established in order to calculate the weight and ranking of each charm item. Then the weights of the 35 items in the summit, middle and bottom levels were obtained. The analysis results showed that fishing in Southern Taiwan was similar to that in other parts of the world, but the charm factors of fishing in Southern Taiwan had its relaxation and leisure characteristics. According to the analysis results of the charm factors of fishing, we discussed the future development direction of fishing industry based on the charm characteristics of fishing in Southern Taiwan.

In Taiwan, the air cargo terminal business is a government franchise. Due to changing order and delivery modes, the volume of cargo exports has gradually decreased in recent years, generating increasing competitiveness within the air cargo terminal industry. Previous studies of air cargo terminals have largely focused on manpower supply planning and business performance. When a company pursues sustainable development and growth, it can improve the quality of the service provided, promote better customer satisfaction and enhance its competitiveness and customer loyalty in order to enjoy sustained development and higher profits. Having carried out a literature review, exploration and interviews with experts, this study develops a preliminary structure that is based on theory and practice and develops a framework for air cargo terminal service quality using the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method combined with the analytic network process (ANP). Eight key criteria are examined, namely, &lsquo, New facilities or high-tech equipment,&rsquo, &lsquo, Professional spirit,&rsquo, Security and safety,&rsquo, Sense of trust,&rsquo, Ability to handle unusual cargo,&rsquo, Professional,&rsquo, Standard operation processes,&rsquo, and &lsquo, Customer equity.&rsquo, The causality among each of these principles is also evaluated using the D-ANP questionnaire that was completed by 25 business forwarders. With respect to the quality of service demanded by forwarders, different strategies were drafted separately and provide a frame of reference for air cargo terminal operators.