Modern global managers are required to possess a set of competencies or multiple intelligences in order to meet pressing business challenges. Hence, expanding global managers’ competencies is ...becoming an important issue. Many scholars and specialists have proposed various competency models containing a list of required competencies. But it is hard for someone to master a broad set of competencies at the same time. Here arises an imperative issue on how to enrich global managers’ competencies by way of segmenting a set of competencies into some portions in order to facilitate competency development with a stepwise mode. To solve this issue involving the vagueness of human judgments, we have proposed an effective method combining fuzzy logic and Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) to segment required competencies for better promoting the competency development of global managers. Additionally, an empirical study is presented to illustrate the application of the proposed method.
Abstract
Cities’ weaknesses have been revealed by their struggle to respond to current challenges (
e.g.
, pandemic crises and population and urbanization exponential growth). Urban planners are thus ...increasingly concerned about implementing initiatives in their metropolises that favor a better present and future quality of life. In this context, cities need to become enablers of economic and social development and increased prosperity through the integration of technologies into projects promoting smarter and more sustainable urban ecosystems. These ecosystems are, however, highly complex due to their specificities and multifaceted nature, which makes analyzing them a difficult endeavor. Based on a constructivist and complementarity logic, this study sought to develop a multicriteria analysis model to support relevant decision-making processes in this study context. A panel of experts was recruited to create the analysis system using a combination of cognitive mapping and the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory technique in an neutrosophic context. This approach overcomes various flaws identified in previous related research. The entire procedure focused on enhancing the experts’ learning through participation not only to structure the problem under analysis but also to identify and prioritize the factors and/or determinants of smartness and urban sustainability. The model provides a holistic, solid, and clear vision of the decision problem that fosters appropriate choices when creating and evaluating smart, sustainable urban ecosystems.
Resources and expertise for controlling processes are inadequate due to municipal solid waste management (MSWM) capability limitations in Vietnam. The resource-based view (RBV) needs to be considered ...in the assessment of municipal solid waste management. Nevertheless, in practice, various attributes of municipal solid waste management are not considered in the sustainable performance of cities. Hence, this study applied exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to confirm the validity and reliability of these attributes and construct a hierarchical structure. Fuzzy set theory was used to convert the linguistic preferences into crisp values and the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method was used to assess the causal interrelationships among the attributes. The analytic network process (ANP) was adopted to construct the hierarchical framework, and fuzzy importance - performance analysis (IPA) was used to enhance our understanding of the gap between importance and performance. The results show that the efficiency and effectiveness of cities’ waste management systems depend on the capability based on utilizing economic efficiency and technology advantages to foster social mobilization and environmental integrity. Practitioners should consider new data acquisition and communication technologies, the circular economy, technical capabilities, and organizational/leadership capabilities in their decision making to promote sustainable performance. To develop sustainable MSWM, suitable strategic solutions based on the resources and strengths of each city should be developed that consider formal, informal and small-scale sectors.
•The resource-based view is applied to analyze the municipal solid waste management for improving the sustainable advantages.•Hybrid method is used to confirm the attributes’ validity and reliability and construct a hierarchical structure.•Cities depend on the capability based on utilizing economic efficiency and technology advantages.•Practitioner has to involve new data acquisition and circular economy to promote sustainable performance.
Numerous companies are expecting their knowledge management (KM) to be performed effectively in order to leverage and transform the knowledge into competitive advantages. However, here raises a ...critical issue of how companies can better evaluate and select a favorable KM strategy prior to a successful KM implementation. The KM strategy selection is a kind of multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem, which requires considering a large number of complex factors as multiple evaluation criteria. A robust MCDM method should consider the interactions among criteria. The analytic network process (ANP) is a relatively new MCDM method which can deal with all kinds of interactions systematically. Moreover, the Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) not only can convert the relations between cause and effect of criteria into a visual structural model, but also can be used as a way to handle the inner dependences within a set of criteria. Hence, this paper proposes an effective solution based on a combined ANP and DEMATEL approach to help companies that need to evaluate and select KM strategies. Additionally, an empirical study is presented to illustrate the application of the proposed method.
•AI promotes the sustainability development in higher education.•A soft-computing technique extracts key factors from large amounts of data.•DEMATEL analysis accounts for dependence and feedback ...among factors.•A framework of AI-enabled Higher Education was proposed.•“Intelligent instructional systems” is the most important criterion.
The application of AI in higher education has greatly increased globally in the dynamic digital age. The adoption of developmentally appropriate practices using AI-enabled techniques for facilitating the performance of teaching and learning in the higher education domain is thus a necessary task, especially in the COVID 19 pandemic era. The development and implementation of such techniques involve many factors and are related to the classical multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) issue; however, these factors surrounding supervisors will confuse them and may result in misjudgment. To clarify the relevant issues and illustrate the cause-and-effect relationships among factors, a hybrid soft-computing technique (i.e., the fuzzy rough set theory (FRST) with ant colony optimization (ACO)) and a DEMATEL approach was proposed in this study, which can help decision makers capture the best model necessary for achieving aspiration-level in a higher education management strategy. In the results submitted, the improvement priority for dimensions is based on the measurement of the influences, running in order of tutors for learners (A), skills and competences (B), interaction data to support learning (C), and universal access to global classrooms (D), and which can serve as a reference for the plan of AI-enabled teaching/learning for higher education.
With the advent of large-scale photovoltaic module decommissioning, China's photovoltaic recycling industry is confronted with numerous challenges. This paper examines the barriers to the recycling ...of waste photovoltaic modules. First, 11 Barriers affecting the recycling of waste photovoltaic modules were identified through sorting; second, the Decision-making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) and Interpretative Structural Modeling (ISM) method was improved by incorporating the Hesitant Fuzzy Linguistic Term Set (HFLTS) and the time factor, and an obstacle analysis framework based on this method was built; finally, the interaction relationship between the obstacles to recycling was investigated. According to the study's findings, the difficulty to do recycling operations in batches for an extended period of time, costly initial investment, lack of incentives and small market size are the major constraints affecting the recycling of waste PV modules. After 10 years, the impact of costly initial investment and small market size will diminish, while the impact of inadequate infrastructure will increase. To eliminate critical impediments and encourage the healthy development of the photovoltaic recycling industry, the government should carry out work in four areas: recycling standards, incentive policies, technology research and development, and demonstration site construction.
Energy internet is an effective way to fulfill carbon neutrality, since it has the advantages of high-efficiency energy utilization. As an important part in energy internet market, multi-energy ...transaction reflects complementarity of multi-energy sources and provides guidance for future development. However, there still lacks an effective index system for multi-energy transaction evaluation and a reliable method to flexibly handle the subjectivity and vagueness during the evaluation process. In this paper, an effective index system and its extraction method and a comprehensive evaluation approach are proposed to reliably assess the multi-energy transaction performance of the energy internet market. Firstly, an interval type-2 fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (IT2F DEMATEL) method and λ-adversarial interpretive structural modelling (λAISM) approach are combined to extract a 14-indicator index system, the proposed method not only investigates the interrelationship between the indicators but also calculates the influence degree between them. Secondly, to control the vagueness and uncertainty involved in expert judgement, a novel non-deterministic method, combining fuzzy comprehensive evaluation and credibility-based analytic hierarchy process (AHP) with variable rough precision theory, is developed to evaluate the multi-energy transaction performance. Finally, two real-world demonstration projects in northern and southern China are investigated for case studies. The evaluation score of the multi-energy transaction in DZZ town has improved by 25.77 from 2018 to 2021, reaching a “good” performance of 78.09; while the score of XB town has improved by 19.34, reaching an “excellent” performance of 84.32 in 2021. Comparative analysis shows that the extracted index system contains the minimum required information, and the proposed evaluation method can effectively handle the linguistic imprecision and cognition vagueness caused by expert judgements.
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•A 25-indicator comprehensive index system is established for the multi-energy transaction evaluation of energy internet market.•An IT2F DEMATEL-λAISM method is proposed, and 14 key indicators are extracted considering causality and influences between the multi-energy transaction evaluation indicators.•A novel integrated fuzzy performance evaluation approach is proposed for multi-energy transaction evaluation.•Judgement credibility and variable rough precision theory are considered to deal with the subjectivity and uncertainty of evaluation through flexible fuzzy boundaries.
This study contributes both theoretical and practical perspectives by providing sufficient resolution for detecting sustainable supply chain transparency structures, particularly when transparency ...has stretched beyond current supply chain operation, which involves various uncertain and complex factors. Sustainable supply chain transparency is established to enhance the disclosure and visibility of sustainability information within and outside the supply chain. However, the complexity and uncertainty of accessing supply chain information make such assessments challenging. This study integrates the balanced scorecard as the theoretical foundation in addition to the technical perspective for a performance model, employing a hybrid of the fuzzy Delphi method, a fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory, an analytic network process and Choquet Integral. The analysis aims to identify valid sustainable supply chain transparency attributes, examine causal relationships, assess hierarchical interdependencies, and indicate priority practices for Taiwan's semiconductor industry. The findings reveal six aspects and 20 indicators as a valid hierarchical structure, with causal aspects such as stakeholder efforts, information processing and analytics, and digital capability. The crucial managerial implications that focus on production and logistics processes, government regulation, safety and data security include connectivity and data confidentiality. The prioritizing practices of disclosure, traceability, and visibility are indicated to improve sustainable supply chain transparency in the industry.
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This study contributes to the literature by investigating the causality of circular business strategy under uncertainty using a zero-waste practice approach in the seafood processing industry and ...recommending managerial implications for decision-makers. The circular business strategy has increasingly attracted more notice as a proper solution to address the environmental issues and accomplish economic as well as social benefit with the ultimate target of zero-waste. Yet, prior studies failed to determine circular business strategy attributes with the complete viewpoint and adequate measurement under qualitative information. Studies on zero-waste practices from the firm perspective are limited. To fulfill this gap, this study aims to determine the decisive circular business strategy attributes, their interrelationships in view of sustainable balanced scorecard and examine influential zero-waste practices from firm perspective. A combined method, including fuzzy Delphi method, fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory, and Choquet integral is employed. From the original set of attributes, five aspects and 20 criteria are validated. The results present that collaborative circularity, strategic internal process, and technology competency are causal aspects with high involvement among the effect group. The decisive criteria for the seafood processing industry encompass resource consumption minimization, waste minimization, clean technology, by-product marketplace, network development, and coordination upgradation. From initial zero-waste practices of the industry's current status, two critical ones are identified including reuse and recycle.
