Achieving sustainability in constant development in every area in today’s modern business has become a challenge on the one hand, and an imperative on the other. If the aspect of business excellence achievement is also added to it, the complexity of the system increases significantly, and it is necessary to model a system considering several parameters and satisfying the multi-criteria function. This paper develops a novel integrated model that involves the application of a subjective-objective model in order to achieve business sustainability and excellence. The model consists of fuzzy PIPRECIA (fuzzy pivot pairwise relative criteria importance Assessment) as a subjective method, CRITIC (criteria importance through intercriteria correlation) and I-distance method as objective methods. The goal is to take the advantages of these approaches and allow for more accurate and balanced (symmetric) decision-making through their integration. The integrated subjective-objective model has been applied in a narrow geographical area to consider and evaluate banks as a significant factor in improving the social aspect of sustainability. An additional contribution of the paper is a critical overview of multi-criteria problems in which the levels of the hierarchical structure contain a different (asymmetric) number of elements. A specific example has also been used to prove that only a hierarchical structure with an equal number of lower-level elements provides precise weights of criteria in accordance with the preferences of decision-makers referring to subjective models. The results obtained are verified throughout the calculation of Spearman and Pearson correlation coefficients, and throughout a sensitivity analysis involving a dynamic reverse rank matrix.

The management of manufacturing companies faces a number of decisions, and one of the most important is the selection of distribution channels. A large number of these companies do not sell their products directly to end consumers. For this reason, there are marketing intermediaries between manufacturers and end consumers whose primary function is to connect manufacturers and consumers. Their task is to provide the goods from manufacturers to consumers with the satisfaction of logistics characteristics: at the right time, at the right place and in a form that is convenient to use, and certainly with minimal costs. Distribution is one of four marketing mix instruments without which the optimal combination of the instruments would not be obtained. Thus, the decision on selecting distribution channels is as important as the decisions regarding products, prices and promotion. Based on the set criteria and the evaluation of certain distribution channels by the criteria, the management of the company will be able to make the best decision. The evaluation of distribution channels based on the set criteria was performed by marketing experts and experts in certain markets using an integrated multi-criteria model. The FUCOM method was applied to determine the significance of the criteria, and then the distribution channels were evaluated by applying the new MARCOS method. Thereafter, a sensitivity analysis was performed using other MCDM methods to verify the results previously obtained.

Today’s changing and developing level of competition and power, continuous learning, knowledge and technology management, transformation in the production process, marketoriented-based innovation and knowledge as communication applications, companies are routed to make more resources and research about the ability of innovation. The innovation factor has enabled new processes, products, ideas to adapt successfully for the production and market structure, and correspondingly implementation of them. In this point of view, innovation ability is the integration of new information resulting in product and process innovation by activating the power that a company provides to its employees. This ability has referred to the information between internal knowledge and external market demands. Accordingly, the factors affecting the innovation capability dimensions have a vital importance for companies. The fact that there exist limited number of studies on the weighting of the factors affecting the dimensions of innovation ability in the comprehensive literature review, is another factor increasing the importance of the subject. In this study, the innovation ability dimensions have been weighted in corporate logistics companies in Sakarya. Plithogenic set based CRITIC method, which is one of the multi criteria decision making techniques, has been used. The most important factor in the study was determined to be ability of accessing information resources.

Cost rationalization has become imperative in every economic system in order to create adequate foundations for its efficient and sustainable management. Competitiveness in the global market is extremely high and it is challenging to manage business and logistics systems, especially in regards to financial parameters. The presence of inventories is inevitability in every logistics system, and it tends to create adequate policies for their efficient and sustainable management. In order to be able to do this, it is necessary to determine which products represent the largest percentage share in the value of procurement, and which are the most represented quantitatively. In this paper, the warehouse of construction material that represents the wholesale system is considered. Taking into account that it is wholesale, it is necessary to determine what the procurement costs are and what the demand is for certain products. The grouping of products into three categories A, B and C was performed, after which it is necessary to identify appropriate suppliers for each category in order to rationalize procurement costs. Financial, logistical and quality parameters are taken into account. The FUCOM method has been used to determine the significance of these parameters and ARAS method is applied for supplier evaluation and selection.

Cost rationalization has become imperative in every economic system in order to create adequate foundations for its efficient and sustainable management. Competitiveness in the global market is extremely high and it is challenging to manage business and logistics systems, especially with regards to financial parameters. It is necessary to rationalize costs in all activities and processes. The presence of inventories is inevitability in every logistics system, and it tends to create adequate and symmetrical policies for their efficient and sustainable management. In order to be able to do this, it is necessary to determine which products represent the largest percentage share in the value of procurement, and which are the most represented quantitatively. For this purpose, ABC analysis, which classifies products into three categories, is applied taking into account different constraints. The aim of this paper is to form a new model that involves the integration of ABC analysis, the Full Consistency Method (FUCOM), and a novel Interval Rough Combined Compromise Solution (CoCoSo) for stock management in the storage system. A new IRN Dombi weighted geometric averaging (IRNDWGA) operator is developed to aggregate the initial decision matrix. After grouping the products into three categories A, B and C, it is necessary to identify appropriate suppliers for each category in order to rationalize procurement costs. Financial, logistical, and quality parameters are taken into account. The FUCOM method has been used to determine the significance of these parameters. A new Interval CoCoSo approach is developed to determine the optimal suppliers for each product group. The results obtained have been modeled throughout a multi-phase sensitivity analysis.

: Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) methods have a significant influence on decision making in a variety of strategic fields, including science, business, and real-life studies. These methods also effectively support researchers in solving the emerging issues that may be encountered during their research activity. This work introduces a new Evaluation method based on the Distance from the Average Solution in the Minkowski space (EDAS-M). The main contribution of this study is the EDAS-M based MCDM model for the evaluation of an autonomous vehicle. Besides, the CRITIC (Criteria Importance Through Intercriteria Correlation) was used to determine objective criteria weights. The EDAS-M method provides a modified extension of the conventional Evaluation method based on the Distance from the Average Solution (EDAS) method. Seven different MADM methods are used to compare problem-solving results. Namely, the EDAS, WASPAS (Weighted Aggregated Sum Product ASsessment), SAW (Simple Additive Weighting), ARAS (Additive Ratio ASsessment), TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity Ideal Solution), TOPSIS-M (TOPSIS Minkowski space) and MABAC (Multi-Attributive Border Approximation Area Comparison) techniques validate the stability of the results obtained by using the new method above mentioned. Sensitivity analysis reflects the dynamics of the influence of dynamic matrices. It showed a high correlation of positions with all applied approaches. This correlation has also been maintained in a dynamic environment.

We will prove that when uniformly distributed random numbers are sorted by value, their successive differences are a exponentially distributed random variable Ex(λ). For a set of n random numbers, the parameters of mathematical expectation and standard deviation is λ =n−1. The theorem was verified on four series of 200 sets of 101 random numbers each. The first series was obtained on the basis of decimals of the constant e=2.718281…, the second on the decimals of the constant π =3.141592…, the third on a Pseudo Random Number generated from Excel function RAND, and the fourth series of True Random Number generated from atmospheric noise. The obtained results confirm the application of the derived theorem in practice.

Sustainability in a supply chain is a demand on the one hand and a challenge on the other. It is necessary to balance between these dimensions in order to fulfill the purpose of the supply chain. Therefore, in the first phase—i.e., in procurement—it is necessary to take into account its sustainability. In this paper, a sustainable supplier was selected respecting all three aspects of sustainability. The evaluation was carried out on the basis of a total of 21 criteria arranged into two levels and three groups. A new Interval Rough SAW (simple additive weighting) method, which represents a contribution to the treatment of problems belonging to the multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM), was developed. The integration of interval rough numbers with the SAW method was completed. In addition, the full consistency method (FUCOM) was applied to determine the weights of the criteria. The integrated FUCOM-Interval Rough SAW model enables treatment of multi-criteria problems while reducing subjectivity to the lowest possible level and eliminating uncertainties and ambiguities. The results obtained were determined throughout a sensitivity analysis consisting of a change in the weight of the criteria and the influence of dynamic matrices on the change in ranks. In addition, Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient (SCC) was calculated to confirm the stability of the previously obtained results.

The research in this article aimed at determining the importance of occupational safety and health (OSH) factors at work as criteria for development of the OSH climate. Based on the views of 28 responsible persons of the OSH management system, the significance of the criteria was determined using the rough step-wise weight assessment ratio analysis method. The obtained results show that development of the OSH climate in organizations primarily depends on the factors of the work environment and the commitment of the management to the OSH system. The results also point out that education of employees in the field of safety at work has a significant impact. A comparison of the obtained results was made in the sensitivity analysis using the full consistency method. The specific dimensions of the safety climate at work were determined and ranking of the OSH factors was performed.

The European standard on transport logistics and services in public passenger transport EN 13816 is based on a relationship between the perception of users and transport carriers throughout the groups of criteria taken as a basis for observation in this paper. The constant development and improvement of services in order to achieve sustainability of passenger transport is an imperative on the one hand and a challenge on the other. This is highly evident in persons with disabilities who are faced with many physical and social barriers related to access to rail transport. In this paper, a new model for the selection of criteria for the quality of passenger service in rail transport, from the perspective of persons with disabilities as the main category of passengers, has been created. The survey has covered 168 criteria classified in several groups and the entire territory of Serbia. In order to select the most important criteria, a new model that implies the integration of Full Consistency Method and a Rough Power Heronian aggregator has been developed. The development of a new aggregator enables more accurate decision-making in the process of group decision-making. The results obtained in this paper show that the most important criteria according to importance are Accessibility, Availability, Security, Time, Customer care, Information, Comfort, Environmental impact. Based on the criteria obtained for the service quality of rail transport for persons with disabilities, railway carriers will be able to change and improve the existing services, content, characteristics, equipment of railway stations and vehicles.

This paper deals with the modeling and optimization of a bi-level multi-objective production planning problem, where some of the coefficients of objective functions and parameters of constraints are multi-choice. A general transformation technique based on a binary variable has been used to transform the multi-choices parameters of the problem into their equivalent deterministic form. Finally, two different types of secularization technique have been used to achieve the maximum degree of individually membership goals by minimizing their deviational variables and obtained the most satisfactory solution of the formulated problem. An illustrative real case study of production planning has been discussed and, also compared to validate the efficiency and usefulness of the proposed work.