Thistextbook approaches optimization from a multi-aspect, multi-criteria perspective.By using a Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) approach, it avoids thelimits and oversimplifications that can come with optimization models with onecriterion. The book is presented in a concise form, addressing how to solve decisionproblems in sequences of intelligence, modelling, choice and review phases,often iterated, to identify the most preferred decision variant. The approachtaken is human-centric, with the user taking the final decision is a sole andsovereign actor in the decision making process. To ensure generality, noassumption about the Decision Maker preferences or behavior is made. The presentationof these concepts is illustrated by numerous examples, figures, and problems tobe solved with the help of downloadable spreadsheets. This electroniccompanion contains models of problems to be solved built in Excel spreadsheetfiles.
Optimizationmodels are too often oversimplifications of decision problems met in practice.For instance, modeling company performance by an optimization model in whichthe criterion function is short-term profit to be maximized, does not fullyreflect the essence of business management. The company’s managing staff isaccountable not only for operational decisions, but also for actions whichshall result in the company ability to generate a decent profit in the future.This calls for management decisions and actions which ensure short-termprofitability, but also maintaining long-term relations with clients,introducing innovative products, financing long-term investments, etc. Each ofthose additional, though indispensable actions and their effects can be modeledseparately, case by case, by an optimization model with a criterion functionadequately selected. However, in each case the same set of constraintsrepresents the range of company admissible actions. The aim and the scope ofthis textbook is to present methodologies and methods enabling modeling of suchactions jointly.
Ignacy Kaliszewski, Full Professor at the Systems Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences, graduated from the Technical University of Warsaw. He got his Ph.D. and habilitation degrees from the Systems Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Science for his research in quantitative management science and operations research. He has published over 40 scientific papers in journals and books of international circulation and two monographs: Quantitative Pareto Analysis by Cone Separation Technique (Kluwer Academic Publ., Dordrecht, 1994), Soft Computing for Complex Multiple Criteria Decision Making (Springer, 2006). His current field of research is decision making in multicriteria environment.
Janusz Miroforidis is an Assistant Professor at the Systems Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He received his M.S. degree in computer science from the University of Wrocław, and his Ph.D. from the Systems Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Science for his research in soft computing and MCDM methods for management needs. His major research interests include computer aided multiple criteria decision making, particularly as applied to complex decision problems and evolutionary multiobjective optimization. He is a co-founder of Treeffect, a consulting company.
Dmitry Podkopaev is a Researcher and Associate Professor for the Systems Research Institute at the Polish Academy of Sciences. His interests include Multiple Criteria Decision Making and Discrete Optimization. He has experience in research and software development projects (as Analyst, Developer, Programmer), as well as high school teaching.
