Dry Bulk Carrier Investment Selection through a Dual Group Decision Fusing Mechanism in the Green Supply Chain

Shuang Yao,Donghua Yu,Benhai Guo,Yan Song,Hao Yao,Yuzhen Hu

doi:10.3390/su10124528

Shuang Yao, Donghua Yu + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/su10124528

Copy DOI

Abstract

Uncertain linguistic variables and scoring evaluations are two important evaluation mechanisms in the decision making field. Sustainability requirements for ship investment lead to the complexity of influence factors and the decision making process. The uncertain linguistic assessment features a large amount of ambiguity and subjectivity, while the scoring evaluation features high precision and distinct gradations. This paper constructs a criteria system in the green supply chain and proposes a dual group decision fusing mechanism for integrating the linguistic variable and scoring evaluation into a unified evaluation term. A hierarchical cloud of linguistic variable terms is constructed based on scoring via a reverse cloud generator, and then, the ship investment linguistic terms are transformed into prospect values. In addition, the consistency and investment selection performance are measured after aggregating the individual decision matrices for group decision making. The empirical research results on the selection of dry bulk carriers for investment show that dual group decision fusing mechanisms could effectively improve the consistency, decision making efficiency, and accuracy of dry bulk ship investment choices and reduce the cost of feedback adjustment for group decisions. In comparison with the trapezoidal fuzzy and fuzzy TOPSIS methods of group decision making, the proposed method performs better when there are a large number of alternatives.

Highlights

Due to the increasing tendency of societies to work toward a sustainable future, every decision, especially for firms related to the national economy, is determined by balancing economic goals with social-ecological concerns [1]
We propose a dual group decision fusion mechanism consisting of a cloud model, prospect theory, consensus of alternatives, and performance of alternatives
According to the dual group decision fusion mechanism, the five reverse clouds and corresponding linguistic terms are generated by a reverse cloud generator based on the linguistic term evaluation and scoring assessment

Summary

Introduction

Due to the increasing tendency of societies to work toward a sustainable future, every decision, especially for firms related to the national economy, is determined by balancing economic goals with social-ecological concerns [1]. Along with the value of a product comes its environmental and social burden. In this context, focal companies in supply chains make investment selections and may be held responsible for the environmental and social performance of these selections. The study of ship investment in the green supply chain benefits from the theory of decision making. The problem of selecting the optimal dry bulk carrier problem in decision theory (DT) depends on green supply chain management (GSCM). There are challenges involved in successful GSCM, including the uncertainty, complexity, and cost of the objective factors along with the cognitive preferences, value judgments, and attitudes involved in the subjective aspects [4]

Methods

Results

Conclusion