Some thoughts on research in multiple criteria decision making

Abstract

Our field of management science or operations research (I will use the names interchangeably) is roughly 40 years old. Strictly speaking, the beginnings may be found during World War II, but our two flagship journals (Management Science and Operations Research) are approaching their 40th birthdays. Though the fields have generally developed nicely, all has not been smooth sailing. Roughly 20 years ago I recall hearing a number of OR/MS pundits present papers at national and international meetings on the moribundity of our field. There were doomsayers who feared the death of the field! Yet from both theoretical and practical perspectives, operations research is not only alive and well today, but it is hale and hardy. The com~tition for the society prizes, the Edelman Awards for excellence in application of the management sciences, the Lanchester Prize, and other awards are highly sought after and are awarded, in my opinion, to better and better projects each year. Multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) is an important subfield of operations research. It has its roots in early work in management science. For example, goal programming as introduced by Charnes and Cooper [l] was an early MCDM approach. The work of Herbert Simon [2] on bounded rationality may be thought of as part of MCDM. Also, it probably helped motivate the development of goal programming.