Abstract:The beginning of the 21st-century resulted in a more developed multi-attribute decisionmaking (MADM) tool and inspired new application areas that have resulted in discoveries in sustainable construction and building life cycle analysis. Construction and civil engineering stand for the central axis of a body consisting of a multidisciplinary (multi-dimensional) world with ties to disciplines constituting the surface, and with the disciplines, as a consequence, tied to each other. When dealing with multi-attribute decision-making problems generally multiple solutions exist, especially when there is a large number of attributes, and the concept of Pareto-optimality is inefficient. The symmetry and structural regularity are essential concepts in many natural and man-made objects and play a crucial role in the design, engineering, and development of the world. The complexity and risks inherent in projects along with different effective indicators for success and failure may contribute to the difficulties in performance evaluation. In such situations, increasing the importance of uncertainty is observed. This paper proposes a novel integrated tool to find a balance between sustainable development, environmental impact and human well-being, i.e., to find symmetry axe with respect to goals, risks, and constraints (attributes) to cope with the complicated problems. The concept of "optimal solution" as the maximum degree of implemented goals (attributes) is very important. The model is built using the most relevant variables cited in the reviewed project literature and integrates two methods: the Step-Wise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis (SWARA) method and a novel interval-valued fuzzy extension of the Additive Ratio Assessment (ARAS) method. This model was used to solve real case study of oil and gas well drilling projects evaluation. Despite the importance of oil and gas well drilling projects, there is lack of literature that describes and evaluates performance in this field projects. On the other hand, no structured assessment methodology has been presented for these types of projects. Given the limited research on performance evaluation in oil & gas well-drilling projects, the research identifies a set of performance criteria and proposes an evaluation model using fuzzy Delphi method. An illustrative example shows that the proposed method is a useful and alternative decision-making method.

In the knowledge economy, human capital is a key factor in any organization to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage. Thus, selection of competent personnel is the most important function of human resource managers. However, because of a wide range of criteria and organizational factors that affect the process, personnel selection is often regarded as a complex problem that can be answered through multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) procedures. Despite the great importance of determining a comprehensive set of criteria, it has not gained enough attention in the literature. This study presents a competency framework with five criteria for choosing the best information technology (IT) expert from five alternatives. The stepwise weight assessment ratio analysis (SWARA) and grey additive ratio assessment (ARAS-G) methods are also used to derive the criteria weights and provide the final alternative, respectively. The results reveal that subject competency is the major criteria in IT personnel selection.

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PurposeThe present study is aimed to develop a firm export performance measurement model. Increased levels of globalization are forcing firms, especially SMEs (i.e. small and medium-sized enterprises) and entrepreneurial firms, to enter new markets and increase their exports. Consequently, export performance measurement has become a vital tool for achieving competitive advantages, and this type of measurement is considered an important topic of research in the field of international marketing. However, the literature lacks a comprehensive framework for measuring export performance, even though many criteria for gauging this performance's parameters have been discovered and applied.Design/methodology/approachA literature review was conducted, and the most important criteria for export performance measurement was identified using weights obtained by stepwise weight assessment ratio analysis method. Then, the export performance of five firms was evaluated using the additive ratio assessment method with interval-valued triangular fuzzy numbers.FindingsThe 15 most significant criteria were identified and categorized into three dimensions: economic, strategic, and other. The strategic dimension was identified as the most important, while the criteria “strategic goals achievement” and “return on investment” were found to be the most relevant.Practical implicationsA comprehensive framework including a definitive set of the most prominent, useful evaluation criteria was established which enables both scholars and practitioners to assess export performance.Originality/valueThe current study attempts to fill the gaps in the literature by presenting a comprehensive framework for export performance measurement.

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