Performance evaluation: An integrated method using data envelopment analysis and fuzzy preference relations

In it multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) context, the decision maker needs to provide his preferences over a set of decision alternatives and constructs a preference relation and then use the derived priority vector of the preference to rank various alternatives. This paper proposes in integrated approach to rate decision alternatives using data envelopment analysis and preference relations. This proposed approach includes three stages. First, pairwise efficiency scores are computed using two DEA models: the CCR model and the proposed cross-evaluation DEA model. Second, the pairwise efficiency scores are then utilized to construct the fuzzy preference relation and the consistent fuzzy preference relation. Third, by use of the row wise summation technique, we yield it priority vector, which is used for ranking decision-making units (DMUs). For the case of it single output and a single input, the preference relation can be directly obtained from the original sample data. The proposed approach is validated by two numerical examples. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.