AN EXPONENTIAL AND LOGARITHMIC UTILITY APPROACH TO EIGENVECTOR METHOD IN THE ANALYTIC HIERARCHY PROCESS: THE IDEA VALIDATION WITH EXAMPLE LOGISTIC APPLICATION

Thorough inventory control, planning and coordination, wise and thoughtful selection of warehousing and means of transport are necessary for efficient decisions making in logistics. In order to make optimal decisions, it is necessary to deliberate many options from the perspective of different criteria. It was empirically verified that such problems are difficult to solve without methodological support as they exceed humans' perception capabilities. However, there are some techniques which can facilitate the process of decision making when successfully applied. One of the most commonly used technique for structured problems solving is the Analytic Hierarchy Process. It is popular because its prescribed procedure supports sophisticated mathematical theory called the Eigenvalue Method which is accurate and unique. It does not mean that there are not other methods that can support the Analytic Hierarchy Process although their application has pros and cons. Two relatively novel methods were proposed recently and their validation studies are the essential part of this research. In comparison with others, their simplicity and compliance with the Eigenvalue Method are their most crucial but not exclusive advantages. At the end of the research, the example logistic problem was solved with their application, and the results of all methods were compared.