This book provides essential insights into a range of newly developed numerical optimization techniques with a view to solving real-world problems. Many of these problems can be modeled as nonlinear optimization problems, but due to their complex nature, it is not always possible to solve them...

This book offers a simple introduction to the fundamentals and applications of the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) without a pre-requisite for a sophisticated mathematical background. It provides a quick and intuitive understanding of the methodology using spreadsheet examples and explains in a...

The Analytic Network Process -- Forecasting the Resurgence of the U.S. Economy in 2001: An Expert Judgement Approach -- An Analytic Network Process Model for Financial-Crisis Forecasting -- Outsourcing a Firm's Application Development Group -- ANWR: Artic National Wildlife Refuge, an ANP...

The Analytic Network Process (ANP) developed by Thomas Saaty in his work on multicriteria decision making applies network structures with dependence and feedback to complex decision making. This book is a selection of applications of ANP to economic, social and political decisions, and also to...

Komplexität als Problemstellung in Dienstleistungsunternehmen -- Stand der Forschung zu Komplexität und ihren Wirkungen in Dienstleistungsunternehmen -- Konzeptioneller Bezugsrahmen der Komplexität und ihrer Wirkungen in Dienstleistungsunternehmen -- Analytic Network Process als Instrument...

Practitioners in process industry have to increasingly adapt their global production networks to changes in the competitive environment. A majority of the supply network design models proposed by academia do not sufficiently capture the questions that have to be resolved. This book provides the...

Based on two experimental studies Christine Cowen-Elstner explores the possibilities of influencing the sensory product perception and thereby also the perceived product quality. The results of her studies not only show that this influence is happening but also that the expectation and...

Florian Denker explores the role of an individual’s domain knowledge for the proficient evaluation of early-stage new product ideas in the front-end of innovation. The results of his study show that in order to ensure an effective evaluation, evaluators of early-stage new product ideas should...

In recent years, Alternative Food Networks (AFNs) have been a key issue both in the scientific community and in public debates. This is due to their profound implications for rural development, local sustainability, and bio-economics. This edited collection discusses what the main determinants...

This book provides an economic analysis of various aspects of ‘market quality’, a new concept which emerged in the 21st century, using the tools of ‘oligopoly theory’ and ‘auction theory’ that evolved over the 19th and 20th centuries. In the economics literature the link between the...