An Improved MADM Based SWOT Analysis

Resources Policy 80 (2023) 103287
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Resources Policy
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/resourpol
An improved MADM-based SWOT analysis for strategic planning in

dimension stones industry
Mohammad Hayati a, *, Satar Mahdevari b, Kianoush Barani a
a
Department of Mining Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Lorestan University, Khorramabad, Iran
b
Department of Mining Engineering, Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran
A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T
Keywords: SWOT analysis, as a unique tool to facilitate a strategic planning process, was improved by employing MADM
Dimension stone techniques to analyze the status of the dimension stone industry in Lorestan province; a considerable zone of
Strategic planning dimension stone reserves in the west of Iran. In this respect, the results obtained from the traditional SWOT
SWOT analysis
analysis and the proposed MADM-based SWOT analysis were compared by identifying 50 effective factors,
FDAHP
Fuzzy TOPSIS
including strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, as well as 24 key strategies suggested by eleven
groups of experts. According to the results of the traditional approach, the strategic position of the Lorestan stone
industry was just placed in the WT area amongst the four available areas of the SWOT framework. In this
approach, it is impossible to consider the affecting evolutions criteria and also to prioritize the strategies based
on their importance. In contrast, in the proposed MADM-based SWOT analysis, a comprehensive collection of 14
criteria in evaluating strategies were considered, uncertainties were covered, and the developed strategies were
prioritized, using fuzzy Delphi AHP and fuzzy TOPSIS techniques. According to the results of the improved SWOT
analysis, three key strategies were suggested including the establishment of a stone research institute for con
ducting the research plans to reduce the polishing wastes and related costs; recruiting specialized and educated
staff for scientific management; and branding and e-commerce strategies. The interesting points in the proposed
MADM-based SWOT analysis are overcoming the inherent uncertainty associated with qualitative data (fuzzy
calculation), paired comparisons of evaluation criteria (AHP analysis), modifying experts’ judgments (Delphi
analysis), and prioritizing and ranking the strategies (TOPSIS analysis). Also, the strategies presented in our
research are suitable for preventing environmental damages, improving economic growth, and paying attention
to social concerns.
1. Introduction commercially categorized into various groups; each one performs

unique structural and aesthetic functions (Blachowski and Buczyńska,
The dimension stones industry appears to be a unique sector and a 2020).
key asset for most developing countries. The main issue regarding the
dimension stone industry is the necessity of strategic planning for sus I) Sedimentary rocks such as limestone, travertine, sandstone,
tainable development and economic prosperity. dolomite, slate, greywacke, quartzite, conglomerate, marl, and
Dimension stone is a mining term that refers to any natural rock, chalcedonite
which is quarried in blocks of different dimensions. Dimension stones II) Igneous rocks such as granite, basalt, gabbro, diabase, syenite,
may be processed and shaped by cutting or splitting into specific sizes of porphyry, and melaphyre
slabs for usage in the building, construction, and decorative industries III) Metamorphic rocks such as marble, amphibolite, greenstones,
(Merke, 2000; Ashmole and Motloung, 2008; ASTM C119-14, 2007). hornfels, migmatite, gneiss, serpentinite, and metamorphic slate
Dimension stones are constituted from diverse kinds of minerals in
sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks, which possess special Mining operations in quarry mines should consider the market de
qualitative features (Currier, 1960). Dimension stones may be mands to extract dimension stones in bulky blocks, free of joints,
* Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: hayati.m@lu.ac.ir (M. Hayati), satar.mahdevari@aut.ac.ir (S. Mahdevari).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2022.103287
Received 23 June 2022; Received in revised form 21 October 2022; Accepted 27 December 2022
Available online 4 January 2023
0301-4207/© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
M. Hayati et al. Resources Policy 80 (2023) 103287
Table 1 Table 1 (continued )

Literature survey of SWOT analysis based on MADM techniques. Authors Subject of Alternatives Criteria Analyzing
Authors Subject of Alternatives Criteria Analyzing research and method
SWOT Strategies SWOT
research and method Study location
SWOT Strategies SWOT factors (SO, ST, factors
Study location
factors (SO, ST, factors WO, WT)
WO, WT)
development of 7O
Barbosa Sugarcane 21 - 5 S SWOT ecotourism in 7T
et al. ethanol 4 W Delphi Serbia
(2022) companies in 5 O AHP Polat et al. Determination - 12 21 S SWOT
Brazil 7 T (2017) of strategies for 21 W AHP
Savari and Adaptation 32 - 8 S SWOT cadastral and 21 O
Shokati strategies 8 W FAHP land 21 T
Amghani development 8 O administration
(2022) among farmers 8 T system in
Voukkali Urban 20 - 5 S SWOT Turkey
and Zorpas metabolism 5 W AHP Szulecka and Forest 36 - 9S SWOT
(2022) assessment 5 O Monges plantations in 8W AHP
5 T Zalazar Paraguay 10 O
Aghasafari Development - 9 6 S SWOT (2017) 9T
et al. of organic 7 W Fuzzy-ANP Zhü et al. Rare earth 18 9 4S SWOT
(2020) farming in Iran 6 O (2016) industry in 5W ANP
7 T China 4O
Haque et al. Cross-border - 6 5 S SWOT 5T
(2020) electricity 4 W AHP Posch et al. Strategic 16 - 4S SWOT
trade in 5 O (2015) energy 4W AHP
Bangladesh 4 T management of 4O
Büyüközkan Health tourism - 8 6 S SWOT paper and pulp 4T
et al. strategy 6 W Fuzzy-AHP industry in
(2021) selection in 6 O MABAC Austrian
Turkey 6 T Tahernejad Determination 18 4 4S SWOT
Wang et al. Strategic - 3 6 S SWOT et al. of proper 5W AHP
(2020) renewable 6 W Fuzzy-AHP (2013) strategies for 4O
energy 9 O dimension 5T
resources 3 T stone mines in
selection in Iran
Pakistan Sevkli et al. Airline industry - 7 5S SWOT
Solangi et al. Sustainable - 13 3 S SWOT (2012) in Turkey 5W Fuzzy-ANP
(2019) energy 4 W AHP 6O
planning in 3 O Fuzzy- 5T
Pakistan 3 T TOPSIS Amin et al. Supplier - - 3S SWOT
Gottfried Development - 4 6 S SWOT (2011) selection and 1W Fuzzy logic
et al. of private 5 W AHP order 3O
(2018) investment 6 O allocation in 0T
strategies for 4 T India
the biogas
sector in China
Khan (2018) Evaluation of - 9 5 S SWOT uniform in color and texture, deprived of imperfections, and sustaining
the internal 5 W Fuzzy goal polish for a long duration. The suitability of dimension stones for
and external 5 O programing
different applications is determined by geological nature, chemical or
environment of 5 T
the CNG mineralogical composition, mechanical and physical properties, psy
industry in Iran chological and aesthetic appeal, and techno-economic parameters
Liu et al. Determination - 7 3 S SWOT (Chatterjee, 2009).
(2018) of the strategy 5 W ANP Due to the abundant variety in the type and color of the extracted
for boosting the 3 O
building ESCO 5 T
stones, Iran is known as a paradise for dimension stone mines. Iran is
industry in ranked the fourth in dimension stones’ reserves, and also the first in
China terms of quality, color, and diversity (IranStoneExpo, 2018). Nonethe
Cayir Prioritization 24 9 5 S SWOT less, according to the data presented by the Ministry of Industry, Mine,
Ervural of alternative 8 W ANP
and Trade, the number of dimension stone mines in Iran is 2072, of
et al. energy 6 O Fuzzy-
(2018) strategies in 5 T TOPSIS which 991 or 48% are inactive. Official statistics show that the country’s
Turkey nominal production capacity of dimension stones is over 30 million
Arsić et al. Identification 4 29 6 S SWOT tonnes per year, while the annual production is approximately 13.5
(2018) of the scenarios 9 W ANP million tonnes (about 45%). The nominal production capacity of stone
of the highest 7 O
priority for 7 T
processing plants is also reported to be 180 Mm2, while the annual
ecosystem production is about 80–85 Mm2 (TehranTimes, 2021).
management in In order to investigate the potential problems affecting the low re
Serbia covery of the dimension stone industry in Iran, this research is con
Etongo et al. Effectiveness of 16 - 4 S SWOT
ducted by implementing the strategic planning based on the SWOT
(2018) joint forest 4 W AHP
management in 4 O analysis, which stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and
Burkina Faso 4 T Threats. SWOT is an applicable technique for identifying and formu
Arsić et al. Prioritization 4 29 6 S SWOT lating strategies to improve the status of an organization or industry.
(2017) strategies for 9 W ANP Strengths and weaknesses are internal factors (controllable and
sustainable Fuzzy-ANP
changeable), while opportunities and threats are external factors. Based
2
2. Literature survey
SWOT analysis is a well-known technique frequently used in stra

tegic planning (Weihrich, 1982; Learned et al., 1965; Humphrey, 2005).
SWOT is a simple and applicable framework for leveraging the organi
zation’s strengths, improving weaknesses, reducing threats, and taking
the possible advantages of opportunities (Gürel and Tat, 2017), which
was frequently implemented in various fields of engineering (Ren et al.,
2015; Niu et al., 2017; Liu et al., 2018; Li et al., 2020; Sanito et al., 2020;
Irfan et al., 2020; Bonfante et al., 2021; Lee et al., 2021).
SWOT is also a practical technique in mining engineering activities
that has recently been applied to various problems in the mining in
dustry. In this respect, Nikolaou and Evangelinos (2010) developed a
SWOT analysis to inspect the weaknesses, strengths, threats, and op
Fig. 1. Membership function of a schematic TFN in fuzzy Delphi. portunities faced by the mining industry when adopting environmental
management practices. Shahba et al. (2017) identified the best strategies
on the SWOT analysis, selected strategies should rely on the strengths for waste management in iron mines by SWOT analysis on a quantitative
and improve them, remove the weaknesses, exploit the opportunities basis. Zharan and Bongaerts (2017) presented a comparative cost
and reduce the impact of threats. analysis between renewable energy and fossil fuel technologies in the
In this research, the Multi-Attribute Decision-Making (MADM) mining industry using a SWOT analysis. Singh and Ghosh (2021)
techniques are applied to prioritize the strategies regarding the dimen
sion stone mines and stone processing plants in Lorestan province, west
of Iran. For this purpose, Fuzzy-Delphi-Analytical Hierarchy Process
(FDAHP) is applied to calculate the relative importance or weights of the
evaluation criteria. In addition, the fuzzy Technique for Order Prefer
ence by Similarity to Ideal Solution (fuzzy TOPSIS) is employed for
prioritizing the strategies due to its capability to use both negative and
positive criteria among the SWOT factors. The aim of using fuzzy set
theory is to convert the linguistic scales expressed by experts into fuzzy
numbers in order to consider the uncertainties associated with experts’
opinions.
Accordingly, the procedure of SWOT analysis is improved to identify
and develop appropriate strategies for enhancing the current situation of
the stone industry in Lorestan province. Thus, the internal and external
environments of the dimension stone industry in Lorestan are firstly
investigated, and then the existing strengths, weaknesses, opportunities,
and threats are identified to indicate the appropriate strategies. For this
purpose, a complete set of evaluation criteria is introduced in our
research for prioritizing the strategies instead of focusing only on the
importance coefficients of SWOT factors. Fig. 3. SWOT process (Ritson, 2019).
Fig. 2. Procedure of the improved MADM-based SWOT analysis versus traditional SWOT analysis.
3
Table 2
The SWOT matrix developed for the dimension stone industry in Lorestan province..
4
Table 3
Weighted score of each factor.
Factor Response Score
Golden opportunity Excellent response 4

Considerable opportunity Good reaction 3
Considerable threat Bad and negative reaction 2
Serious threat Terrible response 1
developed a model for mining geotourism by a SWOT analysis high

lighting the possible opportunities in coal mines.
The literature survey demonstrates that there are little research
works concerning strategic planning in the dimension stones industry. In
one of the related works, Tahernejad et al. (2013) determined the best
strategies for dimension stone mines in Iran based on a SWOT-AHP
analysis, in which nine strategies were prioritized based on the eigh
teen internal and external factors.
Despite many benefits in strategic planning, the traditional SWOT
analysis encounters some limitations and deficits in practice, such as the
inability to prioritize strategies, inability to provide solutions or offer
alternative decisions, lack of clarity or incapability to choose the best
idea among several suggestions, doing the subjective analysis, impos
sibility to receive objective data, too many opinions to address, lack of
comparison with competitors, and producing a lot of information but not
all of them are useful (Gürel and Tat, 2017), (Hill and Westbrook, 1997),
(Wheelen et al., 2018).
Fig. 4. Internal-external matrix.
One way to cope with such limitations in the traditional SWOT
analysis is to implement the MADM techniques, in which it is possible to
5
Table 4 Table 4 (continued )

Details of the evaluation criteria. Type Criterion Name Symbol Effect Benchmarking
Type Criterion Name Symbol Effect Benchmarking
has a negative
Economic Investment C1 Negative Expresses the effect.
amount of initial Safety C11 Positive Indicates the degree
cost or capital that of safety
is necessary to conditions, which is
implement any achieved through
strategy. The less, implementing any
the better; thus it strategy.
has a negative Social Employment rate C12 Positive Expresses relative
effect. employment
Profitability C2 Positive Indicates the creation in the
amount of benefit implementation of
that is achieved in any strategy. Job
implementing any creation is for
strategy. reaction to the
Technical Simplicity and C3 Positive Expresses the market demands in
feasibility degree of simplicity recruiting the
and feasibility of capacity of created
each strategy. jobs or developing
Mechanization C4 Positive Expresses the existing
capability capability of business.
mechanization and Entrepreneurship C13 Positive Indicates the extent
the rate of using of entrepreneurship
modern creation in the
technologies implementation of
without human any strategy.
intervention in Entrepreneurship
implementing creates a new job,
strategies. and consequently
Possibility of C5 Positive Possibility of adds a pure value to
growth and development due to society by creating
development implementing a revenue.
strategy. The extent of C14 Negative Expresses the
Being time- C6 Negative Implementing a being affected by extent to which a
consuming strategy may be sanctions strategy is affected
time-consuming. by sanctions. The
The less, the better; less, the better; thus
thus it has a it has a negative
negative effect. effect.
Efficiency C7 Positive Efficiency is
measured based on
the amount of
resource used by Table 5
the mines or plants The range of scoring the evaluation criteria (Saaty, 1987).
in performing a
strategy. Intensity of Definition Explanation
Effectiveness C8 Positive Effectiveness is importance
measured 1 Equal importance Two factors contribute equally to the
according to the objective.
degree of alignment 3 Somewhat more Experience and judgment slightly favor
of the current important one over the other.
activities with 5 Much more Experience and judgment strongly favor
respect to the important one over the other.
targets. Increased 7 Very much more Experience and judgment very strongly
effectiveness means important favor one over the other. Its importance is
that the adopted demonstrated in practice.
strategies are more 9 Absolutely more The evidence favoring one over the other
than ever consistent important is of the highest possible validity.
with the goals of 2,4,6,8 Intermediate When compromise is needed
the stone industry. values
Uncertainty and C9 Negative Amount of
risk uncertainty and
risk arising from
determine multiple criteria with different weights in the evaluation
implementing each
strategy. The less, process, and to prioritize the proposed strategies (Gürel and Tat, 2017),
the better; (Hatami-Marbini et al., 2013), (Chang and Huang, 2006). In this regard,
therefore it has a some research works which were conducted for the combination of
negative effect.
SWOT analysis and MADM techniques are summarized in Table 1.
Environmental The rate of C10 Negative Indicates the degree
environmental of environmental
However, these researches have a critical deficiency as their evaluation
degradation degradation caused criteria are developed based on the SWOT factors, while in this research
by implementing a a complete set of evaluation criteria is introduced for prioritizing the
strategy. The less, strategies.
the better; thus it
6
Table 6
Evaluation matrix of the relative importance of criteria based on the opinions.
Groups C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14
G1 9 8 7 6 8 8 9 6 9 9 7 8 6 9
G2 9 8 4 6 5 5 5 4 9 6 7 5 3 8
G3 8 7 7 3 7 5 9 5 7 3 5 6 6 7
G4 9 7 6 6 9 7 5 6 8 5 6 7 5 8
G5 9 9 8 7 7 6 7 8 7 6 7 9 5 7
G6 7 7 6 7 7 9 5 4 6 5 6 8 4 9
G7 9 7 7 8 5 6 4 5 7 6 5 7 6 9
G8 9 9 8 6 7 7 7 7 8 6 8 9 7 8
G9 8 9 8 7 8 5 6 8 9 7 6 9 8 9
G10 9 9 8 7 7 7 8 8 9 8 8 7 6 9
G11 9 8 7 6 8 8 9 6 9 9 7 8 6 9
Table 7
Paired comparison matrix of criteria based on the first group’s opinions.
C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14
C1 1.00 1.13 1.29 1.50 1.13 1.13 1.00 1.50 1.00 1.00 1.29 1.13 1.50 1.00
C2 0.89 1.00 1.14 1.33 1.00 1.00 0.89 1.33 0.89 0.89 1.14 1.00 1.33 0.89
C3 0.78 0.88 1.00 1.17 0.88 0.88 0.78 1.17 0.78 0.78 1.00 0.88 1.17 0.78
C4 0.67 0.75 0.86 1.00 0.75 0.75 0.67 1.00 0.67 0.67 0.86 0.75 1.00 0.67
C5 0.89 1.00 1.14 1.33 1.00 1.00 0.89 1.33 0.89 0.89 1.14 1.00 1.33 0.89
C6 0.89 1.00 1.14 1.33 1.00 1.00 0.89 1.33 0.89 0.89 1.14 1.00 1.33 0.89
C7 1.00 1.13 1.29 1.50 1.13 1.13 1.00 1.50 1.00 1.00 1.29 1.13 1.50 1.00
C8 0.67 0.75 0.86 1.00 0.75 0.75 0.67 1.00 0.67 0.67 0.86 0.75 1.00 0.67
C9 1.00 1.13 1.29 1.50 1.13 1.13 1.00 1.50 1.00 1.00 1.29 1.13 1.50 1.00
C10 1.00 1.13 1.29 1.50 1.13 1.13 1.00 1.50 1.00 1.00 1.29 1.13 1.50 1.00
C11 0.78 0.88 1.00 1.17 0.88 0.88 0.78 1.17 0.78 0.78 1.00 0.88 1.17 0.78
C12 0.89 1.00 1.14 1.33 1.00 1.00 0.89 1.33 0.89 0.89 1.14 1.00 1.33 0.89
C13 0.67 0.75 0.86 1.00 0.75 0.75 0.67 1.00 0.67 0.67 0.86 0.75 1.00 0.67
C14 1.00 1.13 1.29 1.50 1.13 1.13 1.00 1.50 1.00 1.00 1.29 1.13 1.50 1.00
3. Methods closed interval [0, 1], while the crisp sets only accord 0 or 1 (Mahdevari
et al., 2014).
MADM techniques are the central part of modern decision science, in Among several types of fuzzy numbers, the Triangular Fuzzy
which a set of alternatives with several attributes may be evaluated Numbers (TFNs) are practically remarkable due to their intuitive and
based on experts’ knowledge (Hwang and Yoon, 1981a). In fact, the computational simplicity (Mahdevari et al., 2014). A TFN is defined as a
purpose of the MADM techniques is to rank the available alternatives triplet M̃ = (a, b, c), where a, b, and c are respectively the smallest
and find the most favorable one for supporting decision-making (Chen contingent value, the most promising value, and the maximum contin
and Hwang, 1992). In this respect, the AHP and TOPSIS techniques are gent value. The highest degree of membership in a TFN is at the center
more commonly used MADM methods in practical applications (Tzeng point, and then the value of membership function linearly decreases on
and Huang, 2011), in which the attribute values and attribute weights both sides to reach zero, such that its membership function, μ̃ (x), is
M
are the essential decision-making information (Xu, 2015). However, defined as (Li, 2007):
both values and weights are uncertain in real conditions due to the ⎧
complexity of the actual problems, the limited knowledge, and the ⎨ (x − a)/(b − a) if a ≤ x ≤ b
comprehension capability of humans (Kornbluth, 1992), (Lin et al., μM̃ (x) = (c − x)/(c − b) if b ≤ x ≤ c (1)
⎩
2008). Therefore, it is impossible for experts to express their assessments 0 Otherwise
explicitly (Lahdelma and Salminen, 2001). Hence, the fuzzy-MADM The linguistic variables expressed by the decision-makers are then
techniques have been developed to deal with such situations, and converted into TFNs as:
consequently obtain more accurate results (Xu, 2015).
( )
̃ ijk = aijk , bijk , cijk i = 1, 2, 3, …, mj = 1, 2, 3, …, nk = 1, 2, 3, …, K
M (2)
3.1. Fuzzy sets and fuzzy numbers
where i, j, and k respectively represent alternatives, criteria, and the
number of decision-makers. Therefore, the aggregated TFNs of alterna
Fuzzy set theory, which was first presented by Zadeh (1965), can
tives relative to criteria (M
̃ ij ) are acquired as (Chen and Hwang, 1992):
mathematically formulate vague/imprecise variables, concepts, or sys
tems. This theory is a suitable tool for decision-making in uncertain ( ) { } ∑K
{ }
conditions to solve problems having no sharp boundaries or precise ̃ ij = aij , bij , cij aij = min aijk bij = 1
M bijk cij = max cijk (3)
k K k=1 k
values (Xu, 2015), (Chen, 2000).
Logically oriented methods are preferred to exclusively use of
probabilistic forecasts to express the human mental accounts. This 3.2. Fuzzy Delphi Analytical Hierarchy Process
attitude towards human irrational behavior led to a new field of study in
decision-making, i.e., fuzzy decisions (Lai and Hwang, 1994). AHP is one of the simple and common MADM techniques, in which
In other words, the qualitative expressions in decision-making are the preference assessment is implemented by ratio-scale pairwise com
similar to linguistic variables in fuzzy logic, which can be simplified by parisons of the decision elements (Saaty, 1977), (Saaty and Kearns,
changing the linguistic scales by fuzzy numbers. Therefore, fuzzy sets 1985). The AHP analysis has some shortcomings, such as working with
are a general form of crisp sets, in which a fuzzy number belongs to the crisp values, lack of a balanced scale for judgments, and inability to
7
M. Hayati et al.
Table 8
Fuzzy paired comparison matrix of criteria based on the first group’s opinions.
Criteria C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7
C1 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.89 1.08 1.29 1.00 1.27 2.25 1.00 1.41 2.67 1.00 1.23 1.80 0.78 1.32 1.80 0.89 1.33 2.25
C2 0.78 0.92 1.13 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.17 2.00 0.88 1.30 2.33 0.78 1.14 1.60 0.78 1.22 1.80 0.78 1.23 1.75
C3 0.44 0.79 1.00 0.50 0.85 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.67 1.11 2.33 0.67 0.97 1.40 0.67 1.04 1.60 0.78 1.05 1.75
C4 0.38 0.71 1.00 0.43 0.77 1.14 0.43 0.90 1.50 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.43 0.88 1.60 0.60 0.94 1.40 0.33 0.94 2.00
C5 0.56 0.81 1.00 0.63 0.88 1.29 0.71 1.03 1.50 0.63 1.14 2.33 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.78 1.07 1.60 0.78 1.08 1.80
C6 0.56 0.76 1.29 0.56 0.82 1.29 0.63 0.96 1.50 0.71 1.06 1.67 0.63 0.93 1.29 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.56 1.00 1.80
C7 0.44 0.75 1.13 0.57 0.82 1.29 0.57 0.96 1.29 0.50 1.06 3.00 0.56 0.93 1.29 0.56 1.00 1.80 1.00 1.00 1.00
C8 0.44 0.69 1.00 0.50 0.74 0.89 0.67 0.87 1.00 0.57 0.97 1.67 0.57 0.85 1.14 0.44 0.91 1.60 0.56 0.91 1.33
C9 0.78 0.92 1.13 0.78 1.00 1.14 0.88 1.17 2.25 0.86 1.30 2.33 0.86 1.13 1.80 0.67 1.22 1.80 0.78 1.22 1.80
C10 0.38 0.71 1.00 0.43 0.77 1.13 0.43 0.90 1.50 0.71 1.00 1.50 0.43 0.87 1.20 0.56 0.94 1.40 0.33 0.94 1.50
C11 0.56 0.75 0.89 0.67 0.81 0.89 0.71 0.95 1.75 0.63 1.06 1.67 0.67 0.93 1.40 0.67 0.99 1.40 0.56 1.00 1.40
C12 0.56 0.86 1.14 0.63 0.93 1.14 0.86 1.09 1.33 0.83 1.22 2.00 0.78 1.06 1.40 0.89 1.14 1.80 0.67 1.15 1.75
C13 0.33 0.64 1.00 0.38 0.69 0.89 0.63 0.81 1.00 0.50 0.89 2.00 0.56 0.78 1.20 0.44 0.84 1.60 0.60 0.84 1.50
C14 0.78 0.97 1.29 0.78 1.05 1.29 0.88 1.23 2.00 1.00 1.36 2.33 1.13 1.25 1.80 1.00 1.28 1.80 0.78 1.28 2.25
8
Criteria C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14
C1 1.00 1.46 2.25 0.89 1.09 1.29 1.00 1.41 2.67 1.13 1.33 1.80 0.88 1.16 1.80 1.00 1.57 3.00 0.78 1.03 1.29
C2 1.13 1.34 2.00 0.88 1.00 1.29 0.89 1.30 2.33 1.13 1.23 1.50 0.88 1.07 1.60 1.13 1.45 2.67 0.78 0.96 1.29
C3 1.00 1.15 1.50 0.44 0.86 1.14 0.67 1.11 2.33 0.57 1.05 1.40 0.75 0.91 1.17 1.00 1.24 1.60 0.50 0.82 1.14
C4 0.60 1.03 1.75 0.43 0.77 1.17 0.67 1.00 1.40 0.60 0.95 1.60 0.50 0.82 1.20 0.50 1.12 2.00 0.43 0.73 1.00
C5 0.88 1.18 1.75 0.56 0.88 1.17 0.83 1.14 2.33 0.71 1.08 1.50 0.71 0.94 1.29 0.83 1.28 1.80 0.56 0.84 1.13
C6 0.63 1.10 2.25 0.56 0.82 1.50 0.71 1.07 1.80 0.71 1.01 1.50 0.56 0.88 1.13 0.63 1.19 2.25 0.56 0.78 1.00
C7 0.75 1.10 1.80 0.56 0.82 1.29 0.67 1.06 3.00 0.71 1.00 1.80 0.57 0.87 1.50 0.67 1.19 1.67 0.44 0.78 1.29
C8 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.44 0.75 1.14 0.67 0.97 1.67 0.57 0.91 1.33 0.50 0.80 1.14 0.83 1.08 1.60 0.44 0.71 1.14
C9 0.88 1.34 2.25 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.30 2.33 1.00 1.23 1.50 0.75 1.07 1.80 1.13 1.45 3.00 0.67 0.95 1.13
C10 0.60 1.03 1.50 0.43 0.77 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.60 0.94 1.29 0.50 0.82 1.20 0.50 1.12 2.00 0.43 0.73 1.00
C11 0.75 1.09 1.75 0.67 0.82 1.00 0.78 1.06 1.67 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.67 0.87 1.40 0.75 1.18 2.33 0.56 0.78 1.00
C12 0.88 1.26 2.00 0.56 0.94 1.33 0.83 1.22 2.00 0.71 1.15 1.50 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.36 2.00 0.63 0.89 1.29
C13 0.63 0.92 1.20 0.33 0.69 0.89 0.50 0.90 2.00 0.43 0.85 1.33 0.50 0.74 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 0.38 0.66 0.89
C14 0.88 1.41 2.25 0.89 1.05 1.50 1.00 1.36 2.33 1.00 1.29 1.80 0.78 1.12 1.60 1.13 1.52 2.67 1.00 1.00 1.00

Table 9 where, αij and γij respectively denote the lower and upper bound of
Fuzzy weights of evaluation criteria.
opinions, δij is the geometrical mean of opinions, and βijk is the relative
W1 0.045 0.089 0.190 W8 0.027 0.061 0.127
W2 0.043 0.082 0.172 W9 0.041 0.082 0.176
importance of parameter i over parameter j from the kth person view
W3 0.032 0.070 0.144 W10 0.024 0.063 0.131 point. A fuzzy positive reciprocal matrix (T)
̃ can then be established as:
W4 0.024 0.063 0.141 W11 0.033 0.067 0.138 [ ]
W5 0.034 0.072 0.152 W12 0.036 0.077 0.155 ̃ = ̃tij
T , ̃t × ̃tij ≈ 1, ∀i, j = 1, 2, …, n
n×n ij
(9)
W6 0.030 0.067 0.151 W13 0.024 0.056 0.123
W7 0.029 0.067 0.161 W14 0.044 0.086 0.184 The T̃ will be written for a 3 × 3 matrix as an instance:
⎡ ⎤
(1, 1, 1) (α12 , δ12 , γ 12 ) (α13 , δ13 , γ13 )
handle the uncertainty (Chen and Hwang, 1992). Nonetheless, the ⎢( ) ⎥
⎢ 1 1 1 ⎥
perception of a decision-maker in realistic problems is ordinarily vague, [ ] ⎢ , , (1, 1, 1) (α 23 , δ 23 , γ ) ⎥
̃tij 3×3 = ⎢ γ δ α 23 ⎥
fuzzy, or linguistic (Tzeng and Huang, 2011). Due to that, this research ⎢ ⎥
12 12 12
⎢( ) ( ) ⎥
tries to develop a Fuzzy Delphi Analytical Hierarchy Process (FDAHP) ⎣ 1 1 1
, ,
1 1 1
, , (1, 1, 1)
⎦
model in order to cope with such deficits (Murray et al., 1985; Ishikawa γ13 δ13 α13 γ23 δ23 α23
et al., 1993; Chino, 1990; Khorramshahgol and Moustakis, 1988). In
The relative fuzzy weight of parameters (Z
̃j ) is calculated as:
fact, the fuzzy sets are incorporated into pairwise comparison in the AHP
/
method to more accurately describe the ambiguous knowledge of [ ]1
decision-makers (Kazemi et al., 2015), (van Laarhoven and Pedrycz, ̃j = ̃tij ⨂… ⨂ ̃tin n
Z (10)
1983).
( )
On the other hand, the Delphi method, as a flexible technique, is ̃j =Z
W ̃j ⊘ Z̃j ⨁…⨁Z
̃n (11)
effectively applied to discover new concepts within and outside the
knowledge systems using statistical methods (Dalkey and Helmer, ̃ j is the weight of the jth criterion.
where, W
1963). Delphi is briefly an iterative procedure to assemble and adapt
judgments of experts via a series of data collection, analysis techniques, 3.3. Fuzzy TOPSIS
and brainstorming for problems, opportunities, solutions, and forecasts
(Hsu et al., 2010). The Delphi technique has also suffered a high cost of In order to deal with the uncertainty associated with qualitative data,
administration, low convergence of expert opinions, and potential the ranking procedure in TOPSIS is accomplished by the fuzzy set in our
elimination of opinions (Hwang and Lin, 1987), which may be improved research. The mathematical concept of the fuzzy TOPSIS is therefore
by introducing the fuzzy Delphi method (Ishikawa et al., 1993). summarized in the following five steps (Chen, 2000):
In FDAHP, the input data are obtained by experts in the form of
Step I: Suppose that we are given a fuzzy decision matrix (D),
̃ which
natural language, and a systematic qualitative process is followed to
contains n criteria (C1 to Cn ) and m alternatives (A1 to Am ). Based on the
converge the collected information in a set of sequential questionnaires.
TFNs, M
̃ ij = (aij , bij , cij ) are the inputs of the matrix, which are calculated
Let C1 , C2 , …, Cn are the set of criteria in a questionnaire, and tij is the
for each linguistic variable.
linguistic judgment on a pair of criteria Ci and Cj . The relative impor
tance of the two criteria is then obtained from the division rate of Ci on C1 C2 . . . Cn
the rate of Cj . The n × n comparison matrix (T) can therefore be estab ⎡ ̃ ̃ 12 ̃ 1n ⎤
A1 M 11 M ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ M
lished for each expert as (Chen and Liu, 2007), (Chen and Wang, 2010): ⎢ ̃
A2 ⎢ M 21 ̃ 22
M ⋯ ̃ 2n ⎥
⋯ ⋯ M ⎥
⎡ 1 t ⋯ t ⎤ [ ] ⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⎥
(12)
12 1n
̃= M
D ̃ ij = . ⎢ ⎥
⎢ 1 ⎥ m×n ⎢ ⎥
⎢ 1 … t2n ⎥ ⎢ ⎥
[ ] ⎢ ⎢t
⎥
⎥ . ⎢ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⎥
T = tij = ⎢ 12 ⎥ (4) .
⎢
⎢
⎥
⎥
⎢ ⋮ ⋮ ⋱ ⋮ ⎥ ⎣ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⎦
⎢ ⎥
⎣ 1 1 ⎦ Am ̃ m1
M ̃ m2
M ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ̃ mn
M
⋯ 1
t1n t2n
The input data may have different units, and for converting the
After developing the pairwise comparison matrices, the TFNs (̃tij ) are different units into a comparable unit, the normalization method is
rewritten in Delphi format to represent the pessimistic, moderate, and accomplished using linear scale transformation to keep data in a pre
optimistic estimates about each criterion expressed by experts (Fig. 1). scribed range of 0 and + 1. Therefore, a fuzzy normalized decision
( )
̃tij = αij , δij , γ ij , αij ≤ δij ≤ γ ij (5) matrix (R)
̃ will be obtained as:
( )
αij = Min βijk (6)
( )1/k
∏
K
δij = βijk (7)
k=1
( )
γ ij = Max βijk (8)
Table 10
Spectrum of linguistic variables to score the strategies (Chen, 2000).
Linguistic Variable Very High (VH) High Moderate High (MH) Moderate Moderate Low (ML) Low Very Low (VL)
(H) (M) (L)
TFN (9, 10, 10) (7, 9, 10) (5, 7, 9) (3, 5, 7) (1, 3, 5) (0, 1, 3) (0, 0, 1)
9
C1 C2 . . Cn.
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
7
⎡ ̃r ̃r12 ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ̃r1n ⎤
A1 11
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
⎢ ⎥
9
A2 ⎢ ̃r21 ̃r22 ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ̃r2n ⎥
C14 [ ] ⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⎥
(13)
9
9
9
3
9
7
9
7
9
9
7
̃ = ̃rij
R = . ⎢ ⎥
m×n ⎢ ⎥
⎢ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⎥
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
. ⎢ ⋯ ⋯ ⎥
9
⎢ ⎥
. ⎢ ⎥
⎣ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ⎦
10
10
9
9
7
9
7
9
9
9
9
C13 7 Am ̃rm1 ̃rm2 ⋯ ⋯ ⋯ ̃rmn
7
5
7
9
5
7
7
7
7
9
10 in which ̃rij will be defined based on Eqs. (14) and (16) for the criteria
10
10
10
7
7
3
9
7
7
10 with the positive effects (benefit criteria) and the negative effects (non-
benefit criteria), respectively.
5
5
1
9
7
9
7
5
5
9
C12
3
3
0
7
9
5
7
5
3
3
7
( )
aij bij cij
̃rij = max , max , max (14)
10
10
10
10
10
10
ci ci ci
7
7
1
1
10
10
10
10 { ⃒ ( )}
(15)
5
5
9
5
0
0
9
C11
cmax
i = max cij ⃒M
̃ ij = aij , bij , cij
3
3
7
3
9
0
0
7
9
9
9
⎧ ( )
⎪ amin amin amin
3
3
3
5
3
1
1
3
3
3
3
⎪
⎪ i
, i , i , amin =0
∕
⎨ cij bij aij i
(16)
1
1
1
3
1
0
0
1
1
1
1
̃rij = ( )
C10 ⎪
⎪ cij bij aij
⎪ , 1 − max , 1 − max , amin
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
⎩ 1 − max i =0
ci ci ci
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
9
{ ⃒ ( )}
amin = min aij ⃒M
̃ ij = aij , bij , cij (17)
10
10
10
10
10
10
i
7
9
9
9
9
C9
Step II: The weighted normalized value ̃
vij is obtained by multiplying
9
9
9
5
9
7
7
9
7
7
9
the criteria weights (W

̃ j ) with the normalized fuzzy decision matrix ̃rij .
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
9
The weighted normalized decision matrix V ̃ for each criterion is:

10
10
10
( )
9
9
9
9
7
9
9
C8
̃ = ̃vij
V ̃ j ⊗ ̃rij
v =W
,̃
m×n ij
(18)
7
7
7
7
9
5
7
7
9
9
7
Step III: The fuzzy positive ideal solution (A+

j )
and fuzzy negative
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
ideal solution (A−j ) are thereafter obtained as:

9
9
9
7
10
10
10
10
10
{ ⃒ }
7
7
7
9
5
9
( + + + ) ⃒
C7 A+j = ̃ v2 , ̃v3 , …, ̃v+
v1 , ̃ vij ⃒(i = 1, 2, …, m; j = 1, 2, …, n)
n = max̃ (19)
5
5
5
7
9
3
7
9
9
9
9
i
10
10
10
10
10
10
{ ⃒ }
7
7
7
7
9
( − − − ) ⃒
A−j = ̃ v2 , ̃v3 , …, ̃v−n = miñ
v1 , ̃ vij ⃒(i = 1, 2, …, m; j = 1, 2, …, n) (20)
10
10
i
5
5
5
9
9
5
7
9
9
j and Aj are calcu

Step IV: The distance of each alternative from A+
C6
−
3
3
3
7
9
7
3
5
7
7
9
lated as:
10
10
10
10
10
10
9
9
9
9
∑
n ( )
(21)
10
10
di+ = v+
d ̃vij , ̃
9
9
7
9
5
9
7
7
7
j
C5 j=1
7
7
5
7
9
3
7
5
5
5
9
∑
n ( )
10
10
10
10
10
(22)
7
7
7
3
5
9
di− = v−j
d ̃vij , ̃
TFN values based on the expert opinions for the first strategy.
j=1
10
10
10
10
5
5
5
1
3
7
9
C4
where, d+
i and di are respectively the primary and secondary distant
−
3
3
3
0
9
1
5
7
9
9
9
measures. The distance measurement between two TFNs of A

̃ = (a1 , b1 ,
9
9
5
3
5
5
7
5
3
3
5
c1 ) and B
̃ = (a2 , b2 , c2 ), can be calculated by the vertex method as:
7
7
3
1
3
3
5
3
1
1
3
C3 √̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
5
5
1
0
1
1
3
1
0
0
1
1[ ]
̃ ̃
d(A, B) = (a1 − a2 )2 + (b1 − b2 )2 + (c1 − c2 )2 (23)
3
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
9
Step V: The alternatives are finally ranked by the relative closeness

10
10
10
10
10
7
9
9
9
C2 index (CI) in decreasing order. The larger the index value, the better the
performance of the alternatives. The CI simultaneously takes into ac
9
9
5
7
7
7
9
7
9
9
7
count the d+i and di as:

−
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
9
di−
(24)
10
10
10
10
CI = ( ) CI = 1 if Ai = A+ CI = 0 if Ai = A−
9
9
9
7
9
9
9
C1 di+ + di−
7
7
9
9
9
9
7
5
7
7
7
As d−i ≥ 0 and d+
i ≥ 0, then clearly CI ε [0, 1].
Table 11
G 10
G 11
G1
G2
G3
G4
G5
G6
G7
G8
G9
10
M. Hayati et al.
Table 12
Fuzzy decision matrix based on the aggregated TFNs.
C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7
STR 1 5.00 9.18 10.00 5.00 9.27 10.00 0.00 3.36 9.00 0.00 6.82 10.00 3.00 8.09 10.00 3.00 7.55 10.00 3.00 8.55 10.00
STR 2 3.00 8.82 10.00 7.00 9.27 10.00 1.00 4.45 10.00 1.00 6.73 10.00 3.00 7.09 10.00 1.00 7.91 10.00 3.00 7.36 10.00
STR 3 1.00 8.36 10.00 1.00 8.73 10.00 1.00 4.64 10.00 0.00 5.45 10.00 1.00 6.55 10.00 5.00 8.55 10.00 3.00 6.45 10.00
STR 4 1.00 6.82 10.00 5.00 8.64 10.00 1.00 4.27 9.00 0.00 5.00 9.00 1.00 6.82 10.00 3.00 6.18 10.00 3.00 7.64 10.00
STR 5 1.00 9.09 10.00 5.00 9.09 10.00 0.00 4.27 10.00 1.00 7.36 10.00 0.00 8.00 10.00 3.00 7.82 10.00 3.00 7.55 10.00
STR 6 5.00 9.09 10.00 5.00 9.18 10.00 0.00 4.09 9.00 0.00 5.64 10.00 0.00 7.64 10.00 3.00 7.00 10.00 3.00 8.00 10.00
STR 7 5.00 8.73 10.00 5.00 8.27 10.00 1.00 4.64 9.00 1.00 6.91 10.00 3.00 7.00 10.00 3.00 8.64 10.00 3.00 7.64 10.00
STR 8 3.00 8.55 10.00 3.00 7.36 10.00 1.00 6.09 10.00 0.00 6.36 10.00 3.00 7.27 10.00 1.00 7.36 10.00 3.00 8.09 10.00
STR 9 5.00 8.09 10.00 5.00 8.09 10.00 0.00 4.82 9.00 0.00 4.91 10.00 1.00 6.27 10.00 5.00 8.55 10.00 0.00 6.36 10.00
STR 10 1.00 5.55 10.00 3.00 7.36 10.00 1.00 6.73 10.00 0.00 3.91 10.00 3.00 6.64 10.00 1.00 6.55 10.00 3.00 7.64 10.00
STR 11 1.00 9.18 10.00 3.00 8.27 10.00 1.00 4.09 9.00 1.00 7.00 10.00 3.00 7.18 10.00 3.00 8.45 10.00 3.00 7.55 10.00
STR 12 1.00 6.64 10.00 3.00 7.55 10.00 1.00 5.55 10.00 0.00 5.64 10.00 3.00 8.36 10.00 1.00 5.91 10.00 1.00 8.00 10.00
STR 13 3.00 6.36 10.00 3.00 7.73 10.00 1.00 6.55 10.00 0.00 5.36 10.00 5.00 8.55 10.00 1.00 4.18 10.00 5.00 8.64 10.00
STR 14 7.00 9.73 10.00 5.00 9.27 10.00 0.00 3.18 7.00 3.00 6.82 10.00 3.00 7.82 10.00 1.00 7.55 10.00 5.00 8.55 10.00
STR 15 5.00 8.45 10.00 5.00 8.82 10.00 0.00 3.91 9.00 0.00 3.73 10.00 5.00 8.45 10.00 3.00 6.27 10.00 1.00 7.45 10.00
STR 16 3.00 6.45 10.00 3.00 7.91 10.00 3.00 8.45 10.00 0.00 4.64 10.00 3.00 8.09 10.00 1.00 5.36 10.00 1.00 5.82 10.00
STR 17 5.00 8.82 10.00 7.00 9.55 10.00 1.00 5.18 9.00 0.00 4.00 10.00 3.00 8.09 10.00 1.00 8.00 10.00 3.00 8.00 10.00
STR 18 3.00 8.09 10.00 3.00 8.27 10.00 0.00 3.73 9.00 1.00 5.91 10.00 1.00 6.91 10.00 3.00 8.18 10.00 3.00 7.55 10.00
STR 19 1.00 7.91 10.00 1.00 8.45 10.00 0.00 3.73 9.00 0.00 3.55 10.00 1.00 7.09 10.00 3.00 7.45 10.00 3.00 8.00 10.00
STR 20 5.00 9.45 10.00 5.00 9.09 10.00 0.00 3.55 9.00 1.00 8.18 10.00 1.00 8.27 10.00 1.00 7.27 10.00 3.00 8.00 10.00
STR 21 1.00 4.82 9.00 3.00 8.73 10.00 0.00 8.00 10.00 0.00 5.91 10.00 3.00 8.09 10.00 1.00 5.91 10.00 3.00 7.91 10.00
STR 22 5.00 9.55 10.00 3.00 8.91 10.00 0.00 3.00 9.00 1.00 7.91 10.00 3.00 7.91 10.00 1.00 8.27 10.00 1.00 7.55 10.00
STR 23 1.00 6.00 10.00 1.00 7.82 10.00 3.00 8.64 10.00 0.00 7.18 10.00 5.00 9.18 10.00 1.00 4.36 10.00 1.00 7.64 10.00
11
STR 24 1.00 6.82 10.00 5.00 8.73 10.00 3.00 7.55 10.00 0.00 5.00 10.00 3.00 7.82 10.00 1.00 5.27 10.00 3.00 7.73 10.00
C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14
STR 1 5.00 9.09 10.00 5.00 9.36 10.00 0.00 1.00 5.00 0.00 6.64 10.00 0.00 6.55 10.00 5.00 8.82 10.00 3.00 9.27 10.00
STR 2 3.00 8.45 10.00 5.00 8.36 10.00 0.00 0.91 5.00 0.00 6.82 10.00 3.00 7.45 10.00 3.00 7.82 10.00 3.00 8.27 10.00
STR 3 3.00 8.00 10.00 5.00 8.36 10.00 0.00 1.18 5.00 0.00 4.73 10.00 1.00 7.00 10.00 1.00 8.00 10.00 3.00 8.82 10.00
STR 4 3.00 7.45 10.00 1.00 7.00 10.00 0.00 1.64 10.00 0.00 1.55 10.00 1.00 4.64 9.00 1.00 4.45 9.00 3.00 8.18 10.00
STR 5 3.00 8.00 10.00 5.00 9.00 10.00 0.00 1.55 7.00 0.00 5.36 10.00 3.00 7.27 10.00 3.00 7.55 10.00 3.00 9.27 10.00
STR 6 3.00 6.82 10.00 1.00 7.82 10.00 0.00 2.55 10.00 0.00 5.55 10.00 3.00 7.36 10.00 3.00 6.64 10.00 3.00 8.55 10.00
STR 7 3.00 7.36 10.00 3.00 7.45 10.00 0.00 1.45 7.00 0.00 3.73 10.00 3.00 6.82 10.00 1.00 6.82 10.00 3.00 9.09 10.00
STR 8 3.00 6.91 10.00 1.00 5.91 10.00 0.00 3.55 10.00 0.00 4.91 10.00 1.00 5.73 10.00 1.00 5.91 10.00 1.00 7.09 10.00
STR 9 0.00 6.91 10.00 1.00 7.45 10.00 0.00 2.36 10.00 0.00 2.45 10.00 3.00 7.18 10.00 1.00 6.64 10.00 3.00 7.82 10.00
STR 10 3.00 7.64 10.00 0.00 6.36 10.00 0.00 0.36 5.00 0.00 1.73 9.00 3.00 6.55 10.00 1.00 6.27 10.00 1.00 7.64 10.00
STR 11 1.00 7.91 10.00 3.00 8.73 10.00 0.00 1.18 5.00 0.00 4.27 10.00 3.00 6.27 10.00 3.00 7.64 10.00 3.00 8.73 10.00
STR 12 5.00 8.91 10.00 3.00 6.91 10.00 0.00 0.82 5.00 0.00 2.27 9.00 1.00 6.82 10.00 1.00 5.91 10.00 3.00 8.18 10.00
STR 13 3.00 8.09 10.00 1.00 4.55 10.00 0.00 0.36 5.00 0.00 2.45 10.00 3.00 7.55 10.00 3.00 7.45 10.00 0.00 4.36 10.00
STR 14 5.00 8.27 10.00 0.00 7.82 10.00 0.00 1.00 7.00 0.00 5.00 10.00 1.00 6.45 10.00 1.00 8.09 10.00 3.00 9.18 10.00
STR 15 1.00 8.36 10.00 1.00 7.55 10.00 0.00 0.27 5.00 0.00 0.91 7.00 1.00 6.36 10.00 1.00 6.73 10.00 3.00 9.36 10.00
STR 16 1.00 6.91 10.00 1.00 5.73 10.00 0.00 1.45 7.00 0.00 1.27 7.00 0.00 6.00 10.00 3.00 6.55 10.00 1.00 4.73 10.00
STR 17 3.00 7.73 10.00 3.00 8.64 10.00 0.00 0.36 5.00 0.00 4.73 10.00 3.00 6.82 10.00 3.00 7.64 10.00 3.00 8.91 10.00

STR 18 1.00 7.82 10.00 1.00 8.00 10.00 0.00 0.36 5.00 0.00 3.00 10.00 1.00 6.36 10.00 1.00 6.91 10.00 3.00 8.00 10.00
STR 19 3.00 7.55 10.00 5.00 8.36 10.00 0.00 0.36 5.00 0.00 2.55 9.00 3.00 7.00 10.00 1.00 7.18 10.00 3.00 9.18 10.00
STR 20 5.00 8.91 10.00 3.00 8.55 10.00 0.00 0.64 5.00 0.00 5.09 10.00 1.00 7.00 10.00 1.00 7.73 10.00 3.00 8.00 10.00
STR 21 3.00 8.09 10.00 0.00 3.64 10.00 0.00 0.55 7.00 0.00 1.64 10.00 3.00 7.73 10.00 1.00 7.27 10.00 1.00 6.27 10.00
STR 22 3.00 8.45 10.00 1.00 8.45 10.00 0.00 0.36 5.00 0.00 5.27 10.00 3.00 7.27 10.00 1.00 8.73 10.00 3.00 9.36 10.00
STR 23 1.00 8.55 10.00 0.00 3.64 10.00 0.00 0.27 5.00 0.00 3.73 10.00 0.00 4.82 10.00 1.00 5.36 10.00 1.00 6.00 10.00
STR 24 5.00 8.55 10.00 0.00 4.00 10.00 0.00 0.91 7.00 0.00 5.18 10.00 1.00 7.45 10.00 3.00 7.64 10.00 1.00 5.36 10.00
M. Hayati et al.
Table 13
Fuzzy weighted normal decision matrix.
C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7
STR 1 0.000 0.007 0.095 0.022 0.076 0.172 0.000 0.024 0.129 0.000 0.043 0.141 0.010 0.058 0.152 0.000 0.016 0.106 0.009 0.057 0.161
STR 2 0.000 0.010 0.133 0.030 0.076 0.172 0.003 0.031 0.144 0.002 0.042 0.141 0.010 0.051 0.152 0.000 0.014 0.136 0.009 0.049 0.161
STR 3 0.000 0.015 0.171 0.004 0.071 0.172 0.003 0.032 0.144 0.000 0.034 0.141 0.003 0.047 0.152 0.000 0.010 0.076 0.009 0.043 0.161
STR 4 0.000 0.028 0.171 0.022 0.071 0.172 0.003 0.030 0.129 0.000 0.031 0.127 0.003 0.049 0.152 0.000 0.026 0.106 0.009 0.051 0.161
STR 5 0.000 0.008 0.171 0.022 0.074 0.172 0.000 0.030 0.144 0.002 0.046 0.141 0.000 0.058 0.152 0.000 0.015 0.106 0.009 0.050 0.161
STR 6 0.000 0.008 0.095 0.022 0.075 0.172 0.000 0.029 0.129 0.000 0.035 0.141 0.000 0.055 0.152 0.000 0.020 0.106 0.009 0.053 0.161
STR 7 0.000 0.011 0.095 0.022 0.068 0.172 0.003 0.032 0.129 0.002 0.044 0.141 0.010 0.050 0.152 0.000 0.009 0.106 0.009 0.051 0.161
STR 8 0.000 0.013 0.133 0.013 0.060 0.172 0.003 0.043 0.144 0.000 0.040 0.141 0.010 0.052 0.152 0.000 0.018 0.136 0.009 0.054 0.161
STR 9 0.000 0.017 0.095 0.022 0.066 0.172 0.000 0.034 0.129 0.000 0.031 0.141 0.003 0.045 0.152 0.000 0.010 0.076 0.000 0.043 0.161
STR 10 0.000 0.039 0.171 0.013 0.060 0.172 0.003 0.047 0.144 0.000 0.025 0.141 0.010 0.048 0.152 0.000 0.023 0.136 0.009 0.051 0.161
STR 11 0.000 0.007 0.171 0.013 0.068 0.172 0.003 0.029 0.129 0.002 0.044 0.141 0.010 0.052 0.152 0.000 0.010 0.106 0.009 0.050 0.161
STR 12 0.000 0.030 0.171 0.013 0.062 0.172 0.003 0.039 0.144 0.000 0.035 0.141 0.010 0.060 0.152 0.000 0.027 0.136 0.003 0.053 0.161
STR 13 0.000 0.032 0.133 0.013 0.063 0.172 0.003 0.046 0.144 0.000 0.034 0.141 0.017 0.061 0.152 0.000 0.039 0.136 0.014 0.058 0.161
STR 14 0.000 0.002 0.057 0.022 0.076 0.172 0.000 0.022 0.101 0.007 0.043 0.141 0.010 0.056 0.152 0.000 0.016 0.136 0.014 0.057 0.161
STR 15 0.000 0.014 0.095 0.022 0.072 0.172 0.000 0.027 0.129 0.000 0.023 0.141 0.017 0.061 0.152 0.000 0.025 0.106 0.003 0.050 0.161
STR 16 0.000 0.031 0.133 0.013 0.065 0.172 0.010 0.059 0.144 0.000 0.029 0.141 0.010 0.058 0.152 0.000 0.031 0.136 0.003 0.039 0.161
STR 17 0.000 0.010 0.095 0.030 0.078 0.172 0.003 0.036 0.129 0.000 0.025 0.141 0.010 0.058 0.152 0.000 0.013 0.136 0.009 0.053 0.161
STR 18 0.000 0.017 0.133 0.013 0.068 0.172 0.000 0.026 0.129 0.002 0.037 0.141 0.003 0.050 0.152 0.000 0.012 0.106 0.009 0.050 0.161
STR 19 0.000 0.019 0.171 0.004 0.069 0.172 0.000 0.026 0.129 0.000 0.022 0.141 0.003 0.051 0.152 0.000 0.017 0.106 0.009 0.053 0.161
STR 20 0.000 0.005 0.095 0.022 0.074 0.172 0.000 0.025 0.129 0.002 0.052 0.141 0.003 0.060 0.152 0.000 0.018 0.136 0.009 0.053 0.161
STR 21 0.005 0.046 0.171 0.013 0.071 0.172 0.000 0.056 0.144 0.000 0.037 0.141 0.010 0.058 0.152 0.000 0.027 0.136 0.009 0.053 0.161
STR 22 0.000 0.004 0.095 0.013 0.073 0.172 0.000 0.021 0.129 0.002 0.050 0.141 0.010 0.057 0.152 0.000 0.012 0.136 0.003 0.050 0.161
STR 23 0.000 0.035 0.171 0.004 0.064 0.172 0.010 0.060 0.144 0.000 0.045 0.141 0.017 0.066 0.152 0.000 0.038 0.136 0.003 0.051 0.161
12
STR 24 0.000 0.028 0.171 0.022 0.071 0.172 0.010 0.053 0.144 0.000 0.031 0.141 0.010 0.056 0.152 0.000 0.032 0.136 0.009 0.052 0.161
C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14
STR 1 0.014 0.055 0.127 0.000 0.005 0.088 0.012 0.057 0.131 0.000 0.044 0.138 0.000 0.050 0.155 0.012 0.050 0.123 0.000 0.006 0.129
STR 2 0.008 0.051 0.127 0.000 0.013 0.088 0.012 0.057 0.131 0.000 0.045 0.138 0.011 0.057 0.155 0.007 0.044 0.123 0.000 0.015 0.129
STR 3 0.008 0.049 0.127 0.000 0.013 0.088 0.012 0.055 0.131 0.000 0.031 0.138 0.004 0.054 0.155 0.002 0.045 0.123 0.000 0.010 0.129
STR 4 0.008 0.045 0.127 0.000 0.024 0.159 0.000 0.053 0.131 0.000 0.010 0.138 0.004 0.035 0.140 0.002 0.025 0.111 0.000 0.016 0.129
STR 5 0.008 0.049 0.127 0.000 0.008 0.088 0.007 0.053 0.131 0.000 0.036 0.138 0.011 0.056 0.155 0.007 0.042 0.123 0.000 0.006 0.129
STR 6 0.008 0.042 0.127 0.000 0.018 0.159 0.000 0.047 0.131 0.000 0.037 0.138 0.011 0.056 0.155 0.007 0.037 0.123 0.000 0.013 0.129
STR 7 0.008 0.045 0.127 0.000 0.021 0.123 0.007 0.054 0.131 0.000 0.025 0.138 0.011 0.052 0.155 0.002 0.038 0.123 0.000 0.008 0.129
STR 8 0.008 0.042 0.127 0.000 0.033 0.159 0.000 0.041 0.131 0.000 0.033 0.138 0.004 0.044 0.155 0.002 0.033 0.123 0.000 0.025 0.165
STR 9 0.000 0.042 0.127 0.000 0.021 0.159 0.000 0.048 0.131 0.000 0.016 0.138 0.011 0.055 0.155 0.002 0.037 0.123 0.000 0.019 0.129
STR 10 0.008 0.046 0.127 0.000 0.030 0.176 0.012 0.061 0.131 0.000 0.012 0.124 0.011 0.050 0.155 0.002 0.035 0.123 0.000 0.020 0.165
STR 11 0.003 0.048 0.127 0.000 0.010 0.123 0.012 0.055 0.131 0.000 0.028 0.138 0.011 0.048 0.155 0.007 0.043 0.123 0.000 0.011 0.129
STR 12 0.014 0.054 0.127 0.000 0.025 0.123 0.012 0.058 0.131 0.000 0.015 0.124 0.004 0.052 0.155 0.002 0.033 0.123 0.000 0.016 0.129
STR 13 0.008 0.049 0.127 0.000 0.045 0.159 0.012 0.061 0.131 0.000 0.016 0.138 0.011 0.058 0.155 0.007 0.042 0.123 0.000 0.048 0.184
STR 14 0.014 0.050 0.127 0.000 0.018 0.176 0.007 0.057 0.131 0.000 0.033 0.138 0.004 0.049 0.155 0.002 0.046 0.123 0.000 0.007 0.129
STR 15 0.003 0.051 0.127 0.000 0.020 0.159 0.012 0.061 0.131 0.000 0.006 0.096 0.004 0.049 0.155 0.002 0.038 0.123 0.000 0.005 0.129
STR 16 0.003 0.042 0.127 0.000 0.035 0.159 0.007 0.054 0.131 0.000 0.008 0.096 0.000 0.046 0.155 0.007 0.037 0.123 0.000 0.045 0.165
STR 17 0.008 0.047 0.127 0.000 0.011 0.123 0.012 0.061 0.131 0.000 0.031 0.138 0.011 0.052 0.155 0.007 0.043 0.123 0.000 0.009 0.129

STR 18 0.003 0.048 0.127 0.000 0.016 0.159 0.012 0.061 0.131 0.000 0.020 0.138 0.004 0.049 0.155 0.002 0.039 0.123 0.000 0.017 0.129
STR 19 0.008 0.046 0.127 0.000 0.013 0.088 0.012 0.061 0.131 0.000 0.017 0.124 0.011 0.054 0.155 0.002 0.040 0.123 0.000 0.007 0.129
STR 20 0.014 0.054 0.127 0.000 0.012 0.123 0.012 0.059 0.131 0.000 0.034 0.138 0.004 0.054 0.155 0.002 0.044 0.123 0.000 0.017 0.129
STR 21 0.008 0.049 0.127 0.000 0.052 0.176 0.007 0.059 0.131 0.000 0.011 0.138 0.011 0.059 0.155 0.002 0.041 0.123 0.000 0.032 0.165
STR 22 0.008 0.051 0.127 0.000 0.013 0.159 0.012 0.061 0.131 0.000 0.035 0.138 0.011 0.056 0.155 0.002 0.049 0.123 0.000 0.005 0.129
STR 23 0.003 0.052 0.127 0.000 0.052 0.176 0.012 0.061 0.131 0.000 0.025 0.138 0.000 0.037 0.155 0.002 0.030 0.123 0.000 0.034 0.165
STR 24 0.014 0.052 0.127 0.000 0.049 0.176 0.007 0.057 0.131 0.000 0.035 0.138 0.004 0.057 0.155 0.007 0.043 0.123 0.000 0.040 0.165
4. Results and discussion
0.161
0.000
0.184
0.000
An improved SWOT analysis is followed in this research to formulate
the strategies using the internal weaknesses and strengths as well as the
0.161
0.000
0.184
0.000
external threats and opportunities of the dimension stone industry in
Lorestan province. For this purpose, two types of questionnaires are first
developed to be filled out by experts working at dimension stone mines
and stone processing plants in the investigated region. One of the
0.161
0.000
0.184
0.000
C14
C7 questionnaires has been developed based on the traditional SWOT
analysis, and the other has been designed according to the improved
SWOT analysis proposed in our research.
0.136
0.000
0.123
0.002
4.1. Data gathering
0.136
0.000
0.123
0.002 Implementing the proposed strategic planning, the dimension stone
mines and stone processing plants located in the Lorestan province are
focused. The probable and proven reserves of dimension stones in
0.136
0.000
0.123
0.002
C13
C6
Lorestan are respectively estimated as 800 and 65.5 million tonnes,

which is ranked the first one in the country (Khoshbakht, 2016). Ac
cording to the statistics published by the Ministry of Cooperatives, La
0.152
0.000
0.155
0.000
bour, and Social Welfare, 24% of the whole extracted dimension stone in
the country is mined in Lorestan. Also, about 10% of the stone pro
cessing plants in the country are in this province producing 27% of the
0.152
0.000
0.155
0.000
country’s processed stone. Although his province is a suitable region

with several dimension stone mines and stone processing plants, there
are many problems with regard to productivity, effectiveness, and re
0.152
0.000
0.155
0.000
C12
C5
covery (Khoshbakht, 2016). Most of the production is consumed in do

mestic markets, and only a few percent is exported to the Middle East,
Europe, and south-east Asian countries.
0.141
0.000
0.138
0.000
There are more than 80 dimension stone mines and about 450 stone
processing plants in Lorestan province. However, the whole mines and
plants are not active, and some of them are abandoned due to financial,
0.141
0.000
0.138
0.000
administrational, and operational problems. In addition, the overall

recoveries may not touch the nominal capacities in some mines or plants
in the province. On the other hand, a key problem related to the stone
0.141
0.000
0.138
0.000
C11
industry in Lorestan results from unavailability and deteriorated ma

C4
chinery leading to reducing recovery and increasing the processing

wastes. Due to that, this research was planned to investigate the stone
0.144
0.000
0.131
0.000
industry in the province and to present the best strategies for preventing
environmental damages, improving economic growth, and paying
attention to social concerns. In order to implement a practical model for
0.144
0.000
0.131
0.000
strategic planning in this province, the developed questionnaires were

distributed in almost all dimension stone mines and stone processing
plants in the province to be filled out by experts. After preliminary
0.144
0.000
0.131
0.000
C10
evaluation, 59 questionnaires were completed in 11 expert groups.

C3
Accordingly, 30 internal environmental factors (weaknesses and

strengths), 20 external environmental factors (threats and opportu
0.172
0.004
0.176
0.000
nities), and 24 key strategies were identified using the SWOT matrix.
Each of these factors was entered on the margin of the SWOT matrix, and
then appropriate strategies were developed in four categories SO, WO,
0.172
0.004
0.176
0.000
ST, and WT. In the following subsections, the SWOT analysis is pre
sented at first, and then our improved MADM-based SWOT will be
described. The procedure followed in this research is briefly depicted in
0.172
0.004
0.176
0.000
Fig. 2. As seen, in the traditional SWOT analysis, importance coefficients

C2
C9
Fuzzy positive and negative ideal values.
are firstly calculated based on the experts’ opinions, and then the stra
tegic planning is determined by analyzing the questionnaire informa
0.171
0.000
0.127
0.000
tion. While in the improved SWOT analysis, a complete set of evaluation

criteria is introduced at first, and then the FDAHP and fuzzy TOPSIS are
applied to prioritize the strategies.
0.171
0.000
0.127
0.000
4.2. Traditional SWOT analysis

0.171
0.000
0.127
0.000
The fundamental purpose in SWOT analysis is to identify the stra

C1
C8
tegies creating a specific model that will best align, fit or match the
Table 14
resources and abilities to the demands. As shown in Fig. 3, the SWOT

A+
A+
j
A−j
j
A−j
technique is the foundation for evaluating the internal limitations and
13
Table 15
Calculating CI and ranking the strategies.
Strategy d+
i
d−i CI Rank Strategy d+
i
d−i CI Rank
STR24 0.833 0.731 0.46731 1 STR20 0.866 0.667 0.43505 13

STR21 0.839 0.731 0.46565 2 STR18 0.877 0.675 0.43493 14
STR23 0.843 0.731 0.46436 3 STR17 0.866 0.665 0.43439 15
STR13 0.834 0.719 0.46291 4 STR4 0.878 0.672 0.43346 16
STR10 0.859 0.718 0.45511 5 STR6 0.874 0.664 0.43153 17
STR8 0.869 0.701 0.44676 6 STR14 0.872 0.66 0.43093 18
STR16 0.859 0.692 0.4462 7 STR19 0.884 0.66 0.42734 19
STR12 0.863 0.69 0.44432 8 STR3 0.884 0.659 0.42727 20
STR2 0.859 0.672 0.43884 9 STR7 0.875 0.651 0.42675 21
STR22 0.871 0.677 0.43748 10 STR1 0.87 0.645 0.42593 22
STR11 0.873 0.677 0.43662 11 STR15 0.88 0.65 0.42506 23
STR5 0.872 0.673 0.43541 12 STR9 0.89 0.65 0.42194 24
potential, and the probable threats and opportunities from the external respectively 2.004 and 1.829. Being placed in the WT implies that the
environment. Lorestan stone industry has unfortunately been placed in the worst po
In order to develop the traditional SWOT matrix in our research, the sition of the SWOT matrix. WT strategy indicates a defensive mode in
external and internal factors are identified in accordance with the which appropriate strategies are to be employed to resolve the weak
designed questionnaires. Thereafter the External Factors Evaluation nesses and reduce the effects of existing threats in the stone industry.
Matrix (EFEM), the Internal Factors Evaluation Matrix (IFEM), and the
Internal-External Matrix (IEM) are generated in accordance with the
experts’ opinions, as presented in Table 2. The details of the analyses are 4.3. Improved SWOT analysis
described in the following subsections.
In the traditional SWOT analysis, different strategic options may be
4.2.1. External factors evaluation matrix presented, and the best one will then be nominated for implementation,
To develop the EFEM, the relative importance of each factor has been as a simple checklist of external and internal factors (Hill and West
assigned as very low (1), low (2), medium (3), high (4), and very high brook, 1997). Despite widespread applications, a significant gap is be
(5). Since the sum of the allotted weights should be equal to one, the tween the analysis procedure and strategy formulation in the traditional
relative importance or weight for each one of the factors is equal to its SWOT analysis. Therefore, the output of the traditional SWOT is only a
value divided by the sum of the weights. Then, in order to calculate the general strategy package, as in our research that we reached the WT
weighted score of each factor, a number between 1 and 4 is assigned to strategies for the Lorestan stone industry.
the current status of each factor, as shown in Table 3. Then, the relative Although the traditional SWOT analysis has been praised for its
importance of each factor is multiplied by the calculated score of the simplicity and applicability since the 1960s, it may sometimes offer an
current status, which will be recorded in the weighted score column for inefficient result or even a wrong decision due to qualitative judgments
each matrix row (each factor). In the end, the sum of the weighted scores (Coman and Ronen, 2009). In addition, SWOT factors in each region are
will be calculated. Based on the responses gathered from eleven expert either not measurable or ranked by the significance of the performance
groups in our research, the final score of EFEM for the stone industry will (Giles and Piercy, 1989). In other words, due to the limitations of IEM,
be equal to 2.004, which is the sum of the weighted scores of opportu the traditional SWOT analysis cannot propose a combination of all
nities and threats. strategies, and consequently, it cannot prioritize strategies based on
their importance for execution. In fact, strategies introduced in the
4.2.2. Internal factors evaluation matrix traditional approach might not be prioritized, since they are not
In order to develop the IFEM, the relative importance of each factor measured and evaluated based on certain criteria. Thus, the output of
is firstly normalized, and then, the current status score of each factor will the traditional SWOT analysis cannot be reliable due to the fact that the
be identified by a number between 1 and 4 (Table 3). The score of introduced strategies may not be really those influencing the relative
weaknesses can be just 1 or 2, and the score of strengths can be only 3 or status.
4. Therefore, the weighted score of each factor and the total weighted In order to address the aforementioned defects, the traditional SWOT
scores are calculated, which are between 1 and 4. If the final score of the analysis has been improved in this research by employing FDAHP and
internal factors is less than 2.5, the organization is generally weak, and if FTOPSIS to develop a new structure for evaluating and prioritizing the
the final score is more than 2.5, it indicates that the organization is strategies in fuzzy environment.
typically strong in terms of internal factors (David and David, 2017).
According to the responses gathered from eleven expert groups in our 4.3.1. Defining evaluation criteria
research, the final score of IFEM for the stone industry is equal to 1.829, In order to evaluate the strategies in the improved SWOT analysis,
which is the sum of the weighted scores of strengths and weaknesses. the relative importance of the criteria is identified based on the ques
tionnaires gathered from dimension stone mines and stone processing
4.2.3. Internal-external matrix plants. Thereafter, fourteen technical, economic, social, and environ
The IEM is developed to determine the strategic positions of the stone mental criteria are comprehensively determined. These criteria, along
industry in Lorestan province through simultaneous analyzing the in with their symbol and the respective effect, are summarized in Table 4.
ternal and external factors. IEM is formed when the scores derived from Greater criterion values with a positive (negative) effect imply that the
the EFEM and IFEM are placed in the vertical and horizontal dimensions intended strategy is more (less) desirable and preferable.
of the matrix. Given that four strategy categories (SO, ST, WO, and WT),
the position obtained in the IEM determines the focus area of strategies 4.3.2. Calculating the weight of criteria using FDAHP
within the SWOT framework (David and David, 2017). As shown in In order to score the evaluation criteria, the relative importance of
Fig. 4, the WT set is chosen as the suitable strategy for the Lorestan stone the criteria is determined in a range from 1 to 9 according to Table 5, and
industry in our study, since the scores of EFEM and IEFM are the results are presented in Table 6. Since the experts in our research
were categorized into eleven groups, the evaluation matrix of the
14
relative importance of criteria presented in Table 6 has eleven rows. As (Delphi analysis), and prioritizing and ranking the strategies (TOPSIS
fourteen criteria are determined based on Table 4, eleven matrices with analysis).
dimensions 14 × 14 are built at first to develop our proposed model. As far as our study shows, the previous researchers mainly employed
As mentioned, the relative importance of the investigated criteria is the SWOT factors (weaknesses, strengths, opportunities, and threats) as
calculated using the FDAHP method. Therefore, the paired comparison evaluation criteria, and the strategies are also prioritized based on them.
matrices are determined for each group of experts. For instance, Table 7 However, there might be no meaningful or rational relationship between
presents the paired comparison matrix of criteria based on the opinions irrelevant strategies (options) and evaluation criteria. For instance, it
of the first group. For brevity, the other ten paired comparison matrices might be impossible to evaluate SO strategies based on weaknesses and
are not presented. In the next step, eleven fuzzy paired comparison threats. In addition, the strategies introduced in the traditional SWOT
matrices are calculated corresponding to the paired comparison analysis may not be on their real priority, since they are not measured
matrices. For brevity, the results of the fuzzy paired comparison matrix and evaluated based on any criteria.
for the first group are presented in Table 8. Finally, the fuzzy weights of Overcoming this deficit, the MADM-based SWOT analysis was pro
the evaluation criteria are determined based on all eleven fuzzy paired posed in this research, in which after identifying the principal factors
comparison matrices, and the results are summarized in Table 9. affecting the stone industry, a comprehensive set of fourteen criteria
with positive and negative effects was introduced to evaluate strategies
4.3.3. Ranking the strategies by FTOPSIS instead of focusing only on the importance coefficients of SWOT factors.
In order to rank the strategies by FTOPSIS, the verbal variables And then, by considering the inherent uncertainty associated with
presented in questionnaires are replaced with corresponding TFNs based qualitative data in a fuzzy environment, a combination of strategies was
on the spectrum shown in Table 10. Since, 24 strategies are evaluated offered, analyzed, and prioritized by employing the FDAHP and FTOP
based on the fourteen criteria in our research, 24 tables are consequently SIS techniques.
filled out by eleven expert groups. For instance, Table 11 presents the
TFN values based on the expert opinions for the first strategy. For 5. Conclusion
brevity, the results of the quantifying expert opinions for the other 23
strategies are not presented. Given considerable stone reserves in Lorestan province, it is neces
Then, the fuzzy decision matrix is obtained according to the aggre sary to find proper strategies and policies to promote productivity and
gated TFNs of the expert opinions, as seen in Table 12. This table sum efficiency. This research was then conducted to investigate the poten
marizes the 24 strategies with respect to fourteen evaluation criteria by tials of the Lorestan stone industry by developing strategic planning. For
aggregated TFNs. Given the relative importance values of the criteria this purpose, a MADM-based SWOT technique was proposed to cope
(weights of criteria calculated by FDAHP in Table 9), the fuzzy weighted with the deficits of traditional SWOT analysis. The interesting points in
normal decision matrix can be calculated, as presented in Table 13. employing MADM techniques for improving SWOT analysis are over
Finally, the ideal positive and negative solutions are specified and pre coming the inherent uncertainty associated with qualitative data, paired
sented in Table 14, and then the distance of strategies from the ideal comparisons of evaluation criteria, modifying experts’ judgments, and
positive and negative solutions along with the CI for each strategy are prioritizing and ranking the strategies. In our research, two types of
calculated, as summarized in Table 15. The ranking of strategies is questionnaires were filled out by eleven groups of experts, and then 30
determined by descending order of CI values (from high to low), which internal factors, 20 external factors, and 24 key strategies were identi
means higher values are preferable to be chosen. According to the ob fied based on the gathered information. According to the traditional
tained results, the first three strategies are respectively ranked as STR24, SWOT analysis, the strategic position of the Lorestan stone industry was
STR21, and STR23. Accordingly, for strategic planning, it should be located in the WT status of the IEM based on the IFEM and EFEM scores,
focused on the establishment of a stone research institute for conducting which illustrated just one option out of defensive, aggressive, revision,
the research plans to reduce the polishing wastes and related costs, and diverse modes. Nonetheless, in the proposed MADM-based SWOT
recruiting specialized and educated human resources for the scientific analysis, different criteria in evaluating strategies were considered,
management, and branding and e-commerce strategies. uncertainties were covered, and the developed strategies were priori
According to the results, it can be concluded that the traditional tized, which are vital in decision making. According to the results of the
SWOT analysis can only indicate the WT strategy based on the scores of improved SWOT analysis, the first three strategies are respectively
EFEM and IEFM, which was presented in IEM (Fig. 4). In contrast, the ranked as STR24, STR21, and STR23. Consequently, for strategic plan
improved MADM-based SWOT analysis not only could direct the WT ning it should be focused on the establishment of a stone research
strategies, but also could rank the priority of the momentous strategies. institute for conducting the research plans to reduce the polishing
This research shows that the traditional SWOT analysis is a valuable wastes and related costs, recruiting specialized and educated human
technique to identify the issues affecting the dimension stones industry, resources for the scientific management, and branding and e-commerce
but it does not necessarily offer solutions. Thus, the proposed MADM- strategies. These strategies not only are in accordance with the current
based SWOT analysis presented in our research is capable of consid situation of the Lorestan stone industry, but also will provide appro
ering and prioritizing the critical criteria in evaluating strategies. priate solutions to protect the environment by reusing the mines’ wastes,
In fact, the relative importance of the strategies is not measurable in and also promote marketing.
the traditional SWOT analysis, since the evaluation of diverse strategies
based on different criteria is impossible. In the traditional SWOT anal Author statement
ysis, appropriate strategy will be selected as one of the defensive,
aggressive, revising, and diverse modes based on the IEM. However, the Mohammad Hayati: Data acquisition, Methodology, Software,
best strategies to improve the productivity of the dimension stone in Analysis, Validation, Reviewing and Editing. Satar Mahdevari:
dustry may practically be a combination of the four aforementioned Conceptualization, Methodology, Analysis, Writing- Original draft
modes. In addition, traditional SWOT analysis cannot distinguish the preparation. Kianoush Barani: Data acquisition, Analysis, Validation,
most significant or optimum strategies, as it cannot rank and prioritize Reviewing and Editing.
the investigated strategies.
However, the interesting points in employing MADM techniques for Declaration of interest statement
improving SWOT analysis are overcoming the inherent uncertainty
associated with qualitative data (fuzzy calculation), paired comparisons The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests to disclose
of evaluation criteria (AHP analysis), modifying experts’ judgments regarding the publication of this paper.
15
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