Аn example of different AHP structuring in a forest management problem

Abstract

The paper investigates how different hierarchy structuring in analytic hierarchy process (AHP) may affect the final results in the decision-making process. This problem is analyzed in a case study of the Rila monastery forest stands in Bulgaria. There were three similar and mutually overlapped hierarchies defined. A decision maker evaluated all of them and after analyzing final results and consistency performance, he selected and revised the most appropriate hierarchy structure. Consistency check assisted in detecting the judgments which have strongly violated evaluation procedure. These mistakes are interpreted as a consequence of a large number of required pair-wise comparisons. The paper emphases the importance of properly defining hierarchy structure and recommends using consistency analysis as a guide and not as a directive for the revision of judgments. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. 174003: Theory and application of analytic hierarchy process (AHP) in multi-criteria decision making under conditions of risk and uncertainty (individual and group context]

Keywords

• analytic hierarchy process
• Rila monastery forest
• hierarchy structures
• consistency parameters