Multi-criteria decision-making in the management of humanitarian operations

Although multi‐criteria decision making topic is well suggested by some papers there are no researches that have been focused on its application into humanitarian perations with the presentation of a hierarchy process to support the operators in making choices. The purpose of this paper is to present a general multi‐criteria decision making process to assist the evaluation of suitable alternative solutions to humanitarian operations management issues. Humanitarian operations are described in terms of a multi‐objective field that reflects service level, timing and costing as final goals, and is composed of different life cycle phases, each with its particular features. Through a deep literature review, a framework is built and analysed to support decision makers in their evaluation of operations issues in which the objective hierarchy is defined. The structured procedure is developed and validated with some examples of possible applications. Thereafter, using a sensitivity analysis, a real case is discussed.