Multiple Attribute Decision Making

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Abstract

The purpose of this research is to identify effective criteria for measuring competitive position of certain products of Shahdiran company, a regional major food and juice producer in Iran. To determine the criteria and their relative importance, Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) was used by organizing a decision team consisting of 6 top managers of the company. Four major competitors (based on market share) were selected for comparison purposes. Cook and Seiford’s developed model which consists of 19 successive steps was used to determine the company’s competitive position. For that, questionnaires based on Saaty scale, were designed to determine effective criteria, relative importance of each criterion, and company’s rank from retailers point of view.A survey research was also conducted to identify the position of other food product retailers in Mashhad as competitors. As a result, company's position in comparison with its four major competitors was determined through using 20 known criteria and market mix. The research further revealed that Alpha totally holds the first rank among its nearest competitors in the regional market while it holds rank 1 for product, 3 for price, 1 for place and finally the second rank for promotion.

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