Developing a spreadsheet based decision support system using DEMATEL and ANP approaches

The purpose of this thesis is to rate countries for the use of international contractors by using MS Excel spreadsheet. The multi criteria decision making (MCDM) technique used throughout the research is Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) and Analytic Network Process (ANP) hybrid system. Due to the improvements in communication technology, and aspiration for higher profit, in recent years, contractors tend to undertake contracts in international markets. However, there are many risks and opportunities involved in international construction projects which differ from country to country which might influence the go/no-go decision of the contractors. Not only do the host country conditions play an important role in the decision making process of the contractors, but also the capabilities, resources and risk appetite of the company affect this decision process. In this thesis, an MS Excel spreadsheet based decision support system is developed to rate the countries considering the risks and opportunities offered by these countries which also makes it possible for the decision makers to enter their own criteria using the program. Using different sources, and based on the questionnaires obtained from 21 Turkish Contractors? Decision Makers, the possible criteria are determined. DEMATEL method has been used to measure the dependence between the criteria and the alternative countries are rated using ANP method. The approach is illustrated on a real example. The developed system (TEMPOS) is easy to use and can serve as a practical guiding framework for international contractors to evaluate countries under different criteria. However, based on the feedbacks obtained from the users of TEMPOS, an improved version of the program (TEMPOSß) is also developed. Keywords: International construction, country rating, DEMATEL, ANP, multi criteria decision making, MS Excel spreadsheet