Decision making using Copras-G method towards heavy commercial vehicle selection problem for road freight transport in heavy commercial industry

The main concern of this thesis is the optimum selection of eight different commercial vehicle firms using COPRAS-G method which are the most frequently preferred firms in road freight transport industry as a supplier status. This study aims to guide both institutional and personal commercial heavy vehicle users in road freight transport industry during the purchasing process since commercial heavy vehicles are relatively costly. In this context, main and lower criteria considered in the selection process were determined regarding expert opinions and the existing literature and the data of the corresponding criteria were obtained with respect to technical brochures of heavy commercial vehicle firms to reach the optimum solution performing COPRAS-G method in the model used in the present study. This thesis consists of three main sections. The first section involves a general viewpoint for road freight transport and the automotive industry in both Turkey and the rest of the world. The second section deals with the methodological framework of decision making theory, multicriteira decision making techniques and various applications of the COPRAS-G method. The third section introduces the decision making analysis of the COPRAS-G method using main and lower criteria and makes recommandations with respect to analysis findings. Keywords: Road Freight Transport, Heavy Commercial Vehicles, Multi-Criteria Decision Making, COPRAS-G Method