Using fuzzy AHP and fuzzyTOPSIS methods for the analysis of development agencies evaluation criteria

"Using Fuzzy AHP and Fuzzy TOPSIS Methods for the Analysis of Development Agencies Evaluation Criteria" Even if their extents vary from one country to another, inter-regional development disparities, can be seen in the structures of all countries. Such disparities may cause several social and economic problems. Most of the world countries have been obliged to struggle with this imbalance and put forward different solutions to launch a sustainable and balanced development process. First examples of Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) were founded in 1930s to be one of these solutions. RDAs, accepted to be among the best practice examples in especially European Union countries, have, to many extents, made great contributions to the development of less developed regions. It is vitally important for this purpose to support SMEs, NGOs and public institutions which play important roles in development. However, mostly due to the lack of an effective evaluation mechanism, the necessity of the supports and value addition to the region, have not yet been clearly demonstrated. Therefore, the selection of projects which will add more value to regions, bear high multiplying effects and less risk in practice, is the first steps and has great importance. In this study, the supports RDAs provide and the evaluation criteria of these support mechanisms are discussed. The criteria used by RDAs at present were determined in Likert Scale and are composed of equally weighted 20 sub-criteria. By considering the effects of subjective judgments on the criteria and alternatives, instead of using a single Likert scale number fuzzy numbers are adopted to be used to eliminate this ambiguity. FAHP has been applied since sub-criteriacontains a hierarchical structure and fuzzy numbers, and an alternative method FTOPSIS, has been applied to weight the criteria accordingly for the selection. Thus, a new evaluation is presented in the selection of projects that will provide more precise decisions. For this assessment, a survey was carried out with experts, who has taken an active role in the creation and evaluation of projects. By analyzing the results of the survey, criteria and sub-criteria weights' hierarchy are revised. The results obtained in accordance, and recommendations are given on the evaluation criteria of the development agencies. Key Words: "Fuzzy Logic", "Analytic Hierarchy Process", "Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process", "TOPSIS", "Fuzzy TOPSIS", "Financial Support", SME.