Ranking fuzzy cognitive map based scenarios with TOPSIS

Scenarios describe events and situations that would occurred in the future real-world. Policy makers use scenario methods as a tool to build landscapes of possible futures at a national level. Based on these future visions, policy and decision-makers are able to explore different courses of action. In recent years, the number of potential scenario methods and applications is increasing. It is because academics and practitioners are increasing their interest about it. In spite of the success of scenario methods' support, scenario-based decision making still is not a fully structured process. The proposed methodology aims to bring methodological support to scenario-based decision making in scenario analysis. The originality of the proposed approach with respect to other ones is that it aims to use the scenarios' assessment and ranking as a whole. Traditional approaches consider the future impact of each present entity in isolation. This assumption is a simplification of a more complex reality, in which different entities interact with each other. The model that the authors propose allows decision and policy makers to measure the impact of a entity interactions. To reach this aim, the proposal combine Delphi method, soft computing (fuzzy cognitive maps) and multicriteria (TOPSIS) techniques. In addition, a numerical example is developed for illustrating the proposal. (C) 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.