Combining the AHP and DEA methodologies for selecting the best alternative

This paper deals with a decision-making problem of choosing the best of several alternatives, where the comparison among them is based on both qualitative and quantitative criteria. The method presented here is based on combining the Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) and the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) methodologies, followed by a proposition to deal with a situation where more than one alternative turns out to be efficient. A real-life case is presented, which demonstrates how the comprehensive analysis developed here results in a decision that is different from the one that might be expected when just one common factor, such as cost, is considered.