Three-way decision TOPSIS for food business location under a benefit-opportunity-cost-risk platform

This work holistically evaluates the factors that can aid decision makers in finding the optimal location for food businesses in developing economies. It integrates the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) in determining criteria weights (i.e. benefit, opportunity, cost, risk) and the newly introduced three-way decision – Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (3WD-TOPSIS) method in identifying the priority factors. Applying the AHP yields the assignment of more priorities to benefits and opportunities rather than costs and risks, reflecting the benefit – or opportunity-oriented attitudes of food businesses. Meanwhile, the implementation of 3WD-TOPSIS results in the identification of government regulations and restrictions, proximity to consumers, parking capacity, supply chain strategy, and socio-economic status as the most crucial location decision factors. Findings from the comparative analyses show a high agreement between the results and those of other comparable methods. Managerial insights from these findings are outlined in this work.