A Multicriteria Approach to Decision-Making in Consumer Cooperative Organizations under Uncertainty

This research examines the specifics of managerial decision-making in enterprises operating within the consumer cooperation sectors under conditions of uncertainty. These enterprises are interconnected with all sectors of the economy and play a crucial role in ensuring the livelihood of the regions where they are located. However, they are significantly influenced by external environmental factors, which creates a high degree of uncertainty in their decision-making processes. Contemporary literature identifies five criteria for decision-making under uncertainty: the Bayes–Laplace criterion, the Wald criterion, the Maximax criterion, the Hurwicz criterion, and the Savage criterion. However, these criteria often yield contradictory results, complicating the selection of a specific alternative during decision-making. This research proposes a multicriteria approach to decision-making in enterprises within the consumer cooperation sectors under uncertainty, enabling a comprehensive evaluation based on these criteria. The proposed approach is based on identifying the preferable alternative by combining two multicriteria decision-making methods: the Grey TOPSIS method and a method for selecting alternatives in a fuzzy information environment. Additionally, the authors suggest determining the weight of each optimality criterion using the MEREC method. The practical implementation of this approach will allow enterprises in the consumer cooperation sectors to make decisions under uncertainty by balancing benefits and risks. This approach will improve operational efficiency in terms of the enterprises and the overall livelihood of the regions in which they operate.