Spatial Multi-Attribute Decision Analysis: Axiomatic Foundations and Incomplete Preference Information

Event Date: 21 March 2019

Management Science Seminar

Speaker: Juuso Liesiö

Location: Strathclyde Business School, Cathedral Wing, CW406b

Time: 3.30-5pm

Abstract: This research advances the theoretical foundations and the methodology of spatial decision analysis in which multi-attribute consequences of decision alternatives vary over a spatial region. First, we introduce necessary and sufficient conditions for representing the decision maker’s preferences among such decision alternatives with an additive spatial value function. This new axiomatization allows for the representation of preferences when the spatial region consists of an infinite number of locations, which is often the case in practical applications. Moreover, we show that the spatial value functions suggested in the existing literature can be interpreted as special cases of our additive spatial value function. Second, motivated by the high effort required to elicit preferences in spatial decision problems, we introduce a novel spatial analysis method that captures incomplete preference information on both spatial weights describing the importance of locations and attribute weights. The method provides defensible decision recommendations through the use of dominance relations and decision rules. The applicability of the developed value function and analysis method is illustrated with a real-life application in air defense planning.

Biography: Juuso Liesiö is an Associate Professor of Management Science in the Department of Information and Service Management at the Aalto University School of Business. He obtained his Doctor of Science (Tech.) degree in Systems and Operations Research from Helsinki University of Technology in 2008. Before joining the Business School, he held a Research Scholar position at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Austria as well as Academy of Finland Postdoctoral Researcher and University Lecturer positions in the Aalto University School of Science. He is currently also a Visiting Fellow of the Loughborough University School of Business and Economics.  Prof. Liesiö’s research interests lie in decision analysis and prescriptive analytics with a focus on modelling incomplete preference information and uncertainties in decision support. In these areas, he has developed novel theory, methods, algorithms and computer software. This research has been published in some of the leading journals in the field such as European Journal of Operational Research, Technological Forecasting & Social Change and Decision Analysis. Application areas of Professor Liesiö’s research include, for instance, R&D portfolio selection, strategy building, infrastructure asset management, procurement optimization, supply chain planning, and production planning.

Published: 19 March 2019