Document Type

Closed Project

Publication Date

Winter 2001

Instructor

Dundar Kocaoglu

Course Title

Decision Making in Engineering and Technology Management

Course Number

EMGT 530/630

Subjects

Cell phone services industry, Cell phone systems -- Decision making -- Methodology, Hierarchical decision model

Abstract

Today, the wireless market is very competitive, offering an array of service plans, phone models and provider services to the wireless customer. It is our belief that keeping up with this fast-changing market can be very time-consuming and confusing to the typical consumer. Instead of attempting to understand their bewildering list of choices in some logical manner, many consumers become overwhelmed by the alternatives and simply use their intuition for the purchasing decision. Often the result is a high level of dissatisfaction.

It is our premise that even under seemingly straightforward decision situations, decision tools developed and employed for more complex problems with significantly more consequential outcomes can be used to provide a more rational approach and, thus, better judgment. The purpose of this paper is two fold. First, we will highlight the myriad considerations that can overwhelm a consumer when purchasing a cell phone and service plan. Second, using the authors as examples, we will show how a basic hierarchical decision model (HDM) using the pairwise comparison method (PCM) can be developed and used to improve the decision making process by making rational selections in comparison to our intuitive picks.

Rights

In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

Comments

This project is only available to students, staff, and faculty of Portland State University

Persistent Identifier

http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/24843

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