The analytic network process (ANP) approach to location selection: A shopping mall illustration

This paper presents the employment of the analytic network process (ANP) to select the best site for a shopping mall. ANP is an innovative and robust multicriteria decisionmaking (MCDM) method because it can produce a comprehensive analytic framework for solving societal, governmental, and corporate decision problems. Yet, there is a lack of published papers in the construction field demonstrating the method with illustrative examples. In the current paper, it is suggested that ANP is appropriate for shopping mall location selection. An example is therefore demonstrated. In order to explicate the difference between ANP and analytic hierarchy process (AHP), the findings obtained from the two methods are compared. Results of the comparison indicate that ANP is a powerful tool to solve the decision problem if interdependent relationships have substantial impacts in the decision model. Copyright © 2005 Edward Arnold (Publishers) Ltd.