Track: Decision Sciences

Abstract

Effective warehouse location selection is a critical component of disaster management, as it can significantly impact the efficiency and effectiveness of disaster response efforts. This paper proposes an integrated approach based on linguistic decision making (LDM) for assessing and prioritizing key criteria for warehouse location selection in disaster management. Specifically, the 2-Tuple linguistic (2-TL) model is used to represent decision-maker's subjective opinions, and then an integrated methodology combining 2-TL-DEMATEL and 2-TL-TOPSIS (Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution) is employed for the analysis of the criteria and the selection of the optimal warehouse location. This approach allows decision-makers to effectively deal with subjective linguistic information and to handle uncertainty and imprecision in the decision-making process. The proposed methodology combines DEMATEL for causal relation analysis and TOPSIS for multi-criteria decision-making to identify and select the optimal warehouse location. Moreover, the paper provides a case study conducted in the Türkiye area to demonstrate the practical application of the proposed methodology. The results of the study provide an importance ranking of the key location selection criteria and reveal the causal relationships between them. The paper concludes that the proposed methodology can provide a structured and systematic approach for warehouse location selection in disaster management, and it can help decision-makers to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of disaster response efforts.