Abstract
A comparison of two decision analysis tools for the analysis of strategic conflicts, the Analytic Network Process (ANP) and the graph model for conflict resolution, is carried out by applying them to the China-US TV dumping conflict. Firstly, the graph model is introduced along with practical procedures for modeling and analyzing conflicts using the decision support software, GMCR II. Next, ANP is explained, emphasizing structural features and procedures for synthesizing priorities. Then a framework for employing ANP to analyze strategic conflicts is designed and used to compare ANP to the graph model. The case study of the China-US TV dumping conflict provides a basis for the graph model and ANP to be compared; different features of the approaches are highlighted. The study shows that because of different theoretical backgrounds, ANP and the graph model for conflict analysis both provide useful information which can be combined to furnish a better understanding of a strategic conflict.
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Xin Su received her Bachelor of Science degree from Hebei Normal University, Shi Jiazhuang, China in 2001. She is now a Master’s student in the Department of Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo where she is carrying out research in systems analysis of economic development and international trade.
Ye Chen received his Bachelor of Engineering degree from Yanshan University, Qin Huangdao, China in 1997, and his Master’s of Engineering degree from Tianjin University, China in 2001. He is now a PhD candidate in the Department of Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo. His research interests include new developments in classification techniques within the field of multiple criteria decision analysis and its applications to water resources, inventory management and elsewhere. He has written papers which were published in INFOR and Computer and Operations Research.
Keith W. Hipel is Professor of Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, where he is the Coordinator of the Conflict Analysis Group. His major research interests are the development of conflict resolution and time series analysis techniques from a systems design engineering perspective with applications to water resources management, hydrology, environmental engineering and sustainable development. Dr. Hipel is Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (FRSC), Canadian Academy of Engineering (FCAE), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (FIEEE), Engineering Institute of Canada (FEIC) and the American Water Resources Association (FAWRA). He is also a recipient of many other awards including the Norbert Wiener Award from the IEEE Systems, Man and Cybernetics (SMC) Society, and the Canada Council Killam Research Fellowship.
D. Marc Kilgour is Professor of Mathematics at Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, Associate Director of the Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies, and Adjunct Professor of Systems Design Engineering at the University of Waterloo. His research specialty is the mathematical analysis of problems drawn from social science, and his major focus is the cross-disciplinary analysis of decisions. He has contributed innovative applications of game theory and related techniques to international relations, arms control, environmental management, negotiation, arbitration, voting, fair division, and coalition formation. His most recent book is Perfect Deterrence (Cambridge University Press, 2000; co-author: Frank Zagare).
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Su, X., Chen, Y., Hipel, K.W. et al. Comparison of the analytic network process and the graph model for conflict resolution. J. Syst. Sci. Syst. Eng. 14, 308–325 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11518-006-0196-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11518-006-0196-5