Trang Nguyen, Ph.D.

Following the Covid-19 epidemic, the entrepreneurship program landscape has changed, with
many accelerators opting for virtual formats. This shift has removed geographical constraints for
entrepreneurs, allowing them to collaborate with the most appropriate accelerator regardless of location.
With many options available, businesses must carefully define and evaluate the criteria for selecting an
accelerator. The selection process entails considering both quantitative and qualitative… Show more

Following the Covid-19 epidemic, the entrepreneurship program landscape has changed, with
many accelerators opting for virtual formats. This shift has removed geographical constraints for
entrepreneurs, allowing them to collaborate with the most appropriate accelerator regardless of location.
With many options available, businesses must carefully define and evaluate the criteria for selecting an
accelerator. The selection process entails considering both quantitative and qualitative factors.
Quantitative aspects include analyzing successful exit cases and investment capital, while qualitative
factors encompass the accelerator's local market experience and reputation. Studies using ANP to evaluate
and select the most suitable accelerator from a startup's point of view have never been done before. This
work aims to use ANP to investigate critical criteria and rank alternatives to assist the startup's decision.
The numerical example showed the feasibility and potential of using a multi-criteria decision-making
technique to study a startup's perspective on accelerators. Show less

Accelerators play a critical role in fostering innovative ecosystems and nurturing startups. The evaluation and selection of startups, particularly technology-based startups, for acceleration programs are essential in accelerator economy and management. Assessment of startups requires consideration of numerical and qualitative criteria such as sales, prior startup experience, demand validation, and product maturity. Startups must be ranked based on the varying importance of criteria, which can… Show more

Accelerators play a critical role in fostering innovative ecosystems and nurturing startups. The evaluation and selection of startups, particularly technology-based startups, for acceleration programs are essential in accelerator economy and management. Assessment of startups requires consideration of numerical and qualitative criteria such as sales, prior startup experience, demand validation, and product maturity. Startups must be ranked based on the varying importance of criteria, which can be identified as a fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem. MCDM methods have proven effective in managing complex problems. However, the use of MCDM techniques in startup selection and evaluation of criteria interrelationships from the accelerator perspective is yet to be researched. This study proposes a hybrid DEMATEL-ANP-based fuzzy PROMETHEE II model to rank startups and examine the interrelationships between factors. The final preference values are fuzzy numbers, making a fuzzy ranking method necessary for decision-making. An extension of ranking fuzzy numbers using a spread area-based relative maximizing and minimizing set is suggested to improve the flexibility of existing ranking MCDM methods. Algorithms and formulas are derived and a comparison demonstrates the merits of the proposed method. Finally, a numerical experiment is designed to address the viability of the hybrid DEMATEL-ANP-based fuzzy PROMETHEE II model. Show less

A new application of the ANP method of determining criteria weights for startup project selection was presented in this work. The numerical example showed the feasibility of using the ANP method to obtain criteria weights without the alternatives. It can help avoid bias in evaluating steps by decision-makers. The chosen criteria are previously defined as important criteria to the selection process. To a greater extent, this research provides accelerators a better understanding of the roles of… Show more

A new application of the ANP method of determining criteria weights for startup project selection was presented in this work. The numerical example showed the feasibility of using the ANP method to obtain criteria weights without the alternatives. It can help avoid bias in evaluating steps by decision-makers. The chosen criteria are previously defined as important criteria to the selection process. To a greater extent, this research provides accelerators a better understanding of the roles of factors (criteria) influencing decision-making procedures. Show less

This paper provides an accessible and efficiently conducting ranking method and expands the fuzzy MCDM application to the context of diversity perception.

. Several studies have applied DEMATEL in the area of innovation, business, and management. However, studies using the DEMATEL method on the development of Business Model Innovation (BMI) in the organization have not yet been conducted. With the technique’s capabilities and advantage, this paper aims to fill this gap and visualize the interrelationship between internal influencing factors on BMI for deeper understanding and recognition of the mutual influences based on an influential… Show more

. Several studies have applied DEMATEL in the area of innovation, business, and management. However, studies using the DEMATEL method on the development of Business Model Innovation (BMI) in the organization have not yet been conducted. With the technique’s capabilities and advantage, this paper aims to fill this gap and visualize the interrelationship between internal influencing factors on BMI for deeper understanding and recognition of the mutual influences based on an influential relationship map (IRM). A numerical example was carried out to test the feasibility of using DEMATEL to evaluate and gain a better understanding of BMI. The main contribution of this study is a causal analysis among internal organization factors influencing BMI by using DEMATEL, a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method, that explains the interdependency relationships and finds critical factors of a complex system. Show less

Many studies have been conducted to focus on dealing with workgroup diversity as it is one of the most challenging issues facing organizations today. However, studies addressing learning personal perception, especially in diversity workgroups using fuzzy MCDM somewhat limited. The purpose of this work is to establish a multi-criteria model based on fuzzy set theory to evaluate and rank the willingness to work in a diverse workgroup of experienced employees. An empirical example was conducted… Show more

Many studies have been conducted to focus on dealing with workgroup diversity as it is one of the most challenging issues facing organizations today. However, studies addressing learning personal perception, especially in diversity workgroups using fuzzy MCDM somewhat limited. The purpose of this work is to establish a multi-criteria model based on fuzzy set theory to evaluate and rank the willingness to work in a diverse workgroup of experienced employees. An empirical example was conducted with decision-makers from Europe, Asia, and South America. The main contribution of the paper is applying fuzzy MCDM to solve the uncertainty and vagueness of human’s subjective points of view about working in a diverse workgroup. Show less

This work proposes relative maximizing and minimizing sets to improve upon Chen’s ranking method. Comparative examples are provided to demonstrate the advantages of the proposed ranking method, and an experiment is conducted to show its robustness. The proposed ranking method is applied to a fuzzy multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) model to present its applicability. The ranking procedure can be clearly displayed to enhance the execution efficiency of the suggested fuzzy MCDM model. A… Show more

This work proposes relative maximizing and minimizing sets to improve upon Chen’s ranking method. Comparative examples are provided to demonstrate the advantages of the proposed ranking method, and an experiment is conducted to show its robustness. The proposed ranking method is applied to a fuzzy multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) model to present its applicability. The ranking procedure can be clearly displayed to enhance the execution efficiency of the suggested fuzzy MCDM model. A numerical example is used to display the feasibility of the proposed model. Finally, an experiment is investigated to show that the proposed ranking method improves upon Chen’s method inconsistently ranking the final fuzzy numbers in the suggested fuzzy MCDM model. Show less