IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jmathe/v11y2023i14p3105-d1193596.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Using an Interval Type-2 Fuzzy AROMAN Decision-Making Method to Improve the Sustainability of the Postal Network in Rural Areas

Author

Listed:
  • Ivana Nikolić

    (Faculty of Transport and Traffic Engineering, University of Belgrade, Vojvode Stepe 305, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia)

  • Jelena Milutinović

    (ICT College of Vocational Studies, Academy of Technical and Art Applied Studies Belgrade, Zdravka Čelara 16, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia)

  • Darko Božanić

    (Military Academy, University of Defence in Belgrade, Veljka Lukica Kurjaka 33, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia)

  • Momčilo Dobrodolac

    (Faculty of Transport and Traffic Engineering, University of Belgrade, Vojvode Stepe 305, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia)

Abstract

One of the crucial pillars of each state’s development strategy relates to service provision in rural areas. An adequate scope of these services is a prerequisite for uniform regional progress. Postal operators play a key role in supporting these development policies, by providing postal, financial and transportation services to each citizen in a state, regardless of place of residence. The postal network represents one of the biggest logistics networks worldwide. However, since it is not financially justified to provide services to all citizens, even to those that live in the most remote areas, the question of how to optimize the postal network is always topical. This problem is very complex because the postal units’ existence in rural areas cannot be considered just from an economic standpoint; many other criteria should be considered. The model proposed in this paper can be considered a decision-making tool designed to support policymakers in planning the postal network. First, we identify the criteria that should be considered in decision-making by an extensive literature review. We then apply the FUCOM method to determine the importance of individual criteria. Finally, we propose an Interval Type-2 Fuzzy AROMAN approach to determine which postal unit should be reorganized.

Suggested Citation

  • Ivana Nikolić & Jelena Milutinović & Darko Božanić & Momčilo Dobrodolac, 2023. "Using an Interval Type-2 Fuzzy AROMAN Decision-Making Method to Improve the Sustainability of the Postal Network in Rural Areas," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(14), pages 1-26, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jmathe:v:11:y:2023:i:14:p:3105-:d:1193596
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/11/14/3105/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2227-7390/11/14/3105/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. András Donát Kovács & Péter Gulyás & Jenő Zsolt Farkas, 2021. "Tourism Perspectives in National Parks—A Hungarian Case Study from the Aspects of Rural Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-18, October.
    2. Agnieszka Budziewicz-Guźlecka & Anna Drab-Kurowska, 2020. "Problems of Infrastructure Markets with Particular Emphasis on the Postal Market in the Context of Digital Exclusion," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-18, June.
    3. Fernanda Alves de Araújo & João Gilberto Mendes dos Reis & Marcia Terra da Silva & Emel Aktas, 2022. "A Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process Model to Evaluate Logistics Service Expectations and Delivery Methods in Last-Mile Delivery in Brazil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(10), pages 1-18, May.
    4. Flavia Dana Oltean & Manuela Rozalia Gabor, 2022. "Wine Tourism—A Sustainable Management Tool for Rural Development and Vineyards: Cross-Cultural Analysis of the Consumer Profile from Romania and Moldova," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-24, October.
    5. Barbara Wieliczko & Agnieszka Kurdyś-Kujawska & Zbigniew Floriańczyk, 2021. "EU Rural Policy’s Capacity to Facilitate a Just Sustainability Transition of the Rural Areas," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-23, August.
    6. Luis Camarero & Jesús Oliva, 2019. "Thinking in rural gap: mobility and social inequalities," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 5(1), pages 1-7, December.
    7. Piotr Prus & Marek Sikora, 2021. "The Impact of Transport Infrastructure on the Sustainable Development of the Region—Case Study," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-15, March.
    8. Eryong Xue & Jian Li & Xingcheng Li, 2021. "Sustainable Development of Education in Rural Areas for Rural Revitalization in China: A Comprehensive Policy Circle Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-17, November.
    9. Neutens, Tijs & Delafontaine, Matthias & Schwanen, Tim & Weghe, Nico Van de, 2012. "The relationship between opening hours and accessibility of public service delivery," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 128-140.
    10. Ignazio Cabras & Chi KM Lau, 2019. "The availability of local services and its impact on community cohesion in rural areas: Evidence from the English countryside," Local Economy, London South Bank University, vol. 34(3), pages 248-270, May.
    11. Mizutani, Fumitoshi & Uranishi, Shuji, 2003. "The Post Office vs. Parcel Delivery Companies: Competition Effects on Costs and Productivity," Journal of Regulatory Economics, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 299-319, May.
    12. Michael DOBLE, 1995. "Measuring And Improving Technical Efficiency In Uk Post Office Counters Using Data Envelopment Analysis," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 66(1), pages 31-64, March.
    13. Anupama Singh & Aarti Singh & Haresh Kumar Sharma & Saibal Majumder, 2023. "Criteria Selection of Housing Loan Based on Dominance-Based Rough Set Theory: An Indian Case," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-14, June.
    14. Antonín Vaishar & Milada Šťastná, 2021. "Accessibility of Services in Rural Areas: Southern Moravia Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-19, August.
    15. Katarina Mostarac & Petar Mostarac & Zvonko Kavran & Dragana Šarac, 2022. "Determining Optimal Locations of Postal Access Points Based on Simulated Annealing," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-17, July.
    16. Subas Neupane & Saila Kyrönlahti & Prakash K.C. & Anna Siukola & Hanna Kosonen & Kirsi Lumme-Sandt & Pirjo Nikander & Clas-Håkan Nygård, 2022. "Indicators of Sustainable Employability among Older Finnish Postal Service Employees: A Longitudinal Study of Age and Time Effects," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-13, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mohd Anjum & Hong Min & Zubair Ahmed, 2024. "Healthcare Waste Management through Multi-Stage Decision-Making for Sustainability Enhancement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(11), pages 1-18, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tochkov, Kiril, 2015. "The efficiency of postal services in the age of market liberalization and the internet: Evidence from Central and Eastern Europe," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 35-42.
    2. Irune Ruiz-Martínez & Javier Esparcia, 2020. "Internet Access in Rural Areas: Brake or Stimulus as Post-Covid-19 Opportunity?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-17, November.
    3. Jiachang Gao & Yuhan Wang & Mei Zhang & Zenghui Huo, 2022. "Group Heterogeneity of Rural Households’ Satisfaction with Good Life from the Perspective of Rural Revitalization—A Case Study from Zhejiang Province of China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-15, April.
    4. Fumitoshi Mizutani & Eri Nakamura, 2017. "How do governance factors affect inefficiency? Stochastic frontier analysis of public utility firms in Japan," Economia e Politica Industriale: Journal of Industrial and Business Economics, Springer;Associazione Amici di Economia e Politica Industriale, vol. 44(3), pages 267-289, September.
    5. Vanessa Zorrilla-Muñoz & María Silveria Agulló-Tomás & Carmen Rodríguez-Blázquez & Alba Ayala & Gloria Fernandez-Mayoralas & Maria João Forjaz, 2022. "Ageing Perception as a Key Predictor of Self-Rated Health by Rural Older People—A Study with Gender and Inclusive Perspectives," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-13, February.
    6. Jaros³aw Brodny & Magdalena Tutak, 2023. "The level of implementing sustainable development goal "Industry, innovation and infrastructure" of Agenda 2030 in the European Union countries: Application of MCDM methods," Oeconomia Copernicana, Institute of Economic Research, vol. 14(1), pages 47-102, March.
    7. Christian Jaag & Martin Koller & Urs Trinkner, 2009. "Calculating the Cost of the Universal Service Obligation: The Need for a Global Approach," Chapters, in: Michael A. Crew & Paul R. Kleindorfer (ed.), Progress in the Competitive Agenda in the Postal and Delivery Sector, chapter 8, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    8. Ishida, Junichiro & Matsushima, Noriaki, 2009. "Should civil servants be restricted in wage bargaining? A mixed-duopoly approach," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(3-4), pages 634-646, April.
    9. Marcin K. Widomski & Anna Musz-Pomorska, 2023. "Sustainable Development of Rural Areas in Poland since 2004 in the Light of Sustainability Indicators," Land, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-29, February.
    10. Bingquan Liu & Boyang Nie & Yakun Wang & Xuemin Han & Yongqing Li, 2023. "Does New Infrastructure Affect Regional Carbon Intensity? Empirical Evidence from China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-20, December.
    11. Coronese, Matteo & Occelli, Martina & Lamperti, Francesco & Roventini, Andrea, 2023. "AgriLOVE: Agriculture, land-use and technical change in an evolutionary, agent-based model," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 208(C).
    12. Iturralde, Maria José & Quirós, Cipriano, 2008. "Analysis of efficiency of the European postal sector," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(1), pages 84-90, July.
    13. Florian Ploeckl, 2016. "Uniform Service, Uniform Productivity? Regional Efficiency of the Imperial German Postal, Telegraph, and Telephone Service," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 56(2), pages 221-243, July.
    14. Aishwarya Narendr & S. Vinay & Bharath Haridas Aithal & Sutapa Das, 2022. "Multi-dimensional parametric coastal flood risk assessment at a regional scale using GIS," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(7), pages 9569-9597, July.
    15. Dolores Mensah Hervie & Ernest Amoako-Atta & Md Billal Hossain & Csaba Bálint Illés & Anna Dunay, 2022. "Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Hotel Employees in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-18, February.
    16. Antonín Vaishar & Milada Šťastná, 2021. "Accessibility of Services in Rural Areas: Southern Moravia Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-19, August.
    17. Viorica Gutan & Ina Mogildea & Ionica Soare & Gheorghe Adrian Zugravu, 2024. "The Composition, Benefits and Risks of Wine Consumption," Economics and Applied Informatics, "Dunarea de Jos" University of Galati, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, issue 2, pages 146-154.
    18. Iwona Bąk & Katarzyna Wawrzyniak & Maciej Oesterreich, 2021. "The Impact of Transformational Changes on the Socio-Economic Conditions of the Rural Population. An Example of Poland," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-19, April.
    19. Šťastná Milada & Vaishar Antonín, 2023. "Opportunities for the Development of a Borderland Rural Territory: A Case Study of the Hlučín Region," Quaestiones Geographicae, Sciendo, vol. 42(4), pages 91-106, December.
    20. Ding Chen & Leonard F. S. Wang & Ji Sun, 2023. "Does CSR influence privatization wave?," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 44(2), pages 1088-1097, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jmathe:v:11:y:2023:i:14:p:3105-:d:1193596. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.