Jim Locke, an undergraduate student in the ESU College of Business, is trying to decide which microcomputer to purchase with the money his parents gave him for Christmas. He has reduced the number of computers he has been considering to three, calling them system 1 (S1), system 2 (S2), and system 3 (S3). For each computer, he would like to consider the price, the brand name, the memory capacity, speed, flexibility, and compatibility with IBM PCs.
To make the correct decision, he has decided to make pairwise comparisons for all the factors. For price, the first computer system is equally to moderately preferred over the second computer system and very to extremely strongly preferred over the third computer system. The second computer system is strongly preferred over the third computer system. For brand name, the first computer system is equally preferred to the second computer system, and the first computer system is strongly to very strongly preferred over the third computer system. The second computer system is moderately to strongly preferred over the third computer system. When it comes to memory, the second computer is equally to moderately preferred over the first computer system, and the third computer system is very strongly preferred over the first computer system. Furthermore, the third computer system is strongly to very strongly preferred over the second computer system. For speed, the second computer system is moderately preferred to the first computer system, but the first computer system is equally to moderately preferred over the third computer system. Furthermore, the second computer system is strongly preferred over the third computer system.
For the flexibility factor, the third computer system is very to extremely strongly preferred over the first computer system, and the second computer system is equally to moderately preferred over the first computer system. The third computer system is also moderately to strongly preferred over the second computer system.
Finally, Jim has used pairwise comparisons to look at how compatible each computer system is with the IBM PC. Using this analysis, he has determined that the first computer system is very to extremely strongly preferred over the second computer system when it comes to compatibility. The first computer system is moderately to strongly preferred over the third computer system, and the third computer system is moderately preferred over the second computer system. When it comes to comparing the factors, Jim has used pairwise comparisons to look at price, brand name, memory, speed, flexibility, and compatibility.
Here are the results of the analysis. Price is extremely preferred to brand name, moderately to strongly preferred to memory, strongly preferred to speed, moderately preferred to flexibility, and equally to moderately preferred to PC compatibility. In other words, price is a very important factor. The computer's memory is equally to moderately preferred to brand name, speed is equally preferred to brand name, flexibility is moderately to strongly preferred to brand name, and PC compatibility is strongly preferred to brand name. In looking at memory, Jim has determined that memory is equally to moderately preferred to speed. PC compatibility, however, is strongly to very strongly preferred to memory, and overall flexibility is equally to moderately preferred to the computer's memory. PC compatibility is strongly to very strongly preferred to speed, and flexibility is moderately preferred to speed. Finally, Jim has determined that PC compatibility is equally to moderately preferred to flexibility.
Using all of these preferences for pairwise comparisons, determine the priorities or factor evaluations, along with the appropriate consistency ratios for price, brand name, memory, speed, flexibility, and PC compatibility for the three different computer systems. In addition, determine the overall weights for each of the factors. Which computer system should be selected?