Multi-Criteria Decision Making and Strategic

Decision Qualityin Management: An Integrated AHP-TOPSIS Approach

Farahim Hajiyev

Abstract. This article examines the role of multi-criteria decision making in improving strategic management decisions under uncertainty, competing priorities, and institutional risk. The study focuses on the integrated use of the Analytic Hierarchy Process and TOPSIS as a decision-support framework for strategic investment evaluation. The central argument is that managerial choices cannot be justified only through intuition or a single financial indicator, because real strategic alternatives must be assessed through return, risk, liquidity, strategic fit, capital requirement, and regulation or compliance at the same time. The scientific novelty of the article lies in adapting the AHP-TOPSIS logic to a strategic decision problem in the Azerbaijani financial sector and presenting it in a transparent article format. The findings show that risk is the dominant criterion in the decision hierarchy, while expected return and strategic fit follow as important supporting priorities. The TOPSIS results indicate that the most appropriate alternative is the one with the most balanced performance across all criteria, not simply the alternative with the highest isolated return. The article concludes that MCDM methods can strengthen decision quality by making managerial priorities measurable, consistent, and easier to defend.

Keywords: multi-criteria decision making, AHP, TOPSIS, strategic management, investment decision, decision quality, Azerbaijan financial sector