Chapter 1 ELECTRE METHODS

Over the last three decades a large body of research in the field of ELECTRE family methods appeared. This research has been conducted by several researchers mainly in Europe. The purpose of this chapter is to present a survey of the ELECTRE methods since their first appearance in mid-sixties, when ELECTRE I was proposed by Bernard Roy and his colleagues at SEMA consultancy company. The chapter is organized in five sections. The first section presents a brief history of ELECTRE methods. The second section is devoted to the main features of ELECTRE methods. The third section describes the different ELECTRE methods existing in the literature according to the three main problematics: choosing, ranking and sorting. The fourth section presents the recent developments and future issues on ELECTRE methods. Finally, the fifth section is devoted to the software and applications. An extensive and up-to-date bibliography is also provided in the end of this chapter.