Multiple criteria decision making and robust optimization to design a development plan for small and medium-sized enterprises in the east of Iran

This paper is based on a project of developing small and medium-sized enterprises in South Khorasan, Iran. A combination of multiple criteria decision making and robust multi-objective optimization is used for prioritizing industrial clusters and optimally assigning governmental funds. First, criteria for evaluating clusters are weighted using the best-worst method and clusters are prioritized using the VIKOR method. Second, governmental funding is assigned to the highest priority cluster using robust multi-objective mathematical programming. An innovative method is applied to identify the solution of the Pareto-front with the highest efficiency. In a case study from South Khorasan, computational results show that international market share attraction is the most important criterion and the age of the cluster is the least important criterion in the development of the industrial clusters. The cluster defined for barberry and jujube fruits is determined to be the first-ranked cluster. Most of the total available budget for the development of this cluster is assigned to action plans for marketing and trade development and for investment and financial planning. The proposed methodology thus successfully aided the decision makers to plan their work regarding funding of industrial clusters. We believe that the methodology can be applied as a general tool to help managers of industrial development to better assign governmental funding to develop industrial clusters. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12351-023-00761-1.