Select televised sportscasters for Olympic Games by analytic network process

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to show how a multiple criteria decision‐making method, the analytic network process (ANP) is applied to help Taiwanese TV companies to effectively select optimal televised sportscasters for the Olympic Games.

Design/methodology/approach

After interviewing 44 practitioners, criteria for the selection of the Olympic Games televised sportscasters were collected. To avoid the complicated computing process from additional pairwise comparisons of the ANP, the 12 critical criteria that were mentioned more than 30 times by theses respondents were retained. After discussions with 18 senior executives these were classified in three perspectives to structure the hierarchy for the selection of the Olympic Games televised sportscasters.

Findings

After discussions with the 18 senior executives, it is found that the selection criteria for televised sportscasters are interrelated. Unlike former contributors who ignored the interdependence among factors, a more feasible and accurate approach, the ANP, which captures the dependent relationship, is applied in this paper to handle such problems.

Practical implications

According to the hierarchy base on three perspectives and 12 important criteria, Taiwanese TV companies could select the optimal Olympic Games televised sportscasters more effectively. A practical application of the ANP presented is generic and could be exploited for Taiwanese TV companies.

Originality/value

The Olympic Games are one of the most important and most popular sporting events in the world. This paper contributes to a more effective selection of the optimal Olympic Games televised sportscasters.

Citation

Liao, S. and Chang, K. (2009), "Select televised sportscasters for Olympic Games by analytic network process", Management Decision, Vol. 47 No. 1, pp. 14-23. https://doi.org/10.1108/00251740910929678