Searching for an equivalence between decision rules and concordance-discordance preference model in multicriteria choice problems

Solving multicriteria decision problems, like choice and ranking, requires the use of decision maker's DM's (Decision Maker's) preference model. In this paper, we investigate some issues of equivalence between the preference model in terms of "if..., then..." decision rules and a concordance-discordance preference model based on the use of the outranking relation. The decision rule model is attractive for at least two reasons: (i) it is intelligible and speaks the language of the DM, (ii) the preference information coming from the DM is a set of decision examples. The decision rules are induced from rough approximations of the preference relation specified in decision examples. Then, from the set of decision rules representing the DM's preferences, criteria weights and veto thresholds are inferred, setting up an equivalent preference model following from concordance-discordance tests proposed in ELECTRE methods. A simple example will illustrate the interest of such an equivalence.