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The principal purpose of this paper is to analyze different methods for decision making, with a focus on entrepreneurship in Latin America. Decision-making methods may be informed by aggregation operators that are based on the use of probabilities, weighted averages (WAs) and generalized aggregation operators. The paper presents a new generalized probabilistic weighted averaging (GPWA) operator that unifies WAs and probability in the same formulation, considering the degree of importance of each concept used in the analysis. The fundamental advantage of this approach is that it includes a wide range of particular cases including the probabilistic weighted averaging (PWA) operator, the probabilistic weighted geometric averaging (PWGA) operator and the probabilistic weighted quadratic averaging (PWQA) operator. Quasi-arithmetic means are used to obtain the Quasi-PWA operator and to generalize the approach, which is then applied to a set of hypothetical entrepreneurial investment decisions in a politically unified Latin American region. ; El objetivo principal de este artículo es analizar diferentes mé- todos de toma de decisiones, con enfoque en el emprendimiento en Latinoamérica. Los métodos de toma de decisiones pueden recibir información por parte de operadores de agregación basados en el uso de probabilidades, promedios ponderados (PP) y operadores de agregación generalizados. El artículo presenta un nuevo operador probabilístico generalizado de promedios ponderados (GPWA) que unifica los promedios ponderados y la probabilidad en la misma formulación, considerando el grado de importancia de cada concepto usado en el análisis. La ventaja fundamental de este enfoque es que incluye un amplio rango de casos particulares, incluyendo el operador probabilístico de promedios ponderados, el operador probabilístico de promedios geométricos ponderados y el operador probabilístico de promedios cuadráticos ponderados. Se emplean medios cuasiaritméticos para obtener el operador cuasiprobabilístico de promedios ponderados y ...

ABSTRACTFor the balance between risk and return under the energy geopolitics, this paper attempts to investigate the energy geopolitical attraction rather than the general geopolitical risk of energy‐exporting countries and focus on selecting and ranking the countries characterized by multiple geopolitical determinants. We identify the major determinants of energy geopolitics and construct the energy geopolitical climate index to capture the common underlying characteristics of the energy geopolitical attraction. Then, the energy geopolitical climate index values are extracted from multiple geopolitical determinants using a multiple‐attribute analysis, factor analysis. Finally, 35 energy‐exporting countries are selected to test the effectiveness of the model from the perspective of Chinese energy‐supply security. Empirical results account for the relationship between energy geopolitics and energy‐security strategy of China and indicate that it is an effective solution to strengthen energy cooperation with the peripheral energy‐exporting countries besides the Middle East for improving Chinese energy‐supply security. By comparing empirical results with the real situation of international energy geopolitics, we confirmed the effectiveness and usefulness of the proposed methodology. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Microfinance institutions that aim to increase their asset size and financial performance boost their efficiency when they make financial innovations, improve client follow‐up, and monitor the projects they support to limit the risk of failure.

Review: Jennifer C. Rubenstein, Between Samaritans and States – The Political Ethics of Humanitarian INGOs (Oxford University Press, 2015)