In this example, the highest-priority objective is “increase prof-
its,” so it is weighted as 4; “use few internal resources” has the low-
est priority and is weighted as 1. Now notice that alternative A is
given a high probability (9) of meeting the objective of increasing
profits. If you multiply that estimate by the ranking you’ve assigned
to this objective (4), the resulting score for alternative A in that
square of the matrix is 36 (9
× 4 = 36). As you can see, alternative A’s
total score is higher than alternative B’s, making it a higher value to
the company.
The Trade-off Table
Another method for comparing alternatives is the trade-off table.