A Hybrid SWOT–PEST–AHP Framework for Structured Multi-Criteria Decision Making in Complex Systems

Complex socio-technical decisions require explicit links between environmental analysis, strategic diagnosis and quantitative assessment. This study examines a sequential decision-support procedure using political, economic, social and technological (PEST) analysis, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis, the TOWS matrix and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP). The approach is demonstrated by comparing five infantry fighting vehicles across five economic and operational criteria. PEST and SWOT inform the decision context and criteria but are not mathematically converted into AHP weights; the AHP pairwise comparisons were performed by the authors. Recalculation from the reported pairwise matrices yields a global priority of 0.318 for Bradley ODS. Controlled sensitivity analysis retains this alternative in first place in all 30 tested single-criterion perturbations, although some lower positions change. A supplementary Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) comparison likewise ranks Bradley ODS first but does not reproduce the entire AHP ordering. This study offers a reproducible case-based evaluation of an established combination of methods rather than a new decision algorithm; generalisation and independence of judgments remain limitations.