Constantin Zopounidis, Technical University of Crete

Every week a business school professor, an expert in his or her field, defines a key term on FT Lexicon, our online economics, business and finance glossary.

Our professor this week

Constantin Zopounidis is professor of financial engineering and operations research at the Technical University of Crete (Greece) and director of its financial engineering laboratory. He is also research professor in Audencia Nantes School of Management (France) and senior academician of the Royal Academy of Economics and Financial Sciences of Spain.

He is editor of five international research journals and associate editor/member of the editorial board of seven other journals. In early 2012, he was elected president of the Financial Engineering and Banking Society (FEBS).

He has been involved in editing or writing 70 books for international publishers and more than 400 research papers in scientific journals. He has edited conference proceedings and encyclopedias in the areas of finance, accounting, operations research and management science.

In recognition of his research work, he has received several awards and distinctions from international research societies. These include a gold medal and diploma in social and human sciences from the MOISIL International Foundation (1996), a gold medal from the Hellenic Operational Research Society (2009), a long-lasting research contribution award in the field of financial engineering and decision making by ESCP Europe (2012), and the Edgeworth-Pareto Award from the International Society on Multiple Criteria Decision Making (2013). His is also the recipient of the best interdisciplinary research paper award from Decision Sciences Institute (2000), the highly commended paper award from the Emerald Literati Network (2010), and the European Journal of Operational Research best reviewer award/certificate of excellence in reviewing (2010, 2012).

He is frequently invited to speak in international conferences and has given several lectures as visiting professor in many European universities.

Prof Zopounidis has chosen to define the term multiple criteria decision analysis

Why multi criteria decision analysis should be explained

“Nowadays, policy makers and managers within firms and organisations make decisions in a highly complex environment that requires multiple points of view of very different natures to be considered,” says Prof Zopounidis. “Multiple criteria decision analysis introduces a formal framework for supporting the decision process and improving the decision-maker’s understanding of a problem’s characteristics and the available options.”

To find out more about multiple criteria decision analysis, click on the linked term.