The use of the analytical hierarchy process as a method of comparing innovation across regions: The examples of the equipment manufacturing industries of Shanghai and Xiamen, China
本文介绍了一种改进的层次分析法，既能考虑区域特殊性，又能量化区域间创新差异，并以中国上海和厦门的装备制造业为例展示其应用。
Comparing innovation across regions is challenging. Innovation processes and outcomes are shaped by different actors, interactions, and institutions. Regional contingencies complicate the comparison as evident from the existing approaches to explaining innovation across regions. Quantitative innovation measurement approaches may quantify differences between regions, but disregard regional contingencies. Qualitative, heuristic approaches may understand an individual region’s innovation history and culture, but cannot quantify differences between regions. This paper introduces an adapted version of the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) to fill this methodological void. It shows that the AHP allows us both to consider regional contingency and to quantify differences between regions. This paper applies the AHP to compare innovation of the equipment manufacturing industries of Shanghai and Xiamen, China. It thus exemplifies how this method might be used for research and application in human geography, planning, regional science, and related fields.