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Managers often have to face kinds of decision-making problems in which a suitable investment alternative has to be evaluated and selected (Zhou et al., 2019; Yan et al., 2017; Rostamzadeh et al., 2017). Such a choice maybe related, for instance, to the technology choose for product development or machine selection for a manufacturing process (Frank et al., 2013). This kind of investment alternatives can be considered a multiple attribute decisionmaking (MADM) problem as it involves a variety of attributes that should be taken into account from finite feasible schemes based on the assessment information provided by decision makers. Due to the uncertain objects and ambiguous human thinking, sometimes it is impossible for decision makers to give all the evaluation values of attributes by exact numbers. The definition of fuzzy set is firstly introduced by Zadeh (1965) to address the uncertainty and ambiguity, which has been widely used in various domains.

Knowledge is certainly one of the most important assets possessed both by individuals and by societies. In (substantial) part of the World, knowledge of individuals is obtained via a formal education in an educational system divided into subsequent several stages (usually pre-primary, primary, secondary, and tertiary education). Nowadays, populations’ costs of formal public education in the majority of countries constitute a significant portion of national wealth, often exceeding 5% of a gross domestic product. On average, World’s education costs reached 4.7% of the World’s GDP in 2013, according to the World Bank (2017). The costs of private education and especially the costs of tertiary education at the top universities in the USA, Canada, UK, or China are also considerably high.

In recent years, the problems of diverse transport mode development policy, travel price, duration and quality have been solved by a wide range of international scientists and researchers (Kandt, Rode, Hoffman, Graff, & Smith, 2015; Seelhorst & Liu, 2015; Woo, Cheng, Li, Chiu, Ho, & Horowitz, 2015; Kirschstein & Meisel, 2015; Guo, Yu, Chen, & Zhang, 2011). The choice of a particular mode of transport as an alternative to another one is subjective and usually based on an individual passenger’s approach to the evaluation of advantages and disadvantages of some particular means of transport (Sivilevičius & Maskeliūnaitė, 2018).A transport system is a system created for transporting large numbers of passengers at the low price of investment. Passengers can usually choose a means of transport based on the criteria, which seem to be important for them.

Pharmaceuticals are chemical and biological substances produced by the pharmaceutical industry, used in therapies and prevention of various diseases. They cover an extremely wide range of products, ranging from simple medicinal preparations, to extremely advanced technological specifics. Similar to food, pharmaceutical products are believed to be one of the most important needs of human beings. They have a significant impact on their health, often support and extend their lives. Due to their specific properties and healthcare function of pharmaceuticals, they are contained in the category of basic products and their significance is appreciated not only by buyers (patients) but also by authorities in most countries. That is why in many countries special attention is paid to the development of production and trade in pharmaceutical products.

Cities are considered centres of economic activity and, presumably, they remain attractive locations for manufacturing firms so as long as benefits agglomeration economies prevail over the costs of agglomeration diseconomies. Agglomeration economies attract firms and labour to co-locate, while agglomeration diseconomies push firms and labour to relocate to decentralised locations (Richardson, 1995). Industry patterns formed across urban landscape of a country or a region will largely depend on the interplay of these opposite forces, as well as on industry- and firm-specific issues. The size of agglomeration and the economic structure may be interrelated and in some economies, mostly larger, patterns of city specialisation emerge. All cities are characterised by being either specialised or diversified, depending on whether their economic activity is concentrated in similar or dissimilar types of production – and larger cities tend to be more diversified (Duranton & Puga, 2000).