Assessing Food and Beverage Companies During a Time of Crisis: A Comparative MCDA Approach

Financial performance analysis plays a pivotal role in assisting companies achieve their future goals more decisively and in identifying the shortcomings in their competition with their rivals. Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) methods are used in complex scenarios where decisions can be made in different variations based on more than one criterion. During the pandemic, uncertainty increased in all capital markets and the volatility of financial instruments was intensely felt. To that end, the performance of 23 companies listed in the Food and Beverage index of Borsa Istanbul, which is an emerging market, between the years 2020 and 2022, corresponding to the pandemic period, will be analyzed in this study. In the research, where 6 accounting and valuation-based ratios were used as criteria, CRITIC objective weighting technique was integrated and analyzes were made with VIKOR, GRA, TOPSIS, SAW, FUCA, ELECTRE III and COPRAS methods. The results of this research are noteworthy as it is the first study on the relevant index that includes 7 different methods comparatively. Interestingly, as a result of the study, the VIKOR method provided the most sustainable success in this period of historical uncertainty, while the FUCA method took the second place.