The Multilevel Gray Evaluation of Innovation Capability of Hub-and-Spoke Enterprise Clusters

In the hub-and-spoke clusters innovation systems, there are a number of system defects which affect the innovation behavior and performance. The evaluation of cluster innovation capability is significant because the process can help us find the system defects. This paper uses multilevel gray evaluation method to evaluate the innovation capability of hub-and-spoke enterprises clusters which combined the advantages of the analytic hierarchy process and a grey clustering method. Firstly, this paper sets up a multi-hierarchy index system based on the structure and character of hub-and-spoke cluster innovation systems. Secondly, it confirms the weight of every index with AHP and gave a general assessment by means of a grey clustering method. Finally, a case study is conducted to validate the evaluation model and the evaluation process. The result shows that this methodology is especially useful when there is partial information and/or qualitative variables are used.