A review of goal programming

Abstract

The field of goal programming is continuing to develop at a rapid pace. New variants of the goal programming model are being introduced into the literature and existing variants combined together to form a more comprehensive and flexible modelling structure. Goal programming is also being applied to wide a range of modern applications and is increasingly being used in combination with other techniques from operations research and artificial intelligence to enhance its modelling flexibility. This paper presents a review of the field of goal programming focussing on recent developments. The current range of goal programming variants is described. The range of techniques that goal programming has been combined or integrated with is discussed. A range of modern applications of goal programming are given and conclusions are drawn.