Grey systems theory in economics – a historical applications review

Abstract

Purpose – As the grey systems theory has been used over the time in different economic areas, in the following, a short literature review will be put forward, starting from the usage of these theory in the supply chain management, decision-making process, financial performance evaluation, credit risk, energy consumption, investment efficiency, etc. The purpose of this paper is to identify some key studies from all the economic areas in which the grey systems can be used in order to open and to bring to the researchers new domains in which they can manifest their interest and in which they can successfully use the methods offered by the grey systems theory. Design/methodology/approach – Using the search engine offered by the Web of Science, a literature review has been performed for the economic grey systems applications developed over the time on both economic diagnosis and system’s forecasting. In addition, some hybrid grey systems theory – artificial intelligence techniques models have also been presented. Findings – The grey systems theory has brought its contribution to numerous economic application from various fields such as: supply chain management, decision-making process, financial performance evaluation, credit risk, energy consumption, investment efficiency, firms’ bankruptcy, product development, consumer income, monetization ratio, etc. Research limitations/implications – The present paper identifies the some of the most representative examples in which the grey theory has been used, but, in the same time, there are a lot of studies that have not been mentioned here due to the lack of space. Originality/value – Unlike other review papers written on the grey systems theory area, the present paper is only focusing on the economic applications in which this theory has been successfully used, bringing to the reader a general overview on this field and, in the same time, enabling new research perspectives.