Tackling the fuzziness of business model concept: a study in the airline industry

This study proposes the use of fuzzy AHP method to evaluate the structure of airline business model attributes and its corresponding hierarchy of evaluation index. As the AHP method requires, several pairwise comparisons were made using linguistic variable to determine the weights of criteria and sub-criteria. According to the results, value added processes have been found as the most important criteria while core products and services under value proposition criterion have been identified as the most important sub-criteria. This study suggests fuzzy AHP as a useful method in determining the important attributes of business model. In addition, the results of the present study contribute to the business model literature by determining importance and weights of criteria and sub-criteria for the airline business model and may act as a strategic tool to modify or generate a winning business model for the airline industry.