Int. J. Business Innovation and Research, Vol. 6, No. 5, 2012 499 Copyright © 2012 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd. Application of analytic hierarchy process in identification of productive investment sector: a case study of Sylhet in Bangladesh M.Z. Hossain and S.K. Das* Department of Statistics, Shahjalal University of Science & Technology, Sylhet 3114, Bangladesh Fax: +880 821 715257 E-mail: mzhossain_bds@yahoo.com E-mail: sumon_148@yahoo.com *Corresponding author J.U. Ahmed Department of Economics, Moulvibazar Government College, Moulvibazar, Bangladesh E-mail: a.jasimuddin@yahoo.com Abstract: This study has attempted to develop and apply the analytical hierarchy process model to identify the productive investment sectors in the Sylhet region of Bangladesh, considering nine economic resources available in the region as criteria for selecting the productive sectors from nine potential alternatives. Accordingly, this study has identified accessibility of fund, possibility of high profit and availability of raw materials as the most important criteria for investment and finally, tea industry, fisheries and livestock-based industry and agro-based industry (processing) as the most productive investment sectors in the region. Keywords: Bangladesh; Sylhet region; AHP; analytical hierarchy process; productive investment sector; investment criteria. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Hossain, M.Z., Das, S.K. and Ahmed, J.U. (2012) ‘Application of analytic hierarchy process in identification of productive investment sector: a case study of Sylhet in Bangladesh’, Int. J. Business Innovation and Research, Vol. 6, No. 5, pp.499–513. Biographical notes: M.Z. Hossain is a Professor and Head of the Statistics Department, SUST, Sylhet, Bangladesh, obtained PhD in Statistics (in the area of Demography) from Banaras Hindu University, India, and MPhil degree in Statistics (in the area of Bio-statistics) from Rajshahi University, Bangladesh. He has been engaged in research and teaching for more than 20 years. He has provided consultancy to various issues including Food Security for Vulnerable Group Development (FSVGD) Project, UNICEF-BBS Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys (MICS) and Patuakhali Barguna Aquaculture Extension Project (PBAEP). He designed and implemented a number of study projects on various issues (migration, food security and investment climate) in micro-level