UNDERSTANDING CONSUMER-DRIVEN BUSINESS MODEL FOR MOBILE COMMERCE BASED ON A FUZZY SYNTHETIC EVALUATION METHODOLOGY J.J. Wang, P. Lei and R.E. Sheriff Mobile and Satellite Communications Research Centre School of Engineering, Design and Technology University of Bradford BD1 1DP, UK ABSTRACT The rapidly converging technologies of wireless networks and mobile telecommunication systems are leading to a phenomenal growth of innovative and intelligent mobile applications, generally referred to as M-Commerce (Mobile Commerce). Mobile operators and handset manufacturers are expecting to utilize these value-added services and device features to drive new revenues in the telecommunications industry and therefore to deliver sustainable revenues from consumers. In this situation a viable business model needs to be developed, which rewards all stakeholders in the value- chain. As M-Commerce is a consumer-centric product, the traditional business model based on the mobile operator’s perspective needs re-orienting towards a consumer driven approach. This research study first presents an evaluated business model for the telecommunications industry, which clearly shows the relationship of each party or stakeholder, including terminal manufacturer and mobile operator. A Fuzzy Synthetic Evaluation method is then applied to help all stakeholders understand the customers’ preference for M-Commerce services. The results are then used to derive consumer-centric marketing strategies, which can be used to obtain investment return from the consumer. KEYWORDS Mobile Commerce, Value Chain, Business Model, Decision Making System, Fuzzy Logic. 1. INTRODUCTION The convergence of mobile telecommunications and the Internet has brought about the demand for “Internet in the pocket” light-weight, affordable terminals. The significant business opportunities to be gained through introducing new applications and services are driving the world’s telecommunications engineers to develop and introduce innovative, cutting edge solutions at a rapid pace. M-Commerce, which is defined as the commercial transactions conducted through a variety of mobile equipments over a wireless telecommunication network in a wireless environment (Barnes, 2002, Coursaris and Hassanein, 2002, Gunasaekaran and Ngai, 2003), is becoming a leading driver for the successful rollout of the current cellular systems (Paavilainen 2001). To achieve M-Commerce success, both mobile industries and mobile consumers are looking for the innovative killer applications, or extensions of existing e-commerce applications in a mobile environment. However, it is not the application itself but the business model behind the application that really determines the success. Despite the success of business model for i-mode in Japan, there is not an appropriate business model that could lead to the success of mobile commerce in the current mobile market. To construct such a business model for the current circumstances, mobile industries have to understand the customer’s needs and requirements. In this situation, the objective of this research is to propose a business model from mobile device manufacturer’s point of view as mobile device is the means that consumer interact with the mobile applications. Fuzzy Synthetic Evaluation method is applied to consolidate the customers’ needs and IADIS International Conference e-Society 2007 335