Evaluating the strategies of compressed natural gas industry using an integrated SWOT and MCDM approach

Out of available alternate fuels compressed natural gas (CNG) is the one which is meeting the maximum needs of countries worldwide, who want to switch over to alternate fuels. However, despite the fact that CNG are often seen as a panacea by policy-makers, there are a number of barriers to their widespread market penetration and diffusion. This paper aims to evaluate the internal and external environment of CNG industry in Iran applying SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) analysis and prioritizing the strategies for stimulating the growth of Iranian CNG market. Based on SWOT analysis nine strategies were suggested. Strategy prioritization to promote the development of CNG economy in Iran is a typical multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) problem. To deal with the ambiguity associated with the judgments of decision-makers, a modified Fuzzy Goal Programing (GP) is used as an evaluation tool, where uncertainties of the decisions are translated into fuzzy numbers. The suggested technique is not limited to Iran, and it is a generic practice that can also be applied to evaluate the CNG market in other countries.