Identité organisationnelle et adoption d’une innovation de business model. Le modèle low cost de Transavia au sein d’Air France (2004-2012)

A radical innovation of business model changes the way organizations create value for their customers and implement it. The interplay between internal and external factors will induce the innovation’s success or failure. This article underscores the importance of organizational identity in the adoption of a radically different business model. A radically different business model is introduced in the European airline industry in the nineties with the rise of low cost airlines : incumbent companies can either adopt or reject this new business model. This article relies on an in-depth analysis of the adoption of the low cost business model at Air France between 2004 and 2012 through Transavia, its subsidiary inherited from its merger with KLM. This article underlines the importance of organizational identity and its different facets as a factor inducing the adoption of a radically different business model.