Article
Convergence or Divergence among Business Models of Public
Bus Transport Authorities across the Globe: A Fuzzy Approach
Bü¸sra Buran
1,
* and Mehmet Erçek
2
Citation: Buran, B.; Erçek, M.
Convergence or Divergence among
Business Models of Public Bus
Transport Authorities across the
Globe: A Fuzzy Approach.
Sustainability 2021, 13, 10861. https://
doi.org/10.3390/su131910861
Academic Editors: João Carlos de
Oliveira Matias and Paolo Renna
Received: 18 August 2021
Accepted: 22 September 2021
Published: 30 September 2021
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1
Graduate School, Istanbul Technical University, Maslak, Istanbul 34469, Turkey
2
Management Engineering Department, Istanbul Technical University, Be¸sikta¸s, Istanbul 34367, Turkey;
ercekme@itu.edu.tr
* Correspondence: buran18@itu.edu.tr
Abstract:
Building on the debate about global convergence or divergence of practices, this study
aims to query the viability of a new strategic action tool specifically geared to the interests of public
bus transportation authorities (PBTA) around the globe and explore the degree of homogeneity in
their responses as well as the possible drivers of them. To answer its research question, the study
first offers a generic business model design for a PBTA, which integrates an extended version of the
business model canvas with external environmental factors in order to enhance its sustainability.
Subsequently, the importance attributions of international transportation experts to different model
components are evaluated by using the Spherical Fuzzy AHP method. The model is developed in
three hierarchical layers and evaluated by experts from four continents: America, Asia, Australia,
and Europe. The results indicate that the expert opinions tend to converge more on the internal
components of the model and diverge on the external components, especially regarding economic
and technological factors. A strategic response action set is also designed to facilitate the adoption
of the model by PBTA. The study not only extends the research on the strategic management of the
public bus transportation domain but also contributes to the convergence and divergence debate by
offering a reconciliatory duality perspective.
Keywords:
public bus transportation authorities (PBTA); business model; Spherical Fuzzy Analytic
Hierarchy Process (SF-AHP); convergence; divergence
1. Introduction
1.1. Aim of the Study
Despite a heavy hit from the COVID-19 pandemic, public transportation systems still
represent the backbone of moving goods and people within metropolitan cities, as they
combine marine, rail, and bus modes under their jurisdiction [
1
–
9
]. In populated metropoli-
tan areas and especially in developing countries, bus transportation remains the central
mode of transportation to reach relatively diverse and remote destinations within cities.
As distancing measures have become prevalent after the pandemic, which strongly incen-
tivize rapid digitalization across industries, public bus transportation authorities/agencies
(PBTA) face additional challenges to cope with these abrupt transformations [
10
]. It is
argued that the increasing digitalization spurred by advancements in the information and
communication technologies (ICT) not only shape homogenizing forces at the demand side
such as convergence of global consumer consumption patterns across countries [
11
] but
also engender technological convergence at the supply side via fusion of diverse technolog-
ical domains and applications [
12
]. Even though convergence of individual and firm-level
practices indicates a long debate, within which many contend that convergence will not
occur en masse and rapidly, there is growing evidence about the diffusion of convergent
practices due to the intensification of technology. Thus, citizens of metropolitan areas
around the globe increasingly witness shared mobility services, IoT-enabled smart commu-
nication platforms, or open application programming interface designs, many of which are
Sustainability 2021, 13, 10861. https://doi.org/10.3390/su131910861 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability
