Transactional approach in assessment of operational performance of companies in transport infrastructure
Abstract: Offer an alternative
method to assess operational performance of companies in transport
infrastructure of a region by making a comparison between transaction costs.
The method is supposed to be a cross-functional and possibly applied to an
analysis of economic entities of a different order (country, region, sector,
companies) while evaluating “viscosity” / complexity of the outside and the
inside.
Design/methodology/approach: The paper includes an analysis of various
methodological approaches to assess a development level of the transport
infrastructure in a region. Within the author's approach and for purposed of
the research, an index of transaction capacity or the transactionalness index
is proposed, which determines a level of transaction costs calculated against
the cost of production and revenue. The approach is piloted using the
region-wise consolidated financial data of companies involved in the Russian
transport infrastructure for 2005/2013.
Findings: The proposed alternative way to measure corporate operating
efficiency has proved its academic consistency. A specific comparison between
the transaction costs using the transactionalness index allows first to
identify companies or regions/sectors, where there is excess complexity of
economical communication in bargaining. Secondly, the index does not only point
out indirectly to a degree of development in the institutional environment, but
also the infrastructure (the transport one in the example given). Third, the
transactionalness level may say of uncertainty and risks. As an addition to
theoretical and methodological aspects of transaction costs, the authors
justify an approach to their size estimation, as well as their differentiation
dividing them into two groups: those of a natural type and a background type.
In a course of their discussion, the authors have concluded that there are such
transaction costs in place, which are standard in a manner of speaking.
Originality/value: There is a discussion whether it is scientifically
reasonable to use an index of transactionalness. There are reasons for
applicability of the alternative approach to assess operational performance of
companies in transport infrastructure as an indicative criterion of favouring
external conditions to execute exchange transactions. According to the authors,
a high level of transactionalness is associated with a low development level of
transport infrastructure in a region. This says that their competitiveness is
specifically less.
Keywords: transactionalness,
transport infrastructure, transaction costs, performance of transport
infrastructure
Author: Valery Dubrovsky,
Natalya Yaroshevich, Evgeny Kuzmin
Journal Code: jptindustrigg160025
