Report Workshop 2: Effective institutional design, regulatory frameworks and contract strategies

This paper describes the progress of world-wide research on institutional design, both on the level of the regulatory regime as well as on the level of the governance of the relation between authority and operator of public transport services. Tendering has found its way into regulatory frameworks and has become a mainstay of governance. A first conclusion is that tendering has become mature, with consequences for existing and new implementations, with refined and contextual lessons coming from research. A second conclusion shows that governance design should intelligently balance including power and control oriented elements with empathic and cooperation oriented elements. A first framework for the analysis of this balance is provided in this paper

Experts’ inventory and rating of core performance indicators and organisational features in public transport: a global Delphi survey

Discussions involving the connection between organisational form and performance in public transport systems take place for over a century and remain at the top of the agenda in the sector. These analyses indicate that some organisational elements might be important for success in public transport. However, studies usually focus on the impacts of a single policy initiative and results are seldom clear. The analysis of the relationship organisation-performance can benefit from a more comprehensive approach that does not treat variables only in an isolated and incremental fashion, but instead considers performance outcomes as the result of the combined effect of different organisational variables. A first step to allow this broader approach is to get the variables right: What organisational features drive strategic performance outcomes, and what performance metrics are more suitable to measure these impacts? A Delphi survey is developed and, based on experts’ judgement, builds authoritative lists of core performance indicators and organisational features. User Satisfaction and Policy Integration between Public Transport and other government areas emerge, respectively, as highest rated variables.Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies. Faculty of Economics and Business. The University of Sydne

Obtaining Personal Jurisdiction over Alien Corporations--A Survey of U.S. Practice

With the increase in international trade, civil litigation between persons of different nationalities has become increasingly important. Today alien and foreign corporations are being brought before American courts to defend actions arising out of products liability, contract, and tort. There is considerable authority holding alien and foreign corporations amenable to jurisdiction on the basis of a single act or business transaction. The states themselves are affecting international trade since state law is chosen to determine the amenability of alien and foreign corporations to suit in diversity actions in federal court. This survey presents a cross-section of recent cases and attempts to distinguish the treatment given alien corporations from the treatment given foreign corporations. While a variety of actions is represented, the majority of the cases deal with products liability. Generally, these cases concern an alien corporation\u27s contacts with a particular state, although some courts might look to contacts with the United States as a whole in determining whether to assume jurisdiction in some types of cases. Recurrent considerations which appear throughout include: (1) whether the corporation has availed itself of the privilege of conducting business within the forum state; (2) whether the corporation knew its product was destined for the forum state; (3) whether the assumption of jurisdiction would violate traditional notions of fair play; (4) whether the plaintiff could realistically bring suit in the alien forum; (5) whether the alien corporation set its product in the normal stream of commerce; and (6) whether an American corporation is an alter ego of the alien corporation. While these considerations are largely derived from the major cases in which suit was brought against foreign corporations in a particular state, the courts balance the same considerations and apply the same standards to alien corporations in determining whether jurisdiction is proper. However, it has been advocated that a different standard should be applied in cases where alien corporations are involved

Competitive Tendering In The Netherlands: Central Planning Or Functional Specifications?

Institute of Transport and Logistics Studies. Faculty of Economics and Business. The University of Sydne