CEEJME 03 2013 - coverCENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS
Vol. 1, No. 1, September 2013, WROCŁAW SCHOOL OF BANKING

ISSN electronic version 2353 – 9119

Editor
: Joost Platje

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Vol. 1, No. 1, 9-33, September 2013

Land Transport Policy in Ireland and Poland: a game theorist’s view
Authors:
David Ramsey, Wrocław University of Technology, Poland

 

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Abstract: This paper looks at some of the challenges facing the development of a sustainable transport system in two EU countries, the Republic of Ireland and Poland. Both countries have seen a rapid rise in car ownership and migration of a large proportion of city dwellers to suburban areas just outside the city boundaries. Due to this, both the proportion of individuals traveling to work by car and the average commuting distance have risen significantly. This has placed a huge stress on urban and suburban transport networks. Although both countries have seen rapid economic development, many remote rural areas have not benefitted from this growth and are left with a decreasing and aging population. In order to deal with these problems, governments must coordinate their transport, spatial and regional policies. The government must take into account, and in the long run shape, the preferences of citizens (the users of transport networks). Also, it is necessary to develop policies which are robust to changes in the economic climate. This is particularly important in the light of the decision of the Irish government to rewrite its spatial plan. One may think of the development and use of the transport network as a dynamic, stochastic game played by three types of player: government (at international, national and regional level), transport providers (e.g. rail and bus services) and individual travelers (both commercial and private). These players all have different goals (payoff functions) and strategies available to them. They all should react to and predict the actions of the other players, as well as how behavior and the network will evolve in the future. This article concentrates on the goals of governments to develop a sustainable transport system. It argues that the governments of Ireland and Poland must develop attractive alternatives to the present ideal of living in the country and traveling by car, while protecting the interests of remoter rural areas, and give clear information about their plans and the benefits of sustainable development.

Keywords: transport policy, Ireland, Poland, sustainable transport


Vol. 1, No. 1, 35-46, September 2013

Physical Infrastructure and Logistics from the Perspective of Transaction Cost Economics
Author:
Joost Platje, Wrocław School of Banking, Poland

 

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Abstract: In this article, the importance of physical infrastructure for reducing transaction costs and the use of transaction cost economics for analysing logistic chains is discussed. Transaction cost analysis facilitates the identification of frictions in the logistic chain, which is not only useful for improving its efficiency, but also to manage potential crises in these logistic chains.

Keywords: physical infrastructure, logistics, transaction costs, governance, supply chain.


Vol. 1, No. 1, 47-68, September 2013

Sustainability in the Supply Chain: reducing supply-chain greenhouse gas emissions in medium-sized businesses
Authors:
John Stepan, JPS Consulting, Kraków, Poland

 

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Abstract: Medium Sized Businesses (MSB’s) form a sizable part of the Polish and EU Business Environment with many of these companies operating in industrial / commercial sectors. Their aggregate Green-House Gas (GHG) impact is therefore significant. However, within MSB’s, there is a significant resistance to GHG / Sustainability issues. This paper presents ways in which MSB’s can be convinced that positive responses on GHG / Sustainability issues can provide sustained Business Benefits. It goes on to describe how the Academic Community can contribute to this process by assisting MSB’s to operate in a more environmentally sustained manner whilst at the same time gaining the advantages of concrete Business and Financial Operation benefits.

Keywords: Medium Sized Businesses, greenhouse gas emission reduction, resistance to sustainability issues, supply-chain / business operations improvement, role of higher education establishments.


Vol. 1, No. 1, 69-92, September 2013

The Transnationalization of Railways in the Czech Republic: an institutional travel from formal to informal oligopoly?

Author: Daniet Šitera
Slovak Governance Institute / Wrocław University, Bratislawa, Slovak Republic

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Abstract:
This paper focuses on the unobviousness of railway liberalization in the Czech Republic. In its obvious form, the liberalization process, once set into motion, would assume a path-dependent trajectory and result in a liberalized railway market. The liberalization of Czech railway has however resulted in what this paper calls a compensatory monopoly. Compensatory monopoly depicts an informal practice which has allowed the Czech state to compensate the Ceské dráhy (Czech Railways) with a de facto monopoly, while depriving the public rail operator of a de iure monopoly. As the paper claims, the railway liberalization has been a product of the transnationalization of Czech state through its absorption into the global economy and European Union above all. As an accession candidate and later member state of the European Union, the Czech state was obliged to internalize the railway acquis communautaire produced by the European Commission which has consequently transnationalized the Czech national railway. Due to its transnationalizing and simultaneously marketizing character, the railway acquis has also completely restructured the formal institutional setting of the Czech railway, including the social purpose of Ceské dráhy which is no longer to serve the public interest, but rather abide by the market-based logic of business interest. Nonetheless, the acquis internalization has not remained uncontested. On the contrary, the old institutional setting has been further represented by the informal network of Ceské dráhy-state nexus which attempted to reshape the liberalization in a way that would provide Ceské dráhy with a patient capital and enough time to prepare for the competition on the liberalized railway market. The effect of informal practices embodied in the compensatory monopoly has thus proven the railway liberalization in the Czech Republic to be an institutional change with uneven, open-ended and seemingly contradictory outcomes.

Keywords: railways, liberalization, europeanization, marketization, Czech Republic, institutional change.


Vol. 1, No. 1, 93-111, September 2013

Environmental Protection Solutions in the Process of Modernisation of the Polish Railways
Author:
Andrzej Surowiecki, General Tadeusz Kościuszko Military Academy of Land Forces, Wrocław, Poland
Andrzej Bujak, Wrocław School of Banking, Poland

 

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Abstract: The authors discuss examples of solutions currently applied in the process of modernisation of main railway lines undertaken by the Polish PKP PLK S.A. in order to assess compliance with the applicable environmental conditions. The solutions described pertain to nature conservation and restoration in the vicinity of railway routes. They are developed according to three assumptions: protection of animals along transport routes; traffic noise reduction; natural compensation which consists in restoration of the lands adjacent to railway lines in order to enhance water regimes and habitat conditions for animals.

Keywords: main railway lines, modernisation, environmental protection.