Share:


Network analysis for performance control in the governance of interconnected local transport companies

    Laura Tampieri Affiliation
    ; Paolo Canonico Affiliation

Abstract

This paper discusses a network-analysis approach to the performance control of integrated built-environment systems based on efficiency, effectiveness, and adequacy. We apply this perspective to the governance of systems of local transport companies in built environments, which are frequently organized as networks. To this end, we propose a multi-dimensional grid of first- and second-order ties to locate network units and individuate the adequacy or appropriateness of network structures for performance control. In this field, issues connected to transport systems such as sustainability play a crucial role in defining structures and processes of network performance control. We empirically examine a pilot case of local public transport companies in the Forlì-Cesena area (Italy), testing network adequacy and giving evidence for the optimal localization of governance among units dedicated to providing transport services. Our results also support the hypothesis that, although structural centralization was ostensibly oriented towards increasing governance, the structure actually devolved into decentralized control at the periphery of the network, diminishing the effectiveness of initiatives.

Keyword : built environment, transport, network, ties, governance

How to Cite
Tampieri, L., & Canonico, P. (2018). Network analysis for performance control in the governance of interconnected local transport companies. International Journal of Strategic Property Management, 22(4), 290-299. https://doi.org/10.3846/ijspm.2018.3686
Published in Issue
Aug 7, 2018
Abstract Views
711
PDF Downloads
521
Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

References

Alexander, S. M., Andrachuk, M., & Armitage, D. (2016). Navigating governance networks for community-based conservation. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 14(3), 155-164. https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.1251

Anderson, J. C., Håkansson, H., & Johanson, J. (1994). Dyadic business relationships within a business network context. Journal of Marketing, 58(4), 1-15. https://doi.org/10.2307/1251912

Banister, D., & Berechman, Y. (2000). Transport investment and economic development. London: UCL Press. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203220870

Banister, D., & Berechman, Y. (2001). Transport investment and the promotion of economic growth. Journal of Transport Geography, 9(3), 209-218. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0966-6923(01)00013-8

Banister, D., & Hickman, R. (2006). How to design a more sustainable and fairer built environment: transport and communications. IEE Proceedings – Intelligent Transport Systems, 153(4), 276-291. https://doi.org/10.1049/ip-its:20060009

Bianchi, M. (2007). Il sistema organizzativo e le funzioni aziendali [The organizational system and corporate functions]. Torino: Giappichelli.

Bianchi, M., & Tampieri, L. (2014). Beyond the social network analysis in the study of project networks. In F. Visintin, D. Pittino, G. Lauto, & P. A. M. Mazzurana (Eds.), Organising for growth: theories and practices (pp. 27-32). CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.

Brandon, S. P., & Lombardi, P. (2005). Evaluating sustainable development in the built environment. Oxford: Wiley Blackwell Publishing.

Burt, R. S. (2000). The network structure of social capital. Research in Organizational Behavior, 22, 345-423. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-3085(00)22009-1

Day, G. S. (1994). The capabilities of market-driven organizations. Journal of Marketing, 58(4), 37-52. https://doi.org/10.2307/1251915

Decreto Legislativo 19 novembre 1997, n. 422 “Conferimento alle regioni ed agli enti locali di funzioni e compiti in materia di trasporto pubblico locale, a norma dell’articolo 4, comma 4, della legge 15 marzo 1997, n. 59”, pubblicato nella Gazzetta Ufficiale n. 287 del 10 dicembre 1997 [Legislative Decree No. 422 of November 19, 1997 “Provision to the regions and local authorities of functions and tasks in the field of local public transport, in accordance with article 4, paragraph 4, of the law 15 March 1997, No. 59”, published in the Official Gazette No. 287 of December 10, 1997].

Decreto Legislativo 20 settembre 1999, n. 400 “Modifiche ed integrazioni al decreto legislativo 19 novembre 1997, n. 422, recante conferimento alle regioni ed agli enti locali di funzioni e compiti in materia di trasporto pubblico locale”, pubblicato nella Gazzetta Ufficiale n. 259 del 4 novembre 1999 [Legislative Decree No. 400 of September 20, 1999 “Amendments and supplements to Legislative Decree No. 422 of November 19, 1997 stating the provision to the regions and local authorities of functions and tasks in the field of local public transport”, published in the Official Gazette No. 259 of November 4, 1999].

Della Porta, A., & Gitto, A. (2013). La riforma del trasporto pubblico locale in Italia nella prospettiva aziendale. Il difficile compromesso tra economicità aziendale ed efficacia sociale [The local public transport reform in Italy in a business perspective. The difficult balance between business economy and social effectiveness]. Milano: FancoAngeli.

Doloi, H., Crawford, R., Langston, C., & Pheng, L. S. (2015, July). A social network based framework for assessing risks and vulnerability in built environment. Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Building Resilience. Newcastle, Australia, 520-1-520-16.

Dunn, J. A., & Perl, A. (1994). Policy networks and industrial revitalization: high speed rail initiatives in France and Germany. Journal of Public Policy, 14(3), 311-343. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0143814X00007303

Ewing, R., & Cervero, R. (2010). Travel and the built environment – a meta-analysis. Journal of the American Planning Association, 76(3), 265-294. https://doi.org/10.1080/01944361003766766

Finka, M., & Kluvankova, T. (2015). Managing complexity of urban systems: a polycentric approach. Land Use Policy, 42, 602-608. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2014.09.016

Ford, D., Gadde, L.-E., Håkansson, H., & Snehota, I. (2003). Managing business relationships (2nd ed.). Chichester: Wiley.Ford, D., & Mouzas, S. (2013). The theory and practice of business networking. Industrial Marketing Management, 42(3), 433-442. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2013.02.012

Gastaldi, M., Rossi, R., & Vescovi, R. (2013). Analysing the capacity of a transportation network. A general theoretical approach, European Transport Issue 53, Paper n° 8.

Giorgi, L. (2003). Sustainable mobility. Challenges, opportunities and conflicts – a social science perspective. International Social Science Journal, 55(176), 179-183. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2451.5502001

Godfrey, P. (2010). Using systems thinking to learn to deliver sustainable built environments. Civil Engineering and Envi-ronmental Systems, 27(3), 219-230. https://doi.org/10.1080/10286608.2010.482656

Graiciunas, V. A. (1973). Relationship in organization. In L. Gulick & L. Urwick (Eds.), Papers on the science of administration, Augustus M. Kelley Publ. Clifton, reprint from the first edition by Institute of Public Administration, New York.

Granovetter, M. (1985). Economic action and social structure: the problem of embeddedness. American Journal of Sociology, 91(3), 481-510. https://doi.org/10.1086/228311

Handy, S. (2005). Smart growth and the transportation-land use connection: what does the research tell us?. International Regional Science Review, 28(2), 146-167. https://doi.org/10.1177/0160017604273626

Holmen, E., & Pedersen, A.-C. (2003). Strategizing through analyzing and influencing the network horizon. Industrial Marketing Management, 32(5), 409-418. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0019-8501(03)00014-2

Hull, A. (2011). Transport matters, integrated approaches to planning city-regions. London: Routledge.

Incerti, R. (2014). Il nuovo volto del TLP. L’evoluzione degli assetti organizzativi ed imprenditoriali [The new face of LPT. The evolution of organizational and entrepreneurial assets] (pp. 1-15). Milano: FederMobilità.

ISFORT. (2014). Il trasporto pubblico locale. La ricerca dell’efficienza attraverso le riforme [The local public transport. The search for efficiency through reforms] (pp. 1-31). Roma: ISFORT spa.

Kaklauskas, A., Tupenaite, L., Zavadskas, E. K., Turskis, Z., & Seniut, M. (2010). Multiple criteria assessment of alternatives for built and human environment renovation. Journal of Civil Engineering and Management, 16(2), 257-266. https://doi.org/10.3846/jcem.2010.30

Kickert, W. J. M., Klijn, E. H., & Koppenjan, J. F. M. (1997). Managing complex networks. London: Sage.

Legge delega n. 59 del 15 marzo 1997, “Delega al Governo per il conferimento di funzioni e compiti alle regioni ed enti locali, per la riforma della Pubblica Amministrazione e per la sempli-ficazione amministrativa”, pubblicata nella Gazzetta Ufficialen. 63 del 17 marzo 1997 [Delegation Act No. 59 of March 15, 1997 “Delegation to the Government for the transfer of functions and tasks to the regions and local authorities, for the reform of public administration and administrative simplification”, published in the Official Gazette No. 63 of March 17, 1997].

Legge di stabilità n. 190 del 23 Dicembre 2014 “Disposizioni per la formazione del bilancio annuale e pluriennale dello Stato (legge di stabilita’ 2015)”, pubblicata nella Gazzetta Ufficiale n. 300 del 29 dicembre 2014 [Stability Law no. 190 of 23 December 2014 “Measures for the preparation of the annual and multi-annual budget of the State (Stability Law 2015)”, published in the Official Gazette No. 300 of December 29, 2014].

Legge quadro n. 151 del 10 aprile 1981 per l’ordinamento, la ris-trutturazione ed il potenziamento dei trasporti pubblici locali, pubblicata nella Gazzetta Ufficiale n. 113 del 24 aprile 1981 [Framework law No. 151 of April 10, 1981 for sorting, upgrading and enhancement of local public transport, published in the Official Gazette No. 113 of April 24, 1981].

Legge Regionale Emilia Romagna n. 10 del 30 giugno 2008 “Misure per il riordino territoriale, l’autoriforma dell’amministrazione e la razionalizzazione delle funzioni” [Regional Law 30 June 2008, n. 10 “Measures for the territorial reorganization, the administration’s self-reform and the rationalization of functions”].

Legge Regionale Emilia Romagna n. 30 del 02 ottobre 1998 “Disciplina generale del trasporto pubblico locale” [Regional Law Emilia Romagna October 2, 1998, No. 30, “General Discipline of local public transport”].

Marin, A., & Wellman, B. (2011). Social network analysis. An introduction. In P. Carrington & J. Scott (Eds.), The SAGE handbook of social network analysis. London: Sage Publications Ltd.

Marti, C. M., & Weidmann, U. (2016, May). Understanding public transport and built environment integration at the neighbourhood scale: towards a method for holistic quantitative assessment. Proceedings of the 16th Swiss Transport Research Conference. Monte Verità / Ascona.

Martinez, M. (2000). I modelli organizzativi e contrattuali per la pianificazione, regolazione costruzione e gestione dei sistemi di trasporto pubblico locale [The organizational and contractual models for planning, regulating the construction and operation of local public transport systems], in CESIT. Organizzazione e competizione nel trasporto locale in Europa. ROMA: Gangemi.

Martinez, M. (2003). Le agenzie di mobilità: assetto e processi organizzativi [The mobility agencies: organizational asset and processes]. Napoli: Quaderni Cesit.

Mercurio, R., Canonico, P., & Pezzillo Iacono, M. (2012). Organising mobility as an infrastructure for development. In P. K. Kresl & D. Ietri (Eds.), European cities and global competitiveness: strategies for improving performance. Cheltenham, UK. https://doi.org/10.4337/9780857938299.00022

Mitrega, M., Forkmann, S., Ramos, C., & Henneberg, S. C. (2012). Networking capability in business relationships – concept and scale development. Industrial Marketing Management, 41(5), 739-751. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2012.06.002

Möller, K. K., & Halinen, A. (1999). Business relationships and networks: managerial challenge of network era. Industrial Marketing Management, 28(5), 413-427. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0019-8501(99)00086-3

Mouzas, S., & Naudé, P. (2007). Network mobilizer. Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, 22(1), 62-71. https://doi.org/10.1108/08858620710722833

Pfeffer, J., & Salancik, G. R. (1978). The external control of organizations: a resource dependence perspective. New York: Harper & Row Publisher.

Preiser, W. F. E. (2015). Programming the built environment. New York: Routledge.

Ritter, T. (1999). The networking company: antecedents for coping with relationships and networks effectively. Industrial Marketing Management, 28(5), 467-479. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0019-8501(99)00075-9

Ritter, T. (2000). A framework for analyzing interconnectedness of relationships. Industrial Marketing Management, 29(4), 317-326. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0019-8501(00)00108-5

Sarkar, C., Webster, C., & Gallacher, J. (2014). Healthy cities: public health through urban planning. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781781955727

Teece, D. J., Pisano, G., & Shuen, A. (1997). Dynamic capabilities and strategic management. Strategic Management Journal, 18(7), 509-533. https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-0266(199708)18:7<509::AID-SMJ882>3.0.CO;2-Z

Thornton, S. C., Henneberg, S. C., & Naudé, P. (2013). Understanding types of organizational networking behaviors in the UK manufacturing sector. Industrial Marketing Management, 42, 1154-1166. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2013.06.005

Thornton, S. C., Henneberg, S. C., & Naudé, P. (2014). Conceptualizing and validating organizational networking as a second-order formative construct. Industrial Marketing Management, 43(6), 951-966. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2014.05.001

Van der Vleuten, E. (2004). Infrastructures and societal change. A view from the large technical systems field. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, 16(3), 395-414. https://doi.org/10.1080/0953732042000251160

Williams, L. M. (2013). Getting to know the built environment as a complex system. Wellesley Institute, Canada.Zaefarian, G., Henneberg, S. C., & Naudé, P. (2011). Resource acquisition strategies in business relationships. Industrial Marketing Management, 40(6), 862-874. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2011.06.010

Zaheer, A., & Bell, G. G. (2005). Benefiting from network position: firm capabilities, structural holes, and performance. Strategic Management Journal, 26(9), 809-825. https://doi.org/10.1002/smj.482