Abstract:Purpose: 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 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.
The paper reviews the global experience in changing the defence contractors' product portfolios and identifies the conditions for intensifying diversification in Russian defence industry and promising ways to overcome the obstacles to defence contractors' restructuring. The information basis of the research included the works by Russian and foreign defence industry scientists and practitioners and the data from the Stockholm Peace Research Institute. The article analyses the pattern of the public funding allocated to the nuclear weapons complex and applied defence research. It later examines the global experience in conversion and diversification of military production. The authors propose possible directions for solving the problems faced by defence contractors on their way to diversified and efficient production with regard to the current operational environment in Russia and the requirements to boost the companies' innovative processes. The paper then describes the aims, advantages and disadvantages of conversion forms. The results of the research lay the ground for the methodological framework for developing recommendations to assess and improve the efficiency of innovative processes at defence contractors.
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