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- Camén, Carolina, 1975-, et al.
(författare)
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Contracts as a Cornerstone in the Relationship Building
- 2012
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Ingår i: International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences. - : Emerald. - 1756-669X .- 1756-6703. ; 4:3, s. 208-223
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The purpose of this paper is to investigate the significance of contracts in long‐term relationship building comparing public and private contexts. In order to investigate this, the paper addresses literature about relationship building, negotiation process and the role of contracts.Design/methodology/approachThis paper takes a qualitative approach and is based on comparative studies between the private and public sectors with the main focus on four companies within the public transport and paper industry. The unit of analysis is the enterprise's use of contracts in relationships. The analysis is based on the empirical material received from interviews and contextual analysis of the actual contracts. Internal and external documents have also been used in the analysis. The paper has categorized the material into different areas in relation to the relationship building.FindingsIn this paper the authors highlight the importance of contracts in the interaction between companies in different business situations. The findings in this study show that contracts function as cornerstones in relationship building. The conclusions also indicate that the type of contract used is depending of the uncertainty in the business relationship due to the relationship lifecycle. A main contribution from the study is that contracts affect the relationship building. In the private sector the relationship forms the contract while in the public sector the contract forms the relationships.Originality/valuePrevious research has mainly focused on how to manage long‐term relationships where the relationship is the result of a gradual development process between the parties and where there are few or next to no regulations regarding the interactions between the parties, for example who are involved or how the counterparty should be selected. Consequently, the results of this study adds to the literature the importance of contracts in long‐term relationship building comparing private and public contexts. Further, previous research has acknowledged that there is a need for more empirical research concerning the nature and form of contractual arrangements.
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- Camén, Carolina, 1975-, et al.
(författare)
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Dominating factors contributing to the high(er) costs for public bus transports in Sweden
- 2016
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Ingår i: Research in Transportation Economics. - : Elsevier BV. - 0739-8859 .- 1875-7979. ; 59, s. 292-296
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The purpose of this study is to deepen the understanding of what are the underlying reasons for the increasing cost of public transport in general and bus services in particular in a Swedish context. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with managers at the bus operators as well as the authority organizations. This paper contributes by identifying nine categories that can be the dominating factors behind the increasing costs of public bus services in Sweden.The identified categories of cost drivers are; of traffic appearance (peak times), greening of buses, age requirements, the contract period, the accessibility customization, special requirements on buses, collective agreements (working time regulation), tendering and contracting process, and finally, counterproductive political governance. It can be concluded that many of the cost drivers originate from the circumstances of the process of public procurement, such as different demands for different regions in Sweden as well as the trade-off between the bus operators' wishes for higher flexibility in the contracts and the traffic authorities' fear of more risks and thereby higher bids in the end.
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- Camén, Carolina, 1975-, et al.
(författare)
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Flexibility in contract design - is that possible?
- 2020
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Ingår i: Research in Transportation Economics. - : Emerald Group Publishing Limited. - 0739-8859 .- 1875-7979. ; 83
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Public procurement is widely used in order to incorporate competition into public services. Competition in procurement often leads to efficiency but the process can also raise some problems. While providing the procurement documents you do not know who will be your upcoming partner. Another aspect is how flexibility can be managed in contract design while maintaining a high service quality. The aim of this study is twofold. Firstly, the aim is to investigate how flexibility has been expressed and historically described in bus tendering documents. Secondly, to explore how the actors define or describe flexibility and its importance in tendering. Data was collected from ten years of tendering documents in the bus sector in Sweden and from interviews and a workshop. The results showed that flexibility in tendering documents has been and still is low for the operators. However, the actors wish for more flexibility and new forms of contracts can make it easier to include higher degrees of flexibility in future contracts. The paper contributes to the ongoing discussion about how to design contracts and to manage flexibility. The study has potential to create knowledge and contribute to better decision making for future procurement of bus transport.
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- Camén, Carolina, 1975-
(författare)
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Service quality on three management levels : a study of service quality in public tendering contracts
- 2010
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Ingår i: International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences. - : Emerald. - 1756-669X. ; 2:3, s. 317-334
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this paper is to deepen the understanding of how service quality factors are stipulated in advance within contracts, in order to ensure the providing of a high‐quality service to the user, when the service is contracted out to an external partner. It aims to identify, describe, and analyse the service quality descriptions included in contracts.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on case studies and focuses on a comparison of service quality factors in contracts. The empirical base is the public transport sector – a context in which the contracts are widely used, and where the service is standardised, continuous, capital intensive, and provided by external operators, but where contract solutions differ. The contracts analysed are those entered into between 21 public transport companies and their contracted external operators in Sweden.FindingsThe study highlights that service quality factors in formal procurement contracts can be related to three interdependent management levels: the rhetorical level, the strategic level, and the operational level, in each of which the factors are described differently.Originality/valueThe findings provide insight into how service quality is described and used in contracts at three different levels, when the service is provided in a complex business setting, where contractors aim to control the service by contractual means, since they are ultimately responsible for providing the service to the end‐users. The research also contrasts with previous research claiming that contractors fail to incorporate service quality from a user perspective, which is not the case in the studied contracts. The paper also makes an important contribution by empirically investigating physical contracts used in a public tendering context, which focus on service quality descriptions, as it has been acknowledged that there is a lack of empirical investigation of the nature and form of contractual arrangements.
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- Camén, Carolina, 1975-, et al.
(författare)
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To trust or not to trust : formal contracts and the building of long-term relationships
- 2011
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Ingår i: Management Decision. - : Emerald. - 0025-1747 .- 1758-6070. ; 49:3, s. 365-383
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The purpose of this paper is to explore how contracts are used to build and develop long‐term relationships in contexts where trust cannot be expected in advance – i.e. there is a lack of initial trust.Design/methodology/approachThis paper is based on a qualitative approach, while the present study used a documentary study focusing on 21 formal contractual dyads between contractors and fulfillers within the public transport sector.FindingsThe analysis of contracts in the public sector reveals the importance of formal contracts in relationship building, as a result of a number of factors that characterize this setting, including: the highly detailed specification of terms, legislation having an effect on the design of the contract, the bidding process, in situations where there is no negotiation process, no scope for further discussion after signing contracts, no learning processes, and contracts being used to conduct day‐to‐day business.Originality/valueThis research acknowledges the fact that there is a lack of empirical investigation into the nature and form of contractual arrangements, while the study contributes to this area by using formal contracts in a public context.
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- Camén, Carolina, 1975-
(författare)
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Using contracts to manage services : A study of contracts in public transport
- 2011
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Contracts play a key role in many business to business relationships. Service organisations are no exception. Despite a growing interest of services and how services are managed, research on how to use contracts to manage services has been surprisingly sparse in service research. The overall aim of this thesis is to contribute to a deeper understanding of using contracts to manage services in business-to-business relationships. Contract theories together with concepts from service research are used to enrich and understand how contracts are used to manage services and thus make contributions to service research. The thesis will give an empirically grounded understanding of managing services through contracts. The thesis consists of six separate papers, all based on data gathered from contractual relationships between contractors and service providers. The results are based on studies of authentic contracts which are not the case in most previous studies. The methods used for gathering and analysing data involve case studies, content analysis of authentic contracts, interviews and document studies of the public transport sector in Sweden which is an empirically rich area for studying contracts. The three main contributions of this dissertation are; firstly, an extended understanding of how contracts are used to manage the prerequisites for service quality for the parties involved. It was found that the concept service quality is brought forward on three interdependent managerial levels; from a detailed operational level, to a systemic oriented strategic level, and also a visionary rhetorical level each specifying the prerequisite for the services. To manage the prerequisites, the contracts rely on three identified means; laws and regulations, standards and measurements and economical incentives. Secondly, the detailed contents and rigidity of the contracts bring forward an inflexible and asymmetric relationship, where the parties are restricted in their activities. Here the contracts become a substitute for trust and commitment instead of supporting the development of trust and commitment. Finally, the thesis deepen the understanding of the role of contracts in governing services, from being a static abbreviator to a dyadic market based relationship, to becoming a dynamic tool for developing and sustaining a value creating and value driven collaborative network.
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- Enquist, Bo, 1950-, et al.
(författare)
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Contractual Governance for Public Service Value Networks
- 2011
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Ingår i: Journal of Service Management. - : Emerald. - 1757-5818. ; 22:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The aim of this paper is to explore the links between contractual governance and performance measurement in a value network for public service business, in the context of public transport, by positing service‐dominant logic (S‐D logic) as an alternative paradigm to the conventional goods‐dominant logic (G‐D logic). The paper addresses the following research questions: how does S‐D logic influence contractual governance and performance measurement? How do these influences of S‐D logic on contractual governance and performance measurement affect the governance of public service businesses in a value network?Design/methodology/approachThe study adopts a qualitative approach, using case studies to undertake an analysis of the role of contractual governance and performance management in the Swedish public transport system.FindingsThe paper demonstrates that the current model of contractual governance and performance measurement is focused on operand resources, and driven by G‐D logic, rather than focused on operant resources, with S‐D logic. The effect of this dichotomy is an effective negation of the professed desire for a customer‐oriented public service system. The paper also develops and proposes a viable model of how a redefined arrangement, based on S‐D logic, could be achieved. The challenge is to govern a loosely coupled value network based on values rather than rules. Another challenge is how to create more sustainable public service based on value‐in‐use for all stakeholders in the value network. When developing a service business based on S‐D logic, it is important to invest resources in accordance with a balanced set of social, environmental and economic perspectives. The current study also contributes to the ongoing discussion of S‐D logic as an open source.Originality/valueIn service research, little attention has been devoted to the links between contractual governance and performance measurement. The paper proposes and develops a novel model of contractual governance and performance measurement based on S‐D logic.
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