IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jaitra/v22y2012icp3-8.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A quantitative cross-modal analysis of transportation firms’ transaction costs – Are airlines any different?

Author

Listed:
  • Merkert, Rico
  • Cowie, Jonathan

Abstract

This paper applies a top-down approach to transaction cost measurement to identify the size of the transaction sector within types of transport firms in Britain, including rail and bus operating firms but also and importantly of airlines. Whilst this cross-sector analysis shows differences for a snapshot in time, it also reveals changes of transaction costs over time. Our results suggest that airlines employ a relatively large number of transaction staff. However, in contrast to the train and bus operators, airlines in Britain have managed to reduce the level of their transaction costs substantially over time both in relation to output and operating cost.

Suggested Citation

  • Merkert, Rico & Cowie, Jonathan, 2012. "A quantitative cross-modal analysis of transportation firms’ transaction costs – Are airlines any different?," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 3-8.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jaitra:v:22:y:2012:i:c:p:3-8
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jairtraman.2012.01.002
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969699712000038
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jairtraman.2012.01.002?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fuhr Johannes & Beckers Thorsten, 2006. "Vertical Governance between Airlines and Airports - A Transaction Cost Analysis," Review of Network Economics, De Gruyter, vol. 5(4), pages 1-27, December.
    2. Steven Tadelis & Oliver E.Williamson, 2012. "Transaction Cost Economics [The Handbook of Organizational Economics]," Introductory Chapters,, Princeton University Press.
    3. Johannes Fuhr, 2009. "Liberalisation of the European Ramp-handling Market: A Transaction Cost Assessment," Journal of Transport Economics and Policy, University of Bath, vol. 43(1), pages 105-122, January.
    4. R. H. Coase, 2013. "The Problem of Social Cost," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 56(4), pages 837-877.
    5. Williamson, Oliver E., 2005. "Transaction cost economics and business administration," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 19-40, March.
    6. Merkert, Rico, 2010. "Changes in transaction costs over time - The case of franchised train operating firms in Britain," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 52-59.
    7. John J. Wallis & Douglass North, 1986. "Measuring the Transaction Sector in the American Economy, 1870-1970," NBER Chapters, in: Long-Term Factors in American Economic Growth, pages 95-162, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Wallis, John Joseph & North, Douglass C., 1988. "Should Transaction Costs be Subtracted from Gross National Product?," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 48(03), pages 651-654, September.
    9. Jonathan Cowie, 2002. "Acquisition, efficiency and scale economies: An analysis of the British bus industry," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(2), pages 147-157, January.
    10. Michael Dietrich, 2003. "The importance of management and transaction costs for large UK firms," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(11), pages 1317-1329.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Merkert, Rico & Mulley, Corinne & Hakim, Md Mahbubul, 2018. "Trade-offs between transaction cost, operation cost and innovation in the context of procurement and asset specificity – The example of the bus industry," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 173-179.
    2. Merkert, Rico & Williams, George, 2013. "Determinants of European PSO airline efficiency – Evidence from a semi-parametric approach," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 11-16.
    3. Jonathan Cowie & Sarah Loynes, 2012. "An assessment of cost management regimes in British rail infrastructure provision," Transportation, Springer, vol. 39(6), pages 1281-1299, November.
    4. Mahtani, Umesh S. & Garg, Chandra Prakash, 2018. "An analysis of key factors of financial distress in airline companies in India using fuzzy AHP framework," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 87-102.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Merkert, Rico, 2010. "Changes in transaction costs over time - The case of franchised train operating firms in Britain," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(1), pages 52-59.
    2. Oliver E. Williamson, 2005. "The Economics of Governance," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 95(2), pages 1-18, May.
    3. Merkert, Rico & Hensher, David A., 2014. "Open access for railways and transaction cost economics – Management perspectives of Australia's rail companies," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 227-236.
    4. Merkert, Rico & Nash, Chris A., 2013. "Investigating European railway managers’ perception of transaction costs at the train operation/infrastructure interface," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 14-25.
    5. Merkert, Rico & Hakim, Md Mahbubul, 2022. "Travel agency transaction costs in airline value chains – A risk in distribution channels in South Asia?," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    6. Vahabi, Mehrdad, 2008. "Protection costs, transaction costs,and economic theory," MPRA Paper 17648, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Paskalev, Zdravko & Yildirim, Huseyin, 2017. "A theory of outsourced fundraising: Why dollars turn into “Pennies for Charity”," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 137(C), pages 1-18.
    8. Wen Li Cheng & Jeffrey Sachs & Xiaokai Yang, 2005. "An Inframarginal Analysis Of The Ricardian Model," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: An Inframarginal Approach To Trade Theory, chapter 6, pages 87-107, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    9. Trew, Alex, 2009. "Institutions and the Scale Effect," SIRE Discussion Papers 2009-51, Scottish Institute for Research in Economics (SIRE).
    10. Oleksandr Sushchenko & Reimund Schwarze, 2016. "Carbon taxation and market financial instruments for mobilizing climate finance," Discussion Paper Series RECAP15 23, RECAP15, European University Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder).
    11. Ranjith Appuhami & Sujatha Perera & Hector Perera, 2011. "Management Controls in Public–Private Partnerships: An Analytical Framework," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 21(1), pages 64-79, March.
    12. Barbara Praetorius, 1996. "Nachfrageseitiges Marktversagen auf dem Energiemarkt: Empirische Evidenz, theoretische Aspekte, politische Folgerungen," Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung / Quarterly Journal of Economic Research, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research, vol. 65(2), pages 143-155.
    13. Mehrdad Vahabi, 2011. "Appropriation, violent enforcement, and transaction costs: a critical survey," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 147(1), pages 227-253, April.
    14. Zezza, Alberto & Llambi, Luis, 2002. "Meso-Economic Filters Along the Policy Chain: Understanding the Links Between Policy Reforms and Rural Poverty in Latin America," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 30(11), pages 1865-1884, November.
    15. Gérard Grellet & Naîma Grellet, 1999. "Développement des marchés et coûts de transaction. Une critique des politiques économiques libérales," Revue Tiers Monde, Programme National Persée, vol. 40(157), pages 37-49.
    16. repec:spo:wpecon:info:hdl:2441/942 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. Vítor Gaspar, 2010. "Financial Stability and Policy Cooperation," Working Papers o201001, Banco de Portugal, Economics and Research Department.
    18. Facchini, François & Melki, Mickaël, 2013. "Efficient government size: France in the 20th century," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 1-14.
    19. Karl, Helmut, 2015. "Koordination raumwirksamer Politik: Einleitende Einführung in die Beiträge des ARL-Arbeitskreises," Forschungsberichte der ARL: Aufsätze, in: Karl, Helmut (ed.), Koordination raumwirksamer Politik: Mehr Effizienz und Wirksamkeit von Politik durch abgestimmte Arbeitsteilung, volume 4, pages 1-6, ARL – Akademie für Raumentwicklung in der Leibniz-Gemeinschaft.
    20. Guillaume Daudin, 2006. "Paying Transaction Costs," Documents de Travail de l'OFCE 2006-14, Observatoire Francais des Conjonctures Economiques (OFCE).
    21. Arslan, Okan & Archetti, Claudia & Jabali, Ola & Laporte, Gilbert & Grazia Speranza, Maria, 2020. "Minimum cost network design in strategic alliances," Omega, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jaitra:v:22:y:2012:i:c:p:3-8. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-air-transport-management/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.