Transportation Policy, Strategy, and Management

Lecture Notes

LEC #	TOPICS	Lecture Notes
1	Course Introduction
2	Alternative Models of Decision Making in Government and Business	Alternative explanations of how decisions are made by key decision and policy makers will be presented. These include the garbage can model of organizational decision making in the firm, incrementalism and the agenda setting process in public policy.
3	Managing Uncertainty: Strategic Planning in Business	Private firms, particularly in transportation, have significant sensitivity to changes in their operating environment. The successful decision maker must attempt to anticipate and manage uncertainty. Strategic planning is one tool used by firms to guide resource planning and operations in a dynamic environment. The use of SWOT - strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis - and scenario building, as tools for transportation firms to manage uncertainty will be described and discussed.
4	Managing Stakeholders and Problem Definition: Strategic Planning in Government	Although public transportation agencies must manage uncertainty, their success is more often defined by their skills in managing various stakeholder groups that are key to future budgets, scope of operations and regulatory power. The use of strategic planning and stakeholder valuation by the Secretary of the US Department of Transportation as a method of appealing and acquiring the support of a wide array of transportation stakeholders is presented as a case in public strategic management.
5	Government-Business Relations in Transportation: Patterns of Conflict and Cooperation	Government and business relations in transportation vary by issue and by country, however, patterns do emerge. A Dynamic Conflict Model will be presented to explain the uneasy relationship of industry and government in the United States in contrast with a Corporatist Model (partnership) of government-business interaction in other nations, such as Japan and the European Union. The discussion will include a variety of concepts including competing definitions of the firm, corporate social responsibility and regulatory capture in transportation regulation.
6	Government-Business Relations in Conflict: Regulating Transportation Safety	A class led discussion will apply the concepts presented in the previous lecture to understand how the regulation of automobile safety is governed and has evolved in the United States.
7	Government-Business Relations in Conflict: Regulating Transportation’s Influence on the Environment	The class will discuss how environmental regulation of transportation is governed in the United States and selected other countries - including how this relationship can generate regulatory gridlock, high operating costs and sometimes force technological innovation.
8	Government-Business Relations in Cooperation: Transportation Research and Development	In contrast with patterns of conflict, transportation government-business relations will be shown to be cooperative and crucial to introducing technological innovation, such as energy efficient vehicles (PNGV) and intelligent transportation systems (ITS) to the transportation enterprise Japan, Europe and the United States. Different national models of transportation R&D policy - US-based model of “steering and leading” and the European model of industry-government partnership and co-investment.
9	Government-Business Relations in Cooperation: Transportation Infrastructure Development	Government-industry cooperation in the planning, construction, management and maintenance of transportation infrastructure is crucial to the transportation system. Specific cases defining approaches to how this “partnership” is defined, and its inherent complexity as exemplified by the construction of Denver Airport will be discussed.
10	Privatizing and Outsourcing of Transportation	The high cost of operations and quest for optimal service and performance have caused government organizations throughout the world to develop, adopt and revise a variety of privatization and outsourcing strategies for transportation. Full divestiture, contracting out, management contraCTL, long-term lease options and public accountability are discussed in the context of the United States and developing economies.
11	Crash! Strategic Management of Transportation Disaster	Perhaps more than other activities, transportation operations will result in accidents that often result the monumental loss of life, property or environmental quality. Managing disaster is part of transportation management. A framework of how crisis is communicated, managed and its affect on transportation organizations will be discussed in the context of recent disasters such as ValuJet and the Firestone Tire recall.
12	Change Management in Transportation	Technological and organizational innovation is critical to continual improvements, e.g., cost and performance, safety in operations, customer service. However, the introduction of new processes, technologies or management practices is not without cost. Intelligent Transportation Systems can be viewed as disruptive to the “traditional management” strategy of public transportation organizations, changes in management or human resources can be equally as disruptive to an organization, e.g., airlines. Change management in the context of transportation organizations will be discussed - in public DOTs and in a commercial airline.
13	Globalization and Non-Governmental Organizations in Transportation	The success and increased efficiency of transportation is perhaps one of the greatest factors that has accelerated the globalization of the world’s economy. However, what role does globalization have on the transportation enterprise and how does it affect decision making for both public and private transportation organizations. Discussion will shed specific insight into the role of regional trade alliances and the actions of private firms locating and re-locating manufacturing and distribution facilities.