This research aims to explore and propose a more effective management of rail and road infrastructure and the possibility of a more resource-efficient road and rail infrastructure by applying business models based on performance and a life-cycle perspective. There is a lack of efficiency in the Swedish rail and road infrastructure industries - at the same time as the availability of the rail tracks and roads is essential. Rail and road infrastructure have long lifetimes, around 40-60 years, and during these decades regular maintenance and reconstruction are needed to ensure proper function. Large amounts of resources are required to construct the infrastructure, and the overall environmental pressure depends substantially on this. This research is largely based on interviews conducted with the buyer, contractors and design consultants for rail and road infrastructure in Sweden. Literature reviews have been conducted to develop the framework needed to analyze the empirical findings. This research contributes by building on theory in areas such as Integrated Product Service Offerings (IPSOs) and eco-design, and this abstract presents a brief summary of the overall conclusions. Several challenges for rail and road infrastructure in Sweden have been identified, such as the lack of information and knowledge transfer between different projects and actors. This is due to e.g. the use of traditional short-term contracts and conservative cooperate cultures, creating sub-optimizations in management. Increased collaboration, through e.g. partnering, seems to be a promising way to increase the information and knowledge transfer between actors by increasing trust and interaction. In this way, management would be more effective, and by involving contractors in the design phase, more efficient technical solutions could be developed and used. Additionally, increased involvement by the design consultants and an iterative information loop between design, construction and maintenance could also be beneficial. The research indicates that increased cooperation increases trust. In this way, there is a possibility to remove the detailed requirements that prevent new ways of working. Rail and road infrastructure have characteristics, such as the resources used and the importance of availability, that are well-suited for IPSOs. This performance-based business model with a life-cycle perspective provides incentives to optimize the use of resources and provide a holistic view for management that is lacking today for rail and road infrastructure. However, a long-term contract such as an IPSO creates uncertainties. The actors are risk-averse, which is an obstacle in the development of new business models and contract forms. Most of the risks and uncertainties identified are due to lack of experience. This implies that an implementation of IPSOs will have a steep learning curve. Additionally, risk allocation between the actors is important for effective management: too much risk for the suppliers will make them reluctant in developing new solutions, and they will use a risk premium to cover up for the risk.

Infrastructure—communications, energy, transport, waste, and water networks—is critical for economic activity and social well-being. Practitioners, politicians, and economists advocate high levels of investment in infrastructure under the rubric of 'planning for growth' (or the 'push' paradigm). This paradigm relies on complex public-private arrangements in the name of public interest. These seemingly reasonable arrangements are, however, not delivering their promise. Evidence shows that the needs of infrastructure users in rich and poor countries are not being met, many private providers of infrastructure earn rich returns, assets are rarely built in time or on budget, and there is tremendous waste in the operation of many infrastructure industries. No other sector could survive the profligacy and slack common in infrastructure. I distil the following primary propositions of the accepted wisdom, which is inspired by mainstream economics: First, infrastructure assets necessarily entail high sunk costs and large economies of scale. Consequently, assets last for very long periods of time, and they cannot be readily moved. Second, infrastructure outputs are homogeneous. Third, one network fits all users (large and small). Fourth, infrastructure users, even large ones, are likely to have weak bargaining power in procurement of infrastructure outputs. I challenge these four propositions of the conventional wisdom by putting forward alternative hypotheses. First, instead of being monolithic and costly, infrastructures can be assembled (and disassembled) as flexible modules for specific users in specific places. Drawing on option pricing theory in quantitative finance, I recast infrastructures as 'portfolios of real options'. Second, infrastructure outputs are, in fact, heterogeneous and differentiated services. Third, one infrastructure network cannot fit all users, either today or in the future. Users are remarkably heterogeneous, not only in terms of unique user preferences but also in terms of spatial location. Infrastructure networks need to evolve in tandem with user needs or risk spatial, temporal, and relational obsolescence. Finally, users, large and small, are adept at exerting strong bargaining power in procuring infrastructure both prior to and after rendering durable and immobile investments. Users also strategically deploy intermediaries, e.g. futures and Over-the-Counter (OTC) exchanges, and real estate developers, to negotiate private contracts for infrastructure services. These findings are supported by two case studies. The first case study details the process by which ThyssenKrupp, a large steel company, bargained for its infrastructure by locating to a manufacturing site in the U.S. The second case study focuses on residents of Lavasa, one of the largest property developments in India. Here, small users of infrastructure exert strong bargaining power with the aid of intermediaries—the real estate developer and the property asset manager. New departures in infrastructure provision are urgently needed at a practical level. Poor investments rendered today—particularly if costly, inflexible, and durable—will suffocate tomorrow’s possibilities. The spatial, temporal, and relational approach proposed in this dissertation begins to offer an alternative account of how tomorrow can be modularly shaped.

The essay analyzes the role that time plays in the single specific transaction, in order to revisit the classic category of long-term contracts. In this perspective, considering the variety of interests involved, the author reexamines the structuralist traditional concept of durable obligations related to a continuing and repeated prevision, aiming to associate long-term contracts mainly to the functional divisibility of the whole contract itself, to the concrete cause realized by negotiation through the time, to a dynamic consideration of the interests that parties would achieve through the duration. Therefore, the main idea of the proposed analysis is that a careful investigation only of the contractual interests of the parties, aside from any abstract and typological approach, can offer a convincing way of solving problems about the still discussed nature of long-term contracts. / El presente estudio analiza la función que cumple el tiempo en las transacciones contractuales específicas, con el fin de revisar la clásica categoría de los contratos de duración. En esta perspectiva, al considerar la diversidad de los intereses implicados, el autor reanaliza el tradicional concepto estructuralista de las obligaciones de duración referida a una prestación continuada y repetida, teniendo por objetivo asociar, principalmente, a los contratos de duración con la divisibilidad funcional del propio contrato, con la causa concreta realizada por la negociación a través del tiempo y con una consideración dinámica del interés que las partes pretenden satisfacer a través de la duración. Por tanto, la idea principal del análisis propuesto es que solo una atenta investigación del interés contractual de las partes, dejando de lado todo enfoque abstracto y tipológico, puede ofrecer una forma convincente de solucionar los problemas sobre la aún discutida naturaleza de los contratos de duración.

Submitted by Rafael Batista Marquez (rafaelbatistam@gmail.com) on 2018-05-02T23:14:38Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_Cláusula take or pay em contratos de longo prazo_2018.pdf: 330267 bytes, checksum: c5bd1744b4cfab208102e4084d40c14b (MD5) / Rejected by Thais Oliveira (thais.oliveira@fgv.br), reason: Prezado Rafael, boa noite. Para que possamos aprovar seu trabalho, serão necessárias as seguintes alterações: - Em todas as páginas onde se encontram o título da sua Dissertação, deve ser com letra MAIÚSCULA; - A ficha catalográfica deve estar da maneira que foi enviada (incluindo as informações que estão fora do quadro); - A Banca Examinadora deve estar alinhada ao lado direito da página, (seguindo a linha do "texto?" e da data de aprovação), e também deve constar o campo de conhecimento (que deve estar na linha acima da data da aprovação); - Dedicatória centralizada. Qualquer dúvida, entre em contato. Obrigada. mestradoprofissional@fgv.br on 2018-05-04T00:01:59Z (GMT) / Submitted by Rafael Batista Marquez (rafaelbatistam@gmail.com) on 2018-05-07T15:07:57Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_Cláusula take or pay em contratos de longo prazo_2018.pdf: 338022 bytes, checksum: b6ede93cff6eb6637717a848cf37ca06 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Thais Oliveira (thais.oliveira@fgv.br) on 2018-05-08T23:53:27Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_Cláusula take or pay em contratos de longo prazo_2018.pdf: 338022 bytes, checksum: b6ede93cff6eb6637717a848cf37ca06 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Suzane Guimarães (suzane.guimaraes@fgv.br) on 2018-05-09T12:33:15Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_Cláusula take or pay em contratos de longo prazo_2018.pdf: 338022 bytes, checksum: b6ede93cff6eb6637717a848cf37ca06 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-05-09T12:33:16Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertação_Cláusula take or pay em contratos de longo prazo_2018.pdf: 338022 bytes, checksum: b6ede93cff6eb6637717a848cf37ca06 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-03-05 / O escopo deste trabalho consiste na análise do racional e do funcionamento da cláusula take or pay, largamente utilizada em contratos de longo prazo, usualmente em contratos de fornecimento. Para tanto, tratar da tipicidade (social) da cláusula take or pay mostrou-se necessário. Isso porque, abordou-se a qualificação e interpretação da obrigação decorrente da cláusula e a sua finalidade, tendo em vista a boa-fé objetiva e o dever de cooperação entre as partes. Indo além, abordou-se a natureza jurídica da cláusula take or pay, considerando a inafastável e necessária prefixação dos valores a serem pagos em caso de descumprimento da obrigação. Na sequência, analisou-se a aplicabilidade do artigo 413 do Código Civil. Por derradeiro e a fim de apresentar aspectos propositivos, abordou-se a importância do cuidado com a redação contratual, bem como algumas recomendações práticas sobre a cláusula take or pay, endereçando algumas preocupações quando do seu uso, ainda pouco amadurecido no Brasil. Assim, acredita-se que o presente estudo contribuirá para o desenvolvimento do uso da cláusula de forma previsível e respeitando a segurança jurídica almejada nas relações contratuais. / This work consists on the analysis of the rationale and practice of take or pay clause, widely applied in long-term contracts, usually in supply agreements. To do so, dealing with the typicity (social) of the take or pay clause was necessary. It was taken into account the qualification and interpretation of the obligation provided in the clause and its purpose, vis-à-vis the good faith principle and the cooperation duty between the parties. Beyond that, this study aimed to address the legal nature of take or pay clause, as the due values are pre-determined (liquidated damages) in case of default. In addition to that, for a comprehensive understanding, the study also evaluated the applicability of article 413 of the Brazilian Civil Code The study propositional approach focused on the importance of the contract wording and recommends some practical measures for the clause legal writing, which is still incipient in Brazil. Based on that, the author believes that this study may contribute to enable the development of the take or pay clause in a predictable manner respecting the legal safety in the contractual relations.

This diploma thesis deals with specifics for reporting of construction contracts in financial statements according to czech accounting regulations, IFRS and US GAAP. These are contracts that are custom-made, so they are not serial production and they are long-term, so most of their production goes into more accounting periods. In 2018, new Standards for Recognition of Revenue from contracts with customers IFRS 15 and ASC 606 will enter into force. The aim of the thesis is to characterize individual approaches to the reporting of revenues from construction contracts with a focus on the specifics in this sector and their comparison. To achieve this goal, a comparison method will be used. The thesis is divided into the theoretical and practical part. The theoretical part describes requirements and aspects related to building contracts, individual accounting standards including new revenue standards. In the practical part, an example is illustrated that shows a different approach to reporting revenue from these contracts in accordance with Czech accounting regulations and IFRS or US GAAP and comments on the changes that may occur through the application of new standards. At the end of the thesis, individual approaches are compared.