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
consolidated financial data of companies involved in the Russian transport infrastructure for
2005/2013.
Findings: The proposed alternative way to measure corporate operating efficiency has proved its
academic consistency. A specific comparison between the transaction costs using the
transactionalness index allows first to identify companies or regions/sectors, where there is excess
complexity of economical communication in bargaining. Secondly, the index does not only point
out indirectly to a degree of development in the institutional environment, but also the 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.
