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.

The supply of public transport in Sweden has been continuously increasing and as a consequence thereof, the cost for bus traffic has also increased. However, many indicators show that costs for public transports in Sweden in recent years have increased more than supply. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to test and evaluate the importance of the nine previously identified cost drivers (Camén & Lidestam, 2016) of public bus transports in Sweden. A mixed-method design, which included both focus groups and a questionnaire, was used. The questionnaire, with quantitative rating scales, was sent to representatives from the bus operators and from the Public Transport Authorities (PTAs). In the focus groups, industry associations, consultants, and politicians also participated. The results reveal what the dominating cost factors are, as well as the factors considered to be the most important, according to actors within the Swedish bus transport sector. The most important cost driver identified is peak traffic and the costs of its consequences.

Service innovation processes are driven by stakeholders in interaction and are understood and sketched as a value negotiation process that consists of an iterative process of securing potential value in service. While previous research has focused on service innovation as a harmonious closed system, our study explores service innovation as a political process in which stakeholders negotiate to create and secure future value. Data are collected through interviews and participant observations in four different case studies. Our study contributes to the field by illuminating service innovation as a political process and explaining how this is operationalized. The findings also contribute to an understanding of how stakeholder resources impact a chosen strategy; the resulting strategy's impact on the service concept vis-a-vis its potential value; and how several involved stakeholders formulate, negotiate, and secure future potential value, which are the activities that drive a service innovation process.

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. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to create knowledge about what factors explain the design of control systems for contracted public services. Design/methodology/approach - Questionnaire data analyzed with structural equation models. Findings - Legitimacy-seeking is the most important driver in explaining intensity in control of contracted public services. Competition increases the intensity of control which is opposite to standard transaction cost reasoning. Coordination requirements do not affect the design of control systems for contracted public services. Research limitations/implications - The study suffers from limitations in the form of the use of perception and questionnaire data and imposes restrictions on empirical generalization. Practical implications - Supplier competition may add control costs rather than lower them. The strong focus on stakeholder alignment may induce more intensive control than necessary for supplier alignment. Originality/value - The authors add important knowledge on the determinants of control system design for contracted public sector services. The authors conceptualize and measure the control system in use in a more compelling manner than previous research.

Osborne (2010) has argued for New Public Governance as a significant paradigm for public services delivery, embracing policy-making and a range of inter-organizational and networked-based modes for public services delivery (ibid. p. 413).  This thinking is an alternative to Public Administration or New Public Management, which the idea for “Public Governance and public service delivery: as a research agenda for the future” (Osborne, 2010). The indication of policy-making as a governance issue and co-production, co-creation for service delivery combine the public governance literature with the service literature. We agree with this and will take this a step further and argue for interlink between public governance, CSR, contractual governance and business model guided by a service business logic (Lusch and Vargo, 2014). Those concepts are contextually interlinked. In this article the specific public service context is “public transport value network” (Enquist et al, 2011). In that context the contractual governance is crucial guided by service business logic.

In this article we will use examples of “Public transport value networks” from the city-regions of Stockholm, London and Paris to illustrate our conceptual framework. All of those city-regions have to handle economic, social and environmental issues as societal challenges. The societal challenges in those city-regions are driven by proactive policy-making and facilitating of resources for change. Service innovation is an important tool for change (Lusch and Vargo, 2014) but for societal issues the influence of CSR –practice and sustainable development has to be included as part of the service innovation processes (Edvardsson et al, 2013). Lusch and Vargo (2014) talk about strategic thinking and taking advantage of unstable environments. This is what societal challenges is all about.  This is also in line with SD-logic which are essentially co-creating value for customers and other stakeholders and facilitating, rather than just predicting to provide service” (ibid. p. 191).  We will introduce and argue for values based governance, service innovation and the important role of shared values for sustainable service business (Edvardsson et al, 2013).  Service networks need shared institutions (rules) to function effectively and coordinate activities among actors (Lusch and Vargo, 2014). These institutions have to cooperate in service networks based on shared values and shared meanings (Edvardsson et al, 2013).

Public Transport Value Network as a dynamic and transformative values based service network is about facilitating the network in the interaction of governmental agencies, service providers and the customers/citizens in the network. To facilitate a public/private partnership for public service in a value network is also about designing the right contracts for sharing the cost for setting up and running the network, increase numbers of travellers which use the network and improve positive effects for society. The service providers have their business models, the public transport authority have theirs and those models have to meet in a joint contract. Public Transport for co-creating value for people and developing sustainability for society and the different business models and contractual governance has to be based on the same values based service logic.

Key words: Service innovation, values based governance, contractual governance, public transport value network

Trenden i många välfärdsstater är att konkurrensutsättning och privata utförare är ett tydligt alternativ till egenregiproduktion för att leverera service och välfärd till medborgare. Sverige är inget undantag. Förklaringen är ideologiska strömningar men också en vilja att effektivisera och skapa nytänkande inom offentligt finansierade verksamheter. För att ambitionerna med konkurrensutsättning ska kunna realiseras måste de offentliga huvudmännen styra sina privata utförare. För närvarande vet vi dock väldigt lite om hur styrningen av privata utförare i offentlig sektor utformas, vad som förklarar utformningen och vilken betydelse den har för olika verksamheter i olika situationer. Trots det debatteras frågan livligt i politik och media. I den här rapporten utgår vi från teori om styrning av samarbete och samordning när en organisation ska styra en annan. Genom att studera upphandlad verksamhet i svenska kommuner söker vi förklaringar till hur, varför och med vilket utfall offentliga huvudmän styr sina privata utförare. Det empiriska materialet är insamlat med enkäter skickade till privata utförare inom äldreomsorg och teknisk verksamhet.