Date: 19th Jun 2012 11:00 am

Speaker: Gaurav Patni, Technology Integration Leader, David Jones Ltd

Topic: Supply chain digitization for 'Omni-Channel' retailing

Abstract: 'Omni-Channel' Retailing has rendered the traditional supply chain model obsolete. In order to provide a seamless shopping experience across various sales channels, retail and consumer goods firms must develop digitized supply networks that leverage digital collaboration and connectivity tools to streamline information flow and improve enterprise agility. This presentation will focus on:

- supply chain implications of omni-channel retailing
- leveraging digital technologies to move from the traditional supply chain model to a supply network model
- integrating key business functions to streamline information flow and improve enterprise agility
- illustrating the synergistic value of an integrated supply network; case studies of leading Retail and Consumer Goods firms from around the world

Bio: Gaurav Patni is the Technology Integration Leader at David Jones Ltd, responsible for helping build a strategic view of the firm's business systems portfolio and integrating new technologies that can serve as key enablers of innovation and competitive advantage. Gaurav has over 14 years' executive level experience developing winning strategies and technology focused change programs for some of the best and biggest Retail and Consumer Goods firms around the globe - Walmart, Nordstrom, Best Buy, JCPenney, Ross Stores, Procter & Gamble, Cargill, Loblaws, GPA (Grupo Pao de Acucar, Brazil) and David Jones to name a few. Gaurav holds a master's degree in business administration and a bachelor's degree in electronics engineering. http://au.linkedin.com/in/gauravpatni

Date: 3rd Jul 2012 11:00 am

Speaker: Professor John Preston, Transportation Research Group, Civil, Maritime and Environmental Engineering and Science, Faculty of Engineering and the Environment, University of Southampton

Topic: Evaluating the long term impacts of transport policy: A comparative assessment of bus deregulation and rail privatisation

Abstract: Great Britain has been a natural experiment testing bed for a number of transport policy changes of which arguably the most important are bus deregulation and rail privatisation. Local buses in Britain, outside London, were 'deregulated' as a result of the 1985 Transport Act, with most of the organisational changes implemented in 1986 but many of the ownership changes occurring over a longer period. Britain's national rail system was 'privatised' as a result of the 1993 Railways Act, with most of the organisational and ownership changes implemented by 1997.  The long term evaluation of major policy change is clearly important in determining future policy but is also notoriously difficult to undertake.  A key issue when examining long term changes is that of the counterfactual - what would have happened if the changes had not occurred? To answer this question econometric models of the bus and rail markets have been developed and used in conjunction with extrapolative methods for key variables such as fares, service levels, costs and subsidy. This then permits the examination of welfare change by estimating changes in consumer and producer surpluses, updating earlier studies.

For the bus market, it is found that outside London, bus demand declined strongly, at least up to the year 2000 and much of this reduction (as much as 36% in the long run) can be ascribed to deregulation.  By contrast in London, demand has generally been increasing. However, in both areas operating costs also declined strongly, again up to 2000, but since then there have been strong increases in costs and subsidy. It is found that there are net welfare increases both outside and inside London, but with welfare increases per capita being five times greater in London than elsewhere.  However, sensitivity analysis shows that these results are sensitive to the specification of the modelling system and assumptions made concerning the counterfactual, particularly for the results for London. For rail, although demand has grown strongly since privatisation  our analysis indicates that transitional disruptions suppressed demand by around 9% over a prolonged period), whilst the Hatfield accident reduced demand by about 5%, albeit over a shorter period (2000/1 to 2006/7). A welfare analysis suggests that although consumers seem to have gained as a result of privatisation, for most years this has been offset by increases in costs. An exception is provided by the two years immediately before the Hatfield accident. The loss in welfare since the reforms were introduced far exceeds the net receipts from the sale of rail businesses.  Overall, it is concluded that the long term impact of these policy reforms have been mixed but that supply side changes seem to have been more important than demand side changes and that bus deregulation was more successful than rail privatisation in terms of supply side changes.

Bio: John Preston is Head of the Civil, Maritime and Environmental Engineering and Science Academic Unit and Professor of Rail Transport at the University of Southampton, having previously been Director of the Transportation Research Group. He has almost 30 years of experience in transport research and education.  He has taught transport options on Economics, Engineering, Geography, Management and Planning courses. His research in transport covers demand and cost modelling, regulatory studies, and land-use and environment interactions. His initial work concentrated on rail but subsequent work has covered all the major modes of transport. He has held over 120 research grants and contracts, and has published over 200 articles, book chapters, conference and working papers.  He is Chair of the Universities' Transport Study Group, Co-Chair of the World Conference on Transport Research Society's Rail Special Interest Group and a Committee Member of the International Association of Rail Operations Research and International Conference on Competition and Ownership in Land Passenger Transport.

Date: 10th Jul 2012 11:00 am

Speaker: Dr Simon Blainey, Research Fellow in Rail Systems, Transportation Research Group, Faculty of Engineering and the Environment, University of Southampton

Topic: Tracks to the future: Planning railway networks for the 21st century

Abstract: The provision of sustainable and effective public transport is one of the major challenges of 21st century transport planning.  The capability of railways to move large numbers of people at high speeds and to make use of virtually any energy source is backed up by a high degree of popularity amongst travellers.  This has led to high levels of growth in rail use in many countries, and to a range of proposals for new railway lines and stations.  Railways can form the backbone of a public transport network which is capable of meeting the needs of 21st century society if they are carefully planned and integrated with other modes, but in order for policy-makers to ensure that this happens they require reliable, comprehensive and integrated planning and appraisal tools for both new railway systems and enhancements to existing systems.  Because rail infrastructure is relatively expensive to construct and has a long lifespan, it is very important that investment in rail enhancements is targeted where it will have the greatest positive impact.  This seminar will discuss a range of issues which arose during the development of an integrated modelling and appraisal framework for new rail stations and services by the University of Southampton's Transportation Research Group, making extensive use of Geographical Information Systems and of spatial modelling techniques such as Geographically Weighted Regression. 

Bio: Simon is a Research Fellow in the Transportation Research Group at the University of Southampton, UK.  He has carried out research on a range of issues related to local railway networks for academic, industry and government bodies, focusing in particular on the use of innovative techniques such as GIS and Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) to explain and forecast the use of such networks.  He is currently working with the UK Infrastructure Transitions Research Consortium, on long-term modelling of the transport infrastructure demand-capacity balance, on the Track 21 project, investigating whole-life economic and environmental cost modelling for railway track systems, and on using GWR to spatially segment the UK passenger rail market.  During his PhD and subsequent research, he developed an integrated GIS-based appraisal framework for new local railway stations and services, and won the 2009 Smeed prize for the best student paper at the Universities' Transport Study Group (UTSG) annual conference.  More generally, Simon is interested in the issues associated with the development of a sustainable transport system and in the history of public transport, and is project manager for a major book on the history of British passenger road transport.  He is also Honorary Secretary of the UTSG and of the World Conference on Transport Research Society's Rail Special Interest Group.

Date: 28th Aug 2012 11:00 am

Speaker: Professor Stephen Ison, Director, Centre for Innovative and Collaborative Construction Engineering, Loughborough University, UK

Topic: Road pricing and workplace parking charges: the issue of implementation

Abstract: There are a range of market-based instruments for dealing with congestion in urban areas, including road pricing schemes and parking charges at the workplace. Road pricing has long been advocated as a means of dealing with congestion in urban areas and numerous schemes have been proposed but have advanced little beyond the drawing board. Parking charges at the work place, on the other hand, have become more prevalent in recent years, at least in the UK. The aim of this presentation is to briefly outline the relative merits of the market based approach and the issues raised in terms of implementation. The role of a policy champion, public support given the severity of congestion, a single implementing agency, understanding of the scheme objectives, timing, clear presentation, and the like, are all important factors. The presentation will explore these issues in terms of a scheme being implemented or not.  The conclusion is that it is not possible to attribute the successful implementation of congestion or a workplace parking charge to one issue alone. A number of important lessons will be drawn.

Bio: Dr Stephen Ison is Professor of Transport Policy and Director of the Centre for Innovative and Collaborative Construction Engineering (CICE) in the School of Civil and Building Engineering at Loughborough University. An economist by training, he has extensive experience of research in traffic demand management, surface access to airports, transport policy and sustainable transport. He has published some 85 referred journal papers and over 90 refereed conference papers. The book edited by Ison and Rye entitled 'The Implementation and Effectiveness of Transport Demand Management Measures: An International Perspective', was published in 2008. He is co-editor of the Journal of Research in Transportation Business and Management (Elsevier), Associate Editor of Transportation Planning and Technology (Taylor and Francis), Co-editor of the book series Transport and Sustainability (Emerald) and a member of the Editorial Board of the Journal of Transport Policy.  He is a member of the Scientific Committee of the World Conference on Transport Research Society and Chair of the WCTRS Special Interest Group (SIG10) on Urban Transport Policy. He is a member of the Ground Access and Transportation and Sustainability Committees of the Transportation Research Board (TRB), Washington DC.