PurposePublic‐private partnerships (PPP) are contractual relationships influenced by different legal traditions. The main purpose of the paper is to provide insight into the principles of PPP financing and the impact of two legal provisions in Poland.Design/methodology/approachAppropriate regulation and documentation were investigated. Discounted subsidies, internal rate of return (IRR), economic internal rate of return (EIRR) were calculated and risk was analysed for three variants of a selected case study.FindingsThe two PPP‐related legal provisions are well‐suited for cooperation, although they do not generally correlate. Partnership is just one of the available modes of cooperation; therefore, a complete financial and economic analysis should be performed to prove value for money.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper was limited to one case study in three variants. Additional cases can be studied to confirm the findings and increase the usefulness of the methodological framework and improve its application.Practical implicationsThe interrelation of the two PPP‐related legal provisions is useful for public managers searching for partners and private investors looking for opportunities. Since the proposed framework supports assessing investment advantages from the perspective of the two provisions, it supports decision makers. The experience of the Polish market also may support development of public‐private partnerships in other countries.Originality/valueThe two PPP‐related legal provisions are compared to determine which provides the optimal method for management of PPPs. Studying both successful and abandoned projects can help towards better management and understanding of PPPs. The work is novel providing insights into PPP financing from a legal perspective and addressed financial consequences.

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to offer insights into university asset management (AM) and describe the impact that the various determinants have on the process of university AM. The process of university AM is influenced by a range of determinants. Design/methodology/approach – A literature review and a case study were used to achieve the research objective. The case study involved two data collection techniques – interviews and document analysis. Findings – Changing conditions of state-run universities, such as decreasing number of students and a tendency to increase the proportion of scientific research activities, require flexible adjustments to the size and structure of the universities’ facility base. Reductions in government grants and increasing maintenance costs of university assets have made it necessary to manage both existing and future assets more effectively to achieve measured improvement of environmental and social performance, to fulfil strategic responsibilities and to create shared value. Research limitations/implications – The paper was limited to one practice case study. Additional cases could be studied to confirm the findings and increase the usefulness of the methodological framework and improve its application. Practical implications – Identifying the various factors that influence the process of university AM would be useful for universities and other public building owners and their decisions-makers, such as chancellors and asset managers. The experience of the Polish market also may support the development of university or public building AM in other countries. Originality/value – The process of optimising of university asset structure proposed in this paper can contribute to the better understanding and management of higher education institutions ' assets and to the greater competitiveness and efficiency of the Polish universities. The work is novel in that it provides insights into university AM and describes various determinants from an external (macro and micro) and internal (connected with the university itself) perspective.

Public sector bodies own diverse, valuable but capital-intensive assets, which require the following of all the changes taking place in their environment and their trends (conducting market analyses), as well as the anticipation of future effects of present-day actions (decisions). It seems, however, that many public bodies/entities make decisions according to current needs, hardly ever conducting market analyses or market valuation of their assets.Today, both theory and practice offer a variety of methods -instruments supporting the process of decision-making concerning the creation of a rational structure of real property, sources of its financing, evaluation of the effectiveness of using individual fixed assets and their impact on the economic situation of each body/entity.The purpose of this paper is to present the nature and scale of the problem of asset management, as well as the main elements of the process of the management of real property owned by public entities, based on a case study of the biggest Polish cities.At first, we will outline the scale of the problem, including the gross value of buildings and structures and capital expenditures of the public sector. Then, we will present the definition of asset management and classification of real property as tools and conditions for effective asset management, as well as the results of empirical research conducted with officials responsible for property management in Poland's six largest cities.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS• Fuel stations are sold either as enterprises or their organised parts or as properties.• Assets of the enterprise and the property may vary significantly.• The income methods based on the operation profit is applied both to the valuation of companies and commercial properties. In case of the fuel station valuation the assessment is based, in both cases, on income from fuel sales, non-fuel retail, and the accompanying service sales. RESEARCH proposal• The identification of differences in the valuation of fuel stations treated as an enterprise and a commercial property