Comparative analysis of port competency requirements in Vietnam and Korea

ABSTRACT

Much research has been conducted recently on the changing role of ports in the context of international logistics and supply chain management focusing on issues such as port efficiency and competitiveness. However, little research has been found on the critical aspect that contributes to making a port efficient and effective, especially, in the new era: the port human capital. As seaports play a critical role in the supply chain, it is thus important that the port personnel possess necessary competencies to contribute to port efficiency and turn the port into an effective supply chain partner. In this paper, this research issue is explored through a conceptual model of competencies and validated empirically by a survey with port executives in Vietnam and Korea. As a result, important managerial insights are drawn to the design and implementation of human resource development policy for ports.     

Competition model of cruise home ports based on the cruise supply chain – based on China cruise market

This paper addresses issues of cruise home port competition based on the cruise supply chain. A pricing model of the cruise market is developed considering the competitive cooperation behaviors of the participants in the cruise supply chain. Furthermore, a model of cruise home port competition is developed to investigate the impacts of subsidy participants in the cruise supply chain on cruise home ports. The results indicate that subsidy policies change the market equilibrium, promote the upstream and downstream integration of cruise supply chain, and enhance cruise home port competitiveness. Subsidies to cruise line increase the payoffs of cruise supply chain and ports’ profit. Subsidies to travel agency decrease passenger costs and improve all ports’ profits. For the long-term development of cruise home port, the consequents can be used as policy suggestions.     

全球供应链视角的东亚港口物流服务绩效与趋势分析*

东亚港口基于旺盛的贸易运输需求而在全球供应链体系中崛起,同时也因为港口拥挤等问题而存在降低贸易成本的空间。首先从全球供应链视角解析港口物流服务格局,突出了东亚地区、特别是中国港口的地位,评价港口物流的综合绩效和竞争状态,然后对发展趋势做出预测。研究发现：东亚港口将通过持续投资实现供给需求的动态平衡;日本地震引致的全球供应链重组将使港口物流服务发生结构性变化,东亚将加强跨国港口物流合作以满足区域经济一体化的要求。     

Port e-Transformation,customer satisfaction and competitiveness

ABSTRACT

e-Transformation in container ports means port organization-wide innovative transformation encompassing internal and external value chains based on information and communication technology. There is a considerable theoretical literature on the impact of e-Transformation on business performance, but there is very little empirical study on its effectiveness in ports. The objective of this paper is to empirically investigate how e-Transformation in container port management can influence customer satisfaction and port competitiveness. The findings reveal that e-Transformation in container ports can affect customer satisfaction and port competitiveness through e-Workplace, customer relationship management and security, implying that container ports should make every effort to focus on e-transformation in these critical areas. Due to limited empirical studies in this area, the findings have provided an empirical support for the importance of e-Transformation in container terminal management and shed more light on how e-Transformation can affect customer satisfaction and port competitiveness.     

Examining sustainability performance at ports: port managers’ perspectives on developing sustainable supply chains

ABSTRACT

This research examined the effects of sustainable supply chain management (i.e. internal sustainable development and external sustainable collaboration) on sustainability performance in the port context. Structural equation modeling was employed in this study using survey data collected from 135 respondents holding the position of supervisor or above in three major international port authorities in Taiwan (i.e. Keelung, Taichung, and Kaohsiung). Results indicated that external sustainable collaboration is positively associated with internal sustainable management, and internal sustainable management positively influences sustainability performance. This research also found that internal sustainable management mediates the effects of external sustainable collaboration on sustainability performance. The implication of the findings for port decision-makers, authorities, managers, and sustainable development are discussed.     

The changing role of ports in supply-chain management: an empirical analysis

As integrated supply-chain management (SCM) is now at the epicentre of business transformation, firms are breaking down boundaries between internal functions, as well as between the enterprise itself and key partners in the value chain (e.g. customers, distributors, suppliers and carriers). One of the main goals of such new management approach is to get everyone in the supply chain into a common platform of logistics transactions and information systems.

Against such background, the aim of this work is to analyse how and if port operators can face the challenge of higher integration, on the assumption that the higher the integration between the actors the higher the competitiveness of the whole supply chain.

Accordingly, we adopted an SCM approach in the analysis of the port of Le Havre in Renault's supply chain. More specifically, we referred to the Lambert tri-dimensional model based on supply chain's structure (actors), key business processes and links between actors. The field work—which mainly consisted of semi-structured interviews to Renault, logistics and port operators, and, finally, to the Le Havre Port Authority—was crucial to gather the needed information.     

Port strategic planning: Canadian port reform

Recent port reform established major commercial ports as Canadian Port Authorities (CPAs) as federal non-profit, business corporations. Canadian port reform was aimed at allowing CPAs to compete effectively. Canada's major ports operate in an increasingly competitive business environment. To gain advantage over their competition, Canadian ports must develop business strategies dealing with their organizational cultures, institutional structures, operations, and facility provision. Developing appropriate strategies involves creating a strategic plan that considers external and internal port environments. This paper outlines the evolution of strategic planning and its applicability to Canadian ports. The initial literature review is followed by a brief review of Canadian port reform and an analysis of external and internal port environments. This analysis determines the resources available to exploit external opportunities and defend against threats, and considers the internal strengths and weaknesses of Canadian ports. A list of strategic issues facing Canadian ports and how the Canada Marine Act affected them is derived from the analysis.     

Ports as elements in value-driven chain systems: the new paradigm

This paper argues that, with the rapid and pervasive restructuring of supply chains and of the logistics pathways in which ports are embedded, existing paradigms no longer offer adequate insights into the functions of ports or port authorities. Rather, ports must now be seen as elements in value-driven chain systems or in value chain constellations. They deliver value to shippers and to third party service providers; customer segmentation and targeting is on the basis of a clearly specified value proposition; and the port captures value for itself and for the chain in which it is embedded. The role of ports and port authorities, and the way in which they position themselves in the new business environments beyond 2001 must be defined within a paradigm of ports as elements in value-driven chain systems, not simply as places with particular, if complex, functions.     

Ports as elements in value-driven chain systems: the new paradigm

This paper argues that, with the rapid and pervasive restructuring of supply chains and of the logistics pathways in which ports are embedded, existing paradigms no longer offer adequate insights into the functions of ports or port authorities. Rather, ports must now be seen as elements in value-driven chain systems or in value chain constellations. They deliver value to shippers and to third party service providers; customer segmentation and targeting is on the basis of a clearly specified value proposition; and the port captures value for itself and for the chain in which it is embedded. The role of ports and port authorities, and the way in which they position themselves in the new business environments beyond 2001 must be defined within a paradigm of ports as elements in value-driven chain systems, not simply as places with particular, if complex, functions.     

The changing role of ports in supply-chain management: an empirical analysis

As integrated supply-chain management (SCM) is now at the epicentre of business transformation, firms are breaking down boundaries between internal functions, as well as between the enterprise itself and key partners in the value chain (e.g. customers, distributors, suppliers and carriers). One of the main goals of such new management approach is to get everyone in the supply chain into a common platform of logistics transactions and information systems.

Against such background, the aim of this work is to analyse how and if port operators can face the challenge of higher integration, on the assumption that the higher the integration between the actors the higher the competitiveness of the whole supply chain.

Accordingly, we adopted an SCM approach in the analysis of the port of Le Havre in Renault's supply chain. More specifically, we referred to the Lambert tri-dimensional model based on supply chain's structure (actors), key business processes and links between actors. The field work—which mainly consisted of semi-structured interviews to Renault, logistics and port operators, and, finally, to the Le Havre Port Authority—was crucial to gather the needed information.     

基于供应链思想的第四代港口概念特征及发展策略研究

与第一、二、三代港口不同,第四代港口从强调自己是一个“物流中心”,转变为强调是供应链中的一个环节,为此,有必要研究基于供应链管理思想的第四代港口的若干问题。在给出具有供应链管理特征的第四代港口的定义的基础上,提出了港口与供应链关系的演进模型,指出港口与供应链关系发展经历了分离（即相互独立）、整合（即形成港口物流服务链,为制造业供应链提供高效的增值服务）和嵌入（即港口被嵌入到制造业供应链中）三个阶段。应对供应链管理的要求,第四代港口应具有与前三代港口不同的差异化、精益化和敏捷化特征。基于上述分析,第四代港口的发展策略应为,主动整合并构建自身的供应链和与供应链核心企业联合等。     

Maritime policy and management--30 years issue for Prof. James McConville Editorial: IMO--The economics of intimidation

Organizational Effectiveness (OE) is a rather new concept in the port business literature and not widely studied before. From the systems perspective, this concept focuses on the goals of the organization, the resources needed to achieve these goals, and the relationship between the organization and its environment. The reason behind choosing a systems approach is the significant role of seaports as open systems affected by changes and developments in world trade, supply chain and logistics trends, maritime transport, and technological developments. While seaports are multi-faceted organizations that constitute different interdependent and integrated units in their structure, they can also be regarded as the subsystems of the supply chain system. As being the social and technical systems, port organizations have unique characteristics that should be examined in detail to assess their effectiveness. To assess the effectiveness of port organizations, principally a set of effectiveness measures applicable to seaports should be determined. The main aim of this study is to assess the relative importance of the main effectiveness criteria in seaports and to determine the significance of main inputs and port subsystems which can be referred as the means to achieve effectiveness. By using the systems approach, the inputs, the processes, and the outputs of the port organizations are clearly defined with a conceptual model. Thirty-three statements have been developed under the main categories in the systems model and a two-round delphi survey is conducted, and qualitative analysis of the experts’ opinions is carried out. The results of the delphi survey show that the main port inputs are port infrastructure, equipments, technology, and port labor; the major port processes are ship and cargo operations together with the logistics services, safety and security, information technologies, and marketing; and the most important effectiveness measures for the seaports are productivity, efficiency, service quality, adaptability, information and communication management, profitability, human resource quality, and customer satisfaction.     

Container terminal employees’ perceptions of the effects of sustainable supply chain management on sustainability performance

ABSTRACT

Sustainability has become an important issue in container terminal operations. However, relatively little research has been conducted to assess its association with sustainable supply chain management (SSCM). In this study, SSCM consists of internal sustainability practices and external sustainability collaboration. We empirically examined the effects of internal sustainability practices and external sustainability collaboration on sustainability performance in container terminal operations at the Port of Kaohsiung in Taiwan. We developed a model adopting the SSCM construct, which consisted of two dimensions: internal sustainability practices and external sustainability collaboration. Several research hypotheses were formulated from the theory and the hypotheses were tested using survey data collected from 141 employees who worked with container terminals. We found that internal sustainability practices and external sustainability collaboration positively affected sustainability performance, whereas external sustainability collaboration had a positive influence on internal sustainability practices. There is a discussion of the implications of these findings for developing sustainability and improving sustainability performance in container terminals and ports.     

A logistics and supply chain management approach to port performance measurement

Although there is widespread recognition of the potential of ports as logistics centres, widely accepted performance measurements for such centres have yet to be developed. The essence of logistics and supply chain management is an integrative approach to the interaction of different processes and functions within a firm extended to a network of organizations for the purpose of cost reduction and customer satisfaction []. The logistics approach often adopts a cost trade-off analysis between functions, processes and even supply chains []. This approach could be beneficial to port efficiency by directing port strategy towards relevant value-added logistics activities. This paper seeks to show that through conceptualizing ports from a logistics and supply chain management approach, it is possible to suggest a relevant framework of port performance. A proposed framework is tested in a survey of port managers and other international experts.     

Port strategic planning: Canadian port reform

Recent port reform established major commercial ports as Canadian Port Authorities (CPAs) as federal non-profit, business corporations. Canadian port reform was aimed at allowing CPAs to compete effectively. Canada's major ports operate in an increasingly competitive business environment. To gain advantage over their competition, Canadian ports must develop business strategies dealing with their organizational cultures, institutional structures, operations, and facility provision. Developing appropriate strategies involves creating a strategic plan that considers external and internal port environments. This paper outlines the evolution of strategic planning and its applicability to Canadian ports. The initial literature review is followed by a brief review of Canadian port reform and an analysis of external and internal port environments. This analysis determines the resources available to exploit external opportunities and defend against threats, and considers the internal strengths and weaknesses of Canadian ports. A list of strategic issues facing Canadian ports and how the Canada Marine Act affected them is derived from the analysis.     

A logistics and supply chain management approach to port performance measurement

Although there is widespread recognition of the potential of ports as logistics centres, widely accepted performance measurements for such centres have yet to be developed. The essence of logistics and supply chain management is an integrative approach to the interaction of different processes and functions within a firm extended to a network of organizations for the purpose of cost reduction and customer satisfaction [1]. The logistics approach often adopts a cost trade-off analysis between functions, processes and even supply chains [2]. This approach could be beneficial to port efficiency by directing port strategy towards relevant value-added logistics activities. This paper seeks to show that through conceptualizing ports from a logistics and supply chain management approach, it is possible to suggest a relevant framework of port performance. A proposed framework is tested in a survey of port managers and other international experts.     

Port co-opetition in concept and practice

The port industry has undergone a rationalization process over the last decade. An increasing proportion of port management and operations is being taken over by global port operating groups. Many port operators who previously ran only their local business now extend their business scope to the regional or global scale; today's port operators can be regarded as multinational corporations. In the era of global economy, a port no longer enjoys a natural monopoly, as was the case in the past. To cope with this changing business environment, a certain form of competition and co-operation among ports is necessary so as to provide services that fit into shipping lines' strategies. It is suggested that ports have to concentrate on new ways for co-operation in an effort to establish a countervailing power. This paper proposes a new strategic option known as co-opetition, the combination of competition and co-operation, for the port industry, and explains a case of co-opetition between the container ports in Hong Kong and South China. The results of this research will provide a useful insight into the port industry, which is currently required to carry out its business in an ever-changing business environment.     

A game-theoretical approach for modeling competitions in a maritime supply chain

ABSTRACT

To accommodate the structural changes in logistics, competitions along a maritime supply chain are more intensive than before. This paper adopts a two-stage noncooperative game-theoretical approach to model the horizontal and vertical interactions among liners and ports. In the first stage, Bertrand game is applied to model the interactions between two liners. When the shipping line decides which port to call, a multinomial Logit model is applied. In the second stage, Bertrand game is applied to model the competitions between two ports. Nash equilibrium is derived by solving the Bertrand games. A numerical example is provided as a case study.     

经济全球化与港口第三方物流发展战略

经济全球化以后 ,港口物流业迎来了快速发展的机遇 ,港口将从传统的运输中心转变为物流中心。从港口物流发展的趋势出发 ,认为在传统业务利润空间不断减小的情况下 ,第三方物流是港口发展的新方向 ,并提出了相关政策建议     

Vertical integration and its implications to port expansion

ABSTRACT

Over the years many shipping lines have established terminal operation companies, with some set up as independent firms. However, port authorities and local governments have not always welcomed external investment and control with open arms. The economic implications and each stakeholder’s best strategies remain unclear. This study develops an analytical model in order to study the effects of vertical integration, with a focus on shipping lines’ investment in ports’ capacity. Modelling results suggest that vertical integration between terminal operator and a shipping line leads to higher port capacity, port charge, market output and consumer surplus. It also reduces delay costs. All these results suggest that vertical integration can be an important source of synergy for the maritime industry. Although vertical integration increases the participating carrier’s output at the expenses of non-integrating rival shipping firms, our numerical analysis suggests that the overall social welfare is likely to increase. Preliminary empirical tests confirm that vertically integrated ports handle more traffic volumes and are associated with better infrastructure and equipment. Therefore, port authorities and government regulators should carefully review the market competition status as well as port expansion plans.