PortEconomics members Peter de Langen and Larissa van der Lugt, along with Lorike Hagdorm presented their latest research on “Beyond landlord: Typologies of port authorities strategies”, during the annual conference of the International Association of Maritime Economists – IAME 2013, that was held in Marseilles, France.
Port authorities are redefining their goals and strategic scope. Research applying a strategic management perspective on port authorities is limited and mostly consists of specific case studies or comparative analysis of port authorities in a specific geographical area. The study provides results of a worldwide survey among port authorities that addresses the strategic scope of port authorities i.e. the set of activities they undertake. While many port authorities are described as ‘landlords’, they provide services that are not generally associated with this landlord role. Factor analysis of the survey results of 92 responding port authorities shows consistent and recurring patterns of strategic activities. These patterns can be viewed as dimensions for scope strategies of port authorities. Statistical analysis aiming at exploring relationships between institutional position, the strategic goals port authorities pursue and their strategic scope provides for interesting interpretations of these relationships.
You may freely download the paper and presentation @PortEconomics.