In the last twenty years, International Terminal Operators (ITOs) have performed horizontal growth strategies to keep pace with global and regional demand expansion as well as to diversify corporate risk across various geographic regions. In this perspective, the paper aims to investigate the ITOS’ strategic behaviours when implementing their internationalisation processes, by giving a particular emphasis to the geographic diversification strategy, intended as the geographic dispersion of business activities out of their country of origin.
In their latest study, PortEconomics members Giovanni Satta and Francesco Parola – joined by Francesco Vitellaro and Nicola Gianoni investigate the trade-off between risk and return when investing in overseas ventures. The study scrutinises the relation existing between geographic diversification pursued by ITOs in their internationalisation processes and corporate performance, intended as corporate growth and growth volatility.
Download the presentation of the study and enjoy the reading: Geographic diversification of ITOs: a longitudinal study to understand the internationalization’s patterns
The study, which was presented at IAME 2022, isolates the impact of geographic diversification on the business’ growth pace (i.e., the return of overseas investments) and the business’ volatility/growth rhythm (i.e., the corporate risk) to empirically evaluate if the geographic diversification of their throughput enables ITOs to support their corporate growth patterns and/or to foster the growth rhythm of handled volumes. Besides, the moderating effects of geographic diversification during adverse and favourable phases of the global economic cycles and global maritime trade are considered in our statistical modelling.
