The market environment of ports and terminals is continuously pushing terminal operators to achieve higher levels of dock labour performance. The latest port study by PortEconomics member Theo Notteboom along with Francesco Vitellaro (University of Genoa) proposes an original conceptual framework to identify, classify and evaluate innovative initiatives of terminal operators addressed to enhance dock labour performance.
The authors link the innovation concept to a market-driven perspective on the organization of dock work in light of changing market requirements. The conceptual approach not only considers technological innovations, but also organisational and regulatory innovations. The framework is used to analyse a set of innovative initiatives of terminal operators in European seaports. The findings reveal that innovative initiatives can have very different characteristics and ramifications when looking at the type of innovation, the boundaries of innovation, the nature of the actors involved, the (expected) magnitude of impact and the impact of labour performance.
The port study published at the academic journal Impresa Progetto – Electronic Journal of Management (IPEJM) and can be freely downloaded at the journal’s website.
