This thesis aims to develop and validate the dimensions of supply chain collaboration and collaborative advantage in the containerised maritime industry and explores the impact of supply chain collaboration on collaborative advantage and port performance. Additionally, this thesis tests a mediation effect of collaborative advantage on the relationship between supply chain collaboration and port performance.
This thesis employs a quantitative method. A theoretical model is built based on thorough literature reviews of supply chain management and maritime studies, in-depth discussions with experts, item review and Q-sorting techniques to signify ambiguity or misunderstanding with the scales and to suggest modifications. The proposed model is empirically tested with survey data using 178 responses from terminal operators, shipping lines, inland transport companies, freight forwarders, ship management companies and third-party logistics providers involved in maritime logistics in the major containers ports of Busan, Gwangyang and Incheon for a comprehensive and balanced view by using structural equation modelling.
With regard to the findings of the empirical research, three main constructs were successfully validated as multi-dimensional constructs. The structural paths support hypotheses that supply chain collaboration has a positive influence on collaborative advantage, and collaborative advantage has a strong contribution to port performance. However, the direct impact of supply chain collaboration on port performance is insignificant. A hierarchical approach of the mediation test and bootstrapping test found that the association between supply chain collaboration and port performance is fully mediated by collaborative advantage. In other words, the greater degree of supply chain collaboration between the port and port user enables them to gain a higher degree of collaborative advantage, and, in turn, this collaborative advantage can contribute to augmenting port performance.
This thesis synthesises transaction cost theory, resource based theory and a relational view to explain how supply chain collaboration influences collaborative advantage and port performance. Its theoretical contribution expands the concept of supply chain collaboration and collaborative advantage into containerised maritime contexts, capturing the perspective of the ports and port users. Further, despite numerous maritime studies which extol the importance of collaboration between the ports and port users, no systematic approach has previously developed and validated those constructs and relationships.
The various maritime logistics organisations would benefit from applying the results of this study to their supply chain collaboration practices when seeking greater collaborative advantage. The results heed practitioners in containerised maritime logistics organisations to focus on balancing the facets of supply chain collaboration to transport flows of containers seamlessly and efficiently from door-to-door, as supply chain management philosophy drives the maritim
