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The purpose of this paper is to use a theoretical framework (i.e. resource-based view) to investigate causal relationships between the supply chain integration, market orientation, information technology (IT) application and firm performance of container shipping firms in Taiwan.

The data are collected from 124 container shipping firms in Taiwan. The methodologies used in the paper are exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling.

The findings indicated that IT application and market orientation positively influence supply chain integration. It revealed that IT-based and market-oriented firms more easily integrate market information related to partners, departments and customers. Further, supply chain integration and market orientation have a positive effect on firm performance.

Such a result indicated a market-oriented firm quickly responds to market information and competitors’ strategies; and thus, it would make effort to offer satisfactory customer services in dynamically fluctuating markets, and obtain better firm performance. Also, the integration provides higher operation efficiency and obtains an enhanced performance improvement.

The results also indicated that firms are able to develop their market-oriented strategies through electronic information transmission and exchange platform. Based on the study’s findings, managerial strategies are proposed to improve firm performance.

This paper clarifies the concept of supply chain integration, market orientation and IT application in the context of container shipping, and investigates the inter-relationship between supply chain integration, market orientation, IT application and firm performance and develop a conceptual model in the context of container shipping.

The aim of this study is to empirically identify crucial dimensions of security management in the container shipping sector in Taiwan and assess their impacts on security performance.

Data for this study were collected by questionnaire survey. An exploratory factor analysis was performed to identify crucial security management dimensions in the container shipping sector. Multiple regression analysis was then performed to examine the effect of security management on the security performance.

Four crucial security management dimensions were identified: facility and cargo management; accident prevention and processing; information management; and partner relationship management. Multiple regression analysis revealed that information management and partner relationship management had significant positive effects on safety performance, whereas partner relationship management had a significant positive effect on customs clearance performance.

This study primarily focuses on the effect of security management on security performance. Future research could identify the drivers and barriers to comply with supply chain security initiatives.

Container shipping firms can improve safety and customs clearance performance by focusing security management efforts on facility and cargo management, accident prevention and processing, information management, and partner relationship management.

Government administrators or other authorities may want to consider using crucial container shipping security management dimensions as criteria for assessing security performance in container shipping firms.

This study presented is the first to assess the effect of security management on security performance in the container shipping sector. Particularly, partner relationship management is found to be the key dimension for supply chain security success.

The increasing demand for high-quality logistics services has forced container shipping firms to decrease logistics service failure to retain the customers. This study thus aims to apply organizational information processing theory (OIPT) to construct a maritime supply chain collaborative decision-making model and examine its impact on logistics service performance.

In total, 142 usable questionnaires were collected from questionnaire survey. A two-step structural equation modeling approach including confirmatory factor analysis was subsequently performed to test the hypotheses.

The results show that internal information integration positively impacts external information integration, that external information integration positively impacts collaborative decision-making, and that collaborative decision-making positively impacts logistics service performance for container shipping firms. However, a relationship between internal information integration and collaborative decision-making was not found in this study.

This study primarily examines collaborative decision-making from the view of container shipping firms. Future research including other supply chain members is needed to generalize the results and could also incorporate other factors such as relationship quality and culture, into the model to address this issue.

To decrease the occurrence of logistics failures and improve service quality in the maritime logistics process, it is suggested that container shipping firms apply information technology for acquiring and assimilating logistics information internally and externally across the supply chain to facilitate decision-making.

This study contributes to the knowledge about the antecedents and impacts of collaborative decision-making for container shipping firms in Taiwan. Particularly, in line with OITP, the findings indicate that container shipping firms can facilitate logistics decision-making and strategy formulation through information integration, which in turn enhances logistics service performance.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influences of total quality management (TQM) and supply chain integration (SCI) practices on firm performance (FP) of container shipping industry in Singapore.

A survey was conducted with 159 container shipping companies in Singapore to examine the interrelationships between SCI and TQM practices and FP. A stepwise multiple regression analysis using SPSS version 14.0 was performed on the data.

Statistical results suggest that both TQM and SCI practices have positive effects on service quality and FP but at different extents, while TQM also contributes positively to SCI.

The small sample is the main limitation. The findings bear important implications for further research as understanding these dimensions can help to position key changes and industry improvement that will increase revenue and reduce cost to the container shipping companies in Singapore.

This research provides guidelines for shipping managers on how to implement the SCI and TQM practices appropriately to boost their FP to the fullest extent.

This study has unique implications for social sustainability especially the container shipping industry, which is hard pressed to combat the challenges within the logistics/transportation sector.

This is perhaps the first study that examines the influence of SCI and TQM practices on the performance of container shipping firms that helps them see beyond the silo mentality and focus on greater value addition in FP.

Since the 2010s, market conditions for container shipping companies have been deteriorating owing to decreasing container cargo trade and increasing supply capacity. This study aims to contribute to the empirical literature on the container shipping industry market structure. Specifically, this study aims to investigate the extent of market competition.

This study analyzes the market structure and evaluates the market power of shipping companies through a non-structural test.

The H-statistic for the entire period of 2004–2018 was 0.37, which is significantly different from zero. This indicates the absence of monopoly pricing throughout the entire period. For the time-phased estimates, the H-statistic between 2004 and 2008 is 0.15, which is not significantly different from zero. On the other hand, the H-statistic from 2009 to 2018 was 0.40, which differs significantly from zero.

As the Far East Freight Conference had released tariffs and charge rates by item for container shipping routes, monopolistic pricing is said to have appeared until the European Union abolished the European Economic Community (No. 4056/86) in 2008, before the economic crisis. However, this study indicates that pricing in the container shipping industry has been distinctly non-monopolistic; further, competition seems to have intensified since 2008. Industry competitiveness is of interest not only to academics but also to practitioners, including policymakers, especially when considering competition policies.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the relationships among supply chain integration (SCI), supply chain service capabilities, market performance (MP), and financial performance (FP) in the container shipping context and develops valid and reliable instruments for future research.

A structured questionnaire was used to gather data from 133 container shipping operators and agencies in Taiwan, using confirmatory factor analysis, the author identified main dimensions of SCI and supply chain service capabilities in container shipping context. A structural equation model was then used to test the research hypotheses.

This study has identified a set of five dimensions that can enable effective SCI: top management support, cross-functional cooperation, information technology, goal congruence, and collaborative communication, and highlighted the critical mediating role of supply chain service capabilities (i.e. service efficiency, service reliability, service flexibility, and value-added service) in improving firms’ market and FP. The authors confirm that SCI has a positive impact on supply chain service capabilities, which in turn helps to enhance market and FP.

This research can thus serve as a valuable reference for managers to achieve better SCI formation and performance, help managers to develop more effective collaborative relationships, and thus minimize the chance of SCI failure.

This manuscript provides a theoretical framework to link SCI, supply chain service capabilities, MP, and FP for the container shipping service supply chain context that have not been previously reported through empirical research.

This study aims to draw attention to the familiarity effect among international multimarket contact (MMC) firms on coopetition in the global container shipping industry and to better understand the contingency model of structural holes and in-degree centrality on joint price elevation actions and subsequent performance.

Drawing on competitive dynamics and the literature on networks, a panel data model is developed from 6,489 competitive and 7,146 cooperative actions of the top 21 shipping firms in 18 global arenas with a structured content analysis method being applied.

Stronger MMC by firms requires increased levels of cooperative actions to elevate prices. This coopetition relationship is enhanced or weakened when the focal firm occupies a higher level of structural hole or position of competitive in-degree centrality.

Shipping liners seeking to cooperate with joint action in oligopolistic markets are offered guidelines and strategies to increase their performance through their actions.

This study contributes to the literature on coopetition networks by further analyzing interfirm relationships and interactions that enhance performance, while exploring network positioning strategies to mitigate risks.

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of motivation on job satisfaction and organizational performance in the context of container shipping companies in Taiwan. Four motivation dimensions were identified based on an exploratory factor analysis, including remuneration, job achievement, job security and job environment. In addition, five job satisfaction dimensions were identified, namely: job policy, job autonomy, job workload, job performance and job status. Organizational performance dimensions included financial and non-financial performance.

Factor analysis was used to summarize a large number of motivation, job satisfaction and organizational performance attributes to identify the crucial factors. Reliability tests based on Cronbach’s alpha and corrected item-total correlation coefficients was used to test the internal consistency of questionnaire responses. ANOVA tests were subsequently used to test for differences in respondents’ perception of these factors according to selected demographics. Finally, a multiple regression model analysis was conducted to examine the relationships between motivation, job satisfaction and organizational performance.

Results indicated that remuneration and job performance had a positive effect on financial performance dimensions such as return on assets, turnover growth rate and profitability while job environment and job autonomy had a positive effect on non-financial performance dimensions, such as customer service, employee productivity and service quality.

This study has drawn attention to the importance of the relationships between motivation, job satisfaction and organizational performance in the container shipping context. The findings have significant implications for researchers and shipping practitioners. Despite the existence of research on the inter-relationships between motivation, job satisfaction and organizational performance in other disciplines, no empirical study was discussed in previous shipping or transportation-related research.

In the relevant literature about container terminals (CTs), most studies focused on the internal operational management of CT operators. In practice, for improving the performance of CT operators, the external customers’ requirements should also be considered. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the improvement of service operations of CTs from users’ requirement perspectives.

In this paper, the customer requirements for container terminal are first examined. Based on the customer requirements, a quality function deployment (QFD) model is then constructed to translate the customer requirements into service operations of the container terminals, by which CT operators may make policies to improve their service operations. As an empirical study, the container terminal of Yang‐Ming Shipping Line (YML CT) at Kaohsiung Port and its users were investigated to validate the model.

The result proposes 19 customer requirement attributes from users’ perspectives and 15 service operations from CT operators’ perspectives. Further, the top five customer requirement attributes by importance degree are: consistency of bill of lading; accuracy of dynamic information on cargos; accuracy of EDI information for receiving and releasing of containers; professional ability of operators to deal with cargo damage; and cargo safety.

The results indicate the top five service operations in need of improvement for the YML CT are: storage operation in depot; outbound container operation; hazardous container storage; inbound container operation; and T1 arrangement.

In this paper, a QFD model was constructed to improve the service operations of CTs. The proposed model may provide valuable references for future research on container terminals.

This paper aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting-edge research and case studies.

This briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Effective risk management is vital for shipping container firms to combat different forms of risk. Use of a select number of relevant strategies can enable a cost-effective approach to the mitigation of risks associated with financial loss and issues relating to safety and security.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy-to-digest format.