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Severe disruptions to maritime supply chains, including port closures, congestion and shortages in shipping capacity, have occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper’s purpose is to explore flexibility-based countermeasures that enable actors in maritime supply chains to mitigate the effects of disruptions with different characteristics.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with shipping lines, shippers, forwarders and ports. Data on the COVID-19 pandemic's effects and countermeasures were collected and compared with data regarding the 2016–2017 Gothenburg port conflict.

Spatial, capacity, service and temporal flexibility emerged as the primary countermeasures, whilst important characteristics of disruptions were geographical spread, duration, uncertainty, criticality, the element of surprise and intensity. Spatial flexibility was exercised in both disruptions by switching to alternative ports. During the COVID-19 pandemic, ensuring capacity flexibility included first removing and then adding vessels. Shipping lines exercising service flexibility prioritised certain cargo, which made the spot market uncertain and reduced flexibility for forwarders, importers and exporters that changed carriers or traffic modes. Experience with disruptions meant less surprise and better preparation for spatial flexibility.

Understanding how actors in maritime supply chains exercise flexibility-based countermeasures amid disruptions with different characteristics can support preparedness for coming disruptions.

Comparing flexibility-based measures in a pandemic versus port conflict provides insights into the important characteristics of disruptions and the relevance of mitigation strategies. The resilience of maritime supply chains, although underexamined compared with manufacturing supply chains, is essential for maintaining global supply chain flows.

The productivity of a port is a measure that is important to different stakeholders: port administrators (port authority), third-party logistics providers, manufacturers and consumers, among others. This study analyses productivity in terms of vessel movement efficiencies (loading/unloading of cargo) and container release from port facilities. Both factors add to the overall productivity in any port.

A comparative analysis of the productivity of three ports is measured using a Quality Function Deployment (QFD) and benchmarking analysis to help establish strategies that will help improve productivity. Considering the information confidentially the authors will call the ports according to their geographic location. The ports under study are the USA Southeast Port (Port of America), Central Asian Port (Port of Asia) and Central Europe Port (Port of Europe).

This study has established an analysis strategy that allows seeing points of sale in the ports. This study will compare three different continents, only to demonstrate the applicability of QFD and benchmarking. Still, the strategy can be used in ports that compete due to their proximity and location. Identifying the variables to be analyzed made it possible to establish a strategy to increase productivity.

There are many studies that analyze port productivity, but none try to standardize the variables to be compared in different scenarios. This study has compared three ports from three different geographical areas, using the same variables in all three cases. The study critically analyses the performance of three ports and proposes a strategy based on QFD and benchmarking research.

Container liner shipping companies started expanding their business by investing in container port terminals in the late 1990s. This market entry results in an extensive presence of vertically integrated liners and terminals. This study aims to explore the competition effects of this vertical integration trend based on a regional (European) analysis. In particular, it extracts lessons from the European Commission (EC) cases on the competition effects of vertical integration. The critical analysis of the cases examined at the institutional level intends to reach conclusions on whether liner–terminal vertical integration harmed or advanced competition in the relevant markets and/or the extent that there is a need to revise the current policy practices.

This study critically assesses the EC’s decisional practices in port container terminal vertical mergers in the last 25 years (1997–2021). Based on a literature review comparing maritime and competition economists' perspectives, it reviews the types of mergers examined, the methodology followed for relevant market definition and calculation of market shares and the estimated competition effects. The Hamburg–Le Havre area is the port range used as a case study for comparing the decisional practice with actual market developments. These container ports serve the greatest consuming market of final and intermediate goods in Europe and are gateways to Central and Eastern Europe.

The assessment identifies a need for expanding the investigation as a precondition for reaching conclusions on both the anti- and pro-competitive effects. First, only a limited number of transactions have been notified to the EC. Second, the empirical research identified a gap in this process, as there were no decisions (phase I) on vertical mergers between 2008 and 2016. Third, the exante assessment has not applied a phase II in-depth analysis to any case due to the absence of competition concerns. Finally, due to the absence of complaints, there is a lack of any ex post assessment of the effects of vertical integration.

This assessment is important for understanding the current and emerging features of intra-port and inter-port competition and the potential effects that the continuation and expansion of liner companies' vertical integration strategies will have along maritime supply chains. It also contributes to the broader discussion on liner companies' strategies, such as the research and policy-making efforts around the globe to understand the impact of both vertical and horizontal integration.

These discussions are critical for a diversity of businesses that use liner shipping services or provide facilities and services to container shipping lines or ports. They are important for the interests of customers and consumers as they could inform any needed re-visiting of competition policy to protect from the dominance of any market developments that would lead to conditions limiting competition. Expanding analysis on the competition effects of non-notified mergers would help a better understanding of market changes.

Enhancing competition and limiting monopolies is valuable from a consumer's perspective. This is more so in the case of maritime trade that serves the needs of societies. The study contributes by generating a better understanding of how decision-makers have worked towards that direction and what realignments are worthy.

There are no previous comprehensive reviews and analyses of the ways that policy-makers at the regional level have addressed the competition effects of vertical integration strategies of liner shipping companies when enhancing competition is valuable from a consumer perspective. Comparing maritime economists and competition, the study, via its literature review, also offers a comparison of maritime and competition perspectives on these competition effects, allowing positioning of how effective decisional-making practices have been.

This case study was built from secondary data such as news articles and videos. Several drafts of the case study with teaching note were tested in classroom settings and shared at a case writing conference. The case was revised based on feedback from students and roundtable discussions from the conference.

“What’s next: Ever Given after the Suez Canal incident (Evergreen Marine Corporation in, 2022)” explores the situation of the firm Evergreen Marine Corporation, a world-leading cargo shipping company headquartered in Taiwan, and its efforts to deal with challenges stemming from a pandemic and the global supply chain transition. The case provides background on the latest changes in global business environments, the Suez Canal Incident stemming from the grounding of Ever Given and firm-specific information, which would help students to understand the context affecting Evergreen Marine Corporation’s (EMC) strategic decisions. The case enables students to evaluate EMC’s overall position and to analyze the actions that they can take to deal with these challenges in a dynamic global environment.

This case would be appropriate for a course in strategy or international business, especially with the topic of international supply chain management.

This study aims to empower cruise academia to assert their role as enablers, and potentially drivers, of sustainable, responsible and resilient cruise futures.

This contribution represents a synthesis and a critical reflection of cruise-related research-review literature over the last four decades, assessing its impact and potential in terms of influencing the evolution and future developments of cruise tourism.

Cruise research between the 1980s and the first decade of this century could be characterised as “ship-centric” and managerially focused. Over the last decade and up to the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, cruise research has become increasingly “cruise-destination centric”, with sustainability emerging as a dominant theme. Diverging somewhat from the public and media emphasis on environmental concerns and risks, academic research tends to focus on the economic aspects of sustainability. Nonetheless, and despite aiming for practical relevance, cruise research tends to remain reactive and lags behind industry trends.

This paper proposes a shift from a “applied” to an “applicable” research paradigm, inspiring researchers to proactively shape the industry‘s future by embracing “what-ifs” in their thematic scope. Such a paradigm calls for a normativity-enriched methodological diversity, as well as the inclusion of transformational relevance as an indicator of research impact.

Public perceptions of cruise tourism have changed over the years, evolving from that of a promising holiday niche to a symbol of unsustainable mass tourism. In this context, cruise scholars are offered guidance for transcending the polarising debate of growth versus de-growth/limits while increasing the relevance and transformational impact of cruise scholarship.

这篇论文是对过去四十年来与邮轮旅游相关的研究评论文献的综述和批判性反思, 评估其在影响邮轮旅游的演变和未来发展方面的影响和潜力。

总体目标是增强邮轮学术界的能力, 使其能够在可持续、负责任和有弹性的邮轮未来发展中发挥促进者和潜在推动者的作用。

20 世纪 80 年代至本世纪头十年的邮轮研究可以说是 “以船为中心”, 以管理为重点。 在过去的十年中, 直到 COVID19 大流行之后, 邮轮研究越来越 “以邮轮目的地为中心”, 可持续发展成为主导主题。 与公众和媒体强调的环境问题和风险有些不同, 学术研究往往侧重于可持续发展的经济方面。 尽管如此, 邮轮研究尽管以实际相关性为目标, 但仍倾向于被动应对, 落后于行业发展趋。

本文提出了从 “应用 “研究范式向 “适用 “研究范式的转变, 激励研究人员通过在其主题范围内接受 “假设”, 积极塑造行业的未来。这种范式要求在方法上丰富规范性, 并将变革相关性作为衡量研究影响力的指标。

多年来, 公众对邮轮旅游的看法发生了变化, 从充满希望的度假小众旅游发展成为不可持续的大众旅游的象征。在此背景下, 为邮轮学者提供了指导, 以超越增长与去增长/限制的两极化争论, 同时提高邮轮学术研究的相关性和变革性影响。

Esta contribución representa una síntesis y una reflexión crítica de la literatura de investigación-revisión relacionada con los cruceros durante las últimas cuatro décadas, evaluando su impacto y potencial en términos de influencia sobre la evolución y futuros desarrollos del turismo de cruceros.

El objetivo general es capacitar al mundo académico de los cruceros para hacer valer su papel como facilitadores, y potencialmente impulsores, de futuros cruceros sostenibles, responsables y resilientes.

La investigación sobre cruceros entre los años 80 y la primera década de este siglo, podría caracterizarse como “centrada en el barco” y enfocada a la gestión. Durante la última década y hasta las secuelas de la pandemia de COVID19, la investigación sobre cruceros se ha vuelto cada vez más “centrada en los cruceros-destino”, con la sostenibilidad emergiendo como tema dominante. Apartándose un tanto del énfasis público y mediático en las preocupaciones y riesgos medioambientales, la investigación académica tiende a centrarse en los aspectos económicos de la sostenibilidad. No obstante, y a pesar de aspirar a la relevancia práctica, la investigación sobre cruceros tiende a seguir siendo reactiva y se queda rezagada con respecto a las tendencias del sector.

Este documento propone un cambio de un paradigma de investigación “aplicado” a otro “aplicable”, que inspire a los investigadores a configurar de forma proactiva el futuro de la industria, abarcando los “y si…” en su ámbito temático. Dicho paradigma exige una diversidad metodológica enriquecida por la normatividad, así como la inclusión de la relevancia transformadora como indicador del impacto de la investigación.

La percepción pública del turismo de cruceros ha cambiado a lo largo de los años, evolucionando desde la de un nicho vacacional prometedor a la de un símbolo del turismo de masas insostenible. En este contexto, se ofrece a los estudiosos de los cruceros una guía para trascender el polarizante debate de crecimiento frente a decrecimiento/límites, al tiempo que se aumenta la relevancia y el impacto transformador de los estudios sobre cruceros.

The purpose of this paper is to systematically analyze existing studies related to the adoption of smart technologies in cruise tourism services, particularly robots, artificial intelligence, service automation and virtual reality. More specifically, the authors intend to highlight the current state of research on this topic, present the findings within a conceptual framework and propose a research agenda.

The relevant literature was extracted using two major electronic databases, web of science (WoS) and Scopus. The authors identified 31 articles from high-quality journals and used a systematic review and the VOSviewer software to analyze them.

Since 2014, there has been an increase in the number of studies related to smart technologies in cruise tourism services. At first, researchers focused on Royal Caribbean’s robotic bartender arm, whereas other technologies such as digital signage, self-service options, facial recognition and virtual culinary experiences received less attention. However, the interest in exploring these last smart technologies has grown significantly since 2019. The adoption of RAISA in the cruise tourism service (ASCT) framework was proposed, identifying five major domains: cruise robotic technology, technology innovation, cruise passengers’ engagement behavior, cruise passengers’ technology readiness and privacy perception and knowledge expertise. These domains provide valuable guidance for future research in this field.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to systematically analyze literature on the adoption of new technologies in cruise tourism services, specifically focusing on the major technologies available on cruise ships.

本文的主要目标是系统地分析与邮轮旅游服务中智能技术采用（RAISA）相关的现有研究, 特别是关于机器人、人工智能、服务自动化和虚拟现实等方面。具体而言, 我们意图突出此主题的当前研究现状, 将研究结果呈现在一个概念框架中, 并提出一个研究议程。

我们使用了两个主要的电子数据库 WoS 和 Scopus 提取相关文献。我们从高质量期刊中找到了 31 篇文章, 并采用系统综述和 VOSviewer 软件对它们进行了分析。

自 2014 年以来, 与邮轮旅游服务中智能技术相关的研究数量不断增加。最初, 研究人员着重关注皇家加勒比邮轮公司的机器人调酒师臂, 而其他技术, 如数字标识、自助选项、面部识别和虚拟烹饪体验等, 得到的关注较少。然而, 自 2019 年以来, 探索这些智能技术的兴趣显著增长。提出了 ASCT 框架, 识别了五个主要领域：邮轮机器人技术; 技术创新; 邮轮旅客参与行为; 邮轮旅客技术准备度; 以及隐私感知和专业知识。这些领域为该领域的未来研究提供了有价值的指导。

这是第一篇系统分析邮轮旅游服务中新技术采用文献的研究, 特别聚焦于邮轮上的主要技术。

The case is written based on publicly available data from primary sources such as the company’s annual reports, company website and the company’s presentations, as well as from secondary sources comprising newspaper articles, research papers, research magazines, magazine articles, industry reports, research reports, etc. as indicated in the references. The company’s financials and peer data are sourced from the Thomson Reuters Eikon database.

The case examines the financial position of Macy’s, Inc., America’s largest and one of the oldest premier departmental stores, with a consolidated annual turnover of US$18,097m in the fiscal year 2020/2021 (FY, 2021). Over the previous few years, the company had been struggling with decreasing market share and profitability mainly due to increasing competition from online retailers and deep discounters, which was affecting the company’s share price. With the appointment of a new chief executive officer (CEO) in fiscal year (FY) 2017, Macy’s, Inc. undertook several changes to revive its financial health and improve its market share. However, it still registered heavy losses of US$3,944m in the FY 2020/2021, the company’s first time in the past decade. With many retailers filing for bankruptcy, was there more that Macy’s could do to improve the company’s position and regain lost investor confidence? Will its entry into emerging markets play a crucial role in its turnaround?

The case can be used in undergraduate and postgraduate courses such as accounting for managers, financial statement analysis, management accounting, introduction to accounting and advanced financial statement analysis. The case can also be effectively used to understand the primary fundamental analysis of the company that involves understanding the company’s positioning and strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis. The case would also help business management and entrepreneurship students to get a preliminary idea about the change management process. Finally, the case can be used to familiarize students with using Microsoft Excel to build financial analysis worksheets.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of the construction and operation of underground gas storage (UGS) facilities, under the prism of the recent rise in energy prices. The focus is on developing energy markets interconnected with gas producers through pipelines and has access to liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities in parallel.

Through a focal market in Europe, the authors estimate the economic value for both stakeholders and consumers by introducing a methodology, appropriately adjusted to the specificities of the domestic energy market. The Transmission System Operator, the Energy Market Regulator, the Energy Exchange and Eurostat are the main data sources for our calculations and conclusions.

The authors investigate the perspectives of UGS facilities, identifying financial challenges considering specific energy market conditions which are barriers to new storage facilities. Nevertheless, the energy price rocketing coupled with the security of gas supply issues, which arose in autumn 2021 and were continuing in 2022 due to the Russia–Ukraine crisis, highlight that gas storage remains, at least for the midterm, at the core of European priorities.

The paper emphasizes on developing markets toward green transition, proposing tangible policy recommendations regarding gas storage. A new methodological approach is proposed, appropriate to quantify the economic value of UGSs in such markets. Last, a mix of energy policy options is suggested which include regulatory reforms, support schemes and new energy infrastructures that could make the gas storage investments economically viable.