earticle

영어

The global shipping and port industry has been exposed to unprecedented changes in the past decade and these changes call for new approaches by the port terminal operators to survive. These changes are also impacting Korean port industry, but because Korean port terminal operators are relatively less experienced and competitive when compared to the global terminal operators( GTOs), the port industry is facing great challenges. The purpose of this study is to find out the best globalization strategies for Korean port terminal companies that are still at a relatively less matured stage of development. The method used in this study is the analysis of the strategies of the existing big 4 GTOs and a case study of Korean and global port terminal companies including both successful and unsuccessful cases. The analysis of the current market situation of shipping industry and port industry implies that the business environment is much different from when the big 4 GTOs were growing and the differences can be summarized as below. First, changes in the shipping industry including mega vessel with mega alliances call for bigger capital investment by the terminal operators to maintain the productivity of the terminal operation. Second, the expansion of new protectionism may hinder the entrance to the new overseas markets. National resistance to multinational potential markets can hinder choices for potential port terminal companies. Third, the Korean port companies have less experience in overseas markets and financial capabilities are much inferior in comparison to the big 4 GTOs. Therefore, the Korean port terminal companies can not repeat the same strategies the GTOs used to take to become what they are now. Instead, it is more important to minimize the risks that foreign terminal operators can face in overseas market, such as the differences in law, culture, labor practices, and government policy changes. As a result, the new concept of Global Terminal Investor(GTI) is a helpful way to overcome this hurdle. The Global Terminal Operator(GTO) has to continuously deal with the numerous above-mentioned risks in addition to initial large investment, whereas the concept of GTI can secure global terminal networks with relatively small initial investments fewer operational risks. The financial investor cases in Busan port also show greater benefits for investors than the operators. Also the financial analysis of the Korean port terminal companies shows that only Port Authorities can initiate the GTI in terms of financial capability. In conclusion, the GTI is the best strategy that can be considered for Korean port terminal companies and the port authority should start making investments in global terminals after employing the help of professionals including financial and legal specialists with experiences in global enterprises. However, the number of study cases limits this study's scope. A more comprehensive analysis should be made to understand the impact of GTI and the role of operators in terms of the global network.