title: The Performance of Ports on the Periphery: The Impact of Port Supply Chain Integration, Sustainability Advantage and Spatial Characteristics
Creators: name: Ismail, AB
Publisher: name: University of Liverpool Repository
Year: 2017

description: Due to intense competition, ports are desperately searching for new ways to increase performance and gain a sustainable edge into today’s dynamic and competitive business environment. Literature has deeply discussed the performance of large and established ports that hold hub status; however, studies on the performance of small and medium-sized ports (SMPs) are scarce. Even though there are studies pertaining to SMPs, it is more from the port development perspective. Thus, the aim of this study is to investigate the competitive performance of SMPs that are not on the main maritime shipping lanes and face challenges in attracting port users to make port of calls; nevertheless, they are proximate to large hinterland markets, and are thus called ports on the periphery. In particular, this study intends to seek, identify and explore the appropriate potential strategies (identified as spatial characteristics, port supply chain integration strategy, and sustainability advantage) that are able to bring continuous prosperity to the business performance of ports on the periphery; to synthesise the presence of the causal theoretical relationships between identified potential strategies and the performance of ports on the periphery; and to investigate to what extent the identified potential strategies are able to continuously contribute to the performance of such ports. The research philosophy on which this study relies is the positivism paradigm and a questionnaire survey was identified as the most appropriate instrument by which to gather data and information from participants. Port stakeholders such as port/terminal operators, port authorities, shipping lines and freight forwarders that are experts in the port business operations were identified as the relevant individuals or organisations to receive the questionnaire. To analyse the data, standard Multiple Regression Analysis (MRA) in SPSS version 22 was employed. In particular, Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) or preliminary analysis was then conducted in sequence to determine the right statistical analysis technique to be employed, and standard MRA analysis was used to conduct the inferential analysis of the current study. The results show that the spatial characteristics of peripheral ports and the integration strategy of a port into the supply chain play a significant role in adding more sustainability benefits to the transportation supply chain and subsequently contribute to the performance of peripheral ports. The results can be used by peripheral ports as a guideline to promote themselves as a sustainable supply chain network in association with spatial characteristics and the strategy of port supply chain integration. This advantage can be a huge and attractive springboard for such ports to strengthen their performance since regulation on environmental issues has become an important agenda not only among government sectors (regulatory pressures) and non-government organisations (NGOs-communities pressures) but also among suppliers and customers (market pressures-port users) in contending with greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, in particular carbon emissions by logistic activities and operations.