Ioannis N. Lagoudis

Ranking of factors contributing to higher performance in the ocean transportation industry: a multi-attribute utility theory approach

Ocean transportation has been mainly studied from an economic and strategic point of view. This paper adopts an operations management approach aiming at the identification of the value-adding attributes that characterize the ocean transportation industry. This is achieved by using Johansson et al .s 1 four value metrics—service, quality, cost, time—which are used for the identification of the contribution that different factors make to the total created value. In this paper, multi-attribute utility theory (MAUT) has been used to measure and compare the value of different processes of various sectors of the ocean transportation industry. The application of MAUT methodology is illustrated with an example from the four sectors of the industry: liner, dry bulk, liquid bulk and specialized. Results suggest that there is strong emphasis placed by ocean transportation companies on quality and that there is differentiating importance put on service and cost by different sectors. Time is seen as the lowest value contributor by all four sectors of the surveyed companies.

Corporate governance and board practices by Greek shipping management companies

Purpose – Corporate governance is an area of interest to researchers, stakeholders and the general public. In recent times, there has been an increased concern about the effectiveness of the board within corporate organizations due to corporate scandals and accounting irregularities of some well known firms, which highlighted the inefficiency of monitoring corporate boards and the overseeing of managerial decision making. This paper aims to investigate the effects that a number of factors such as organisational demography, organisational size, ownership type, board size, CEO duality and CEO dependence/independence have on board configuration.Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews the literature on organisational demography and board structure characteristics. Primary data were gathered from 27 management shipping companies having their head office in Greece.Findings – Findings show high levels of influence of the CEOs on the Board of Directors, since in most cases the CEO is the Chairman of the B...

Decision support systems for human resource training and development

Human resource training and development methods and techniques have different qualitative characteristics that require a multicriteria and multiscenario framework for their assessment. This study incorporates the AHP to assess the nine most important human resource training and development methods and techniques, under five criteria and six scenarios. The methods considered are ‘on-the-job training’, ‘mentorship’, ‘apprenticeship’, ‘vestibule training/simulators’, ‘web-based learning’, ‘instructor-led classroom training’, ‘programmed self-instruction’, ‘case studies/role playing’ and ‘systematic job rotations and transfers’. ‘Vestibule training/simulators’ and ‘mentorship’ have the average best scores, and they should be among the first priorities especially when efficiency, the motivation of employees and minimization of the duration of training time are the most important factors. ‘Web-based learning’ is ideal for minimizing training costs or when ease of application is the first priority. ‘On-the-job training’ is a very good alternative when the cost of training should be reduced while the motivation of employees should be increased.

Strategic flexibility choices in the ocean transportation industry

Flexibility is an issue widely studied in the manufacturing literature, but only recently has attention been paid to flexibility in logistics and supply chain management. Flexibility is taking prominence due to the uncertainties and disruptions created in the production and distribution processes of an organisation and its respective supply chains. This paper aims at studying the level of transport flexibility achieved in the ocean transportation industry to gain understanding on the strategic choices of carriers to cope with market changes and customer demand. Our analysis indicates the different strategic choices ocean transportation companies need to make with regards to transport flexibility.

Using birth-and-death theory for container terminal strategic investment decisions

The present study uses birth-and-death modelling in order to examine the improvement of container terminal operations in two stages of the container transportation process. The first stage is the loading/unloading process and the second is the stacking of containers in the container yard. The data has been provided by a central container terminal station located in the Eastern Mediterranean encapsulating information on infrastructure, arrivals of vessels and service times for a period of three years. A number of scenarios are estimated based on changes in the number available servers (s) and the rate of service level (μ). Results show that both the increase in the number of servers (berth/slots) and the improvement in the rate of the service levels to users contribute decisively to the optimisation of container terminal operations benefiting not only the terminal but its users as well. However, the ability of Markov theory to estimate with the use of probabilities the economic consequences that strategic investment decisions could have on terminal efficiency is also of significance.

Estimating optimum container and vessel fleet sizes in a cyclic liner service using a holistic approach

The management of container fleets, regardless of type and size, is a rather costly operation. A number of strategies are present in the literature intending to efficiently and effectively tackle container utilisation emphasising on the position and allocation of empty containers. These strategies can be roughly categorised in two main groups of studies: container fleet management and fleet size planning. In this paper, a more holistic approach takes place by merging the problems of optimum vessel and container fleet size. The paper develops a model which intends to identify the factors that affect container utilisation in order to enable the effective and efficient operation and control minimising container idle time. Results indicate that the development of such a model can assist container shipping companies in improving their operations since decision-making processes relevant to container fleet size, vessel capacity utilisation, scheduling and frequency of service provided by the operators can be improved.

A literature review of port competition research

Research interest in the port industry has increased significantly in recent decades, due to the integration of ports in global supply chain strategies. Ports globally are facing strong competitive pressures in order to meet modern demand characteristics. The motivation behind this work has been to analyse the works present in academic journals, which fall under the port competition umbrella and identify niche areas of research. The study provides detailed analysis of the different research angles of port competition being port selection, port productivity and port competitiveness. Results show that most works focus on topics related to port selection, efficiency, performance and competitiveness. Room for future research appears to be in the areas of geographic comparisons of ports and terminals, financial indicators linked with environmental efficiency, efficiency in liquefied and liquid cargo terminals, port competitiveness and IT systems, port management related issues to strategy and marketing management and finally intra-port competition.

Evaluating ferry services through an AHP estimated KPI system: a focus on central Aegean

The paper proposes a methodology for creating an evaluation system of the passenger ferry services on the basis of key performance indicators (KPIs) derived through the analytic hierarchy process based on a recent survey in the Central Aegean. The AHP methodology is used to estimate weights of criteria and sub-criteria of data collected among an expert group of stakeholders from the Island of Syros, which is the main node of Central Aegean shipping services. The results of the survey show that users attribute the highest weights to safety related KPIs and the lowest weights are attributed to accessibility, quality of service, cost and time related ones. The methodology and the results of the survey are discussed in the context of survey specifics and of the need to devise an objectively-based system for evaluating the Greek ferry system.