Group-specific business process improvements via a port community system: the case of Rotterdam

1 This paper is the inseparable result of a co-operation between the authors. However, Sections 2.1 and 2.3 by Francesco Schiavone; Section 1 by Francesco Schiavone and Junsong Chen; Sections 5 and 6 by Michele Simoni; Sections 2.2, and 3 were written by Marcello Risitano; Section 4 (and its sub-sections) by Daniele Leone.

Abstract

The Port Community System is a type of digital platform that offers several benefits and improvements to the operations and supply chain of an increasing number of ports worldwide. However, prior literature does not explain in detail how these various types of benefits and business process improvements spread within a port and are obtained by its main groups of stakeholders (agents, terminal operators, and so on). The article fills this literature gap by analysing the distribution of benefits and improvements among the main types of port actors in Rotterdam (the Netherlands) after the introduction of the ‘Portbase’ platform. The results show that PCS effectively improves port stakeholders’ business processes only if the platform is the core element of a port digital transformation strategy, and if it offers a large portfolio of smart IT solutions that (a) directly improve the system quality, information quality and service quality, and (b) are properly targeted for the business processes that are carried out by the different groups of port stakeholders.

Keywords:

• Business process improvement
• digital platforms
• Port Community System
• port management
• port stakeholders

Acknowledgements

The authors want to thank the Editor in Chief and the reviewers of Production, Planning & Control for their valuable comments and feedback to the former versions of the present article.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 This paper is the inseparable result of a co-operation between the authors. However, Sections 2.1 and 2.3 by Francesco Schiavone; Section 1 by Francesco Schiavone and Junsong Chen; Sections 5 and 6 by Michele Simoni; Sections 2.2, and 3 were written by Marcello Risitano; Section 4 (and its sub-sections) by Daniele Leone.

2 We thank one of the reviewers for this comment.

Additional information

Funding

The present research received financial support by the University of Naples Parthenope.

Notes on contributors

Michele Simoni

Michele Simoni holds a PhD in Business Management and is Professor of Marketing and Business Model Innovation at the Department of Management and Quantitative Studies, Parthenope University of Naples. He has been a visiting scholar at the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS) – Shanghai twice and at University of South Wales (UNSW) – Sydney twice. Prof. Simoni serves as coordinator of the theme division of Italian Marketing Scientific Society (Società Italiana di Marketing - SIM) on Technology and Innovation Marketing. His research currently focuses on how complexity affects innovation and value creation processes in entrepreneurial and managerial organisations.

Francesco Schiavone

Francesco Schiavone is an Associate Professor in management at University Parthenope, Naples, Italy. He received the Ph.D. degree in network economics and knowledge management from the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice (Italy) in 2006. He is also an Affiliated Professor in innovation management at Emlyon (France). In April 2017 Prof. Schiavone has been habilitated as Full Professor in management by MIUR (Italian Ministry of Education and Research). Currently, his main research areas are technology management, strategic innovation, communities of practice, and healthcare management and innovation.

Marcello Risitano

Marcello Risitano (Ph.D. in Business Science, Federico II University of Naples, Italy) is an Associate Professor of Management at Parthenope University of Naples. His research and teaching interests is focussed on strategic and marketing management, tourism industry, maritime logistics management. He coordinates numerous research projects on these topics. Marcello’s works have been published across some international peer-reviewed journals, such as Production Planning and Control, Transport Reviews, International Journal of Transport Economics, Transportation Research – Part A, International Journal of Culture Tourism and Hospitality Research, British Food Journal. Since 2016, Marcello Risitano is Scientific Director of MAR.TE. Laboratory – Sea-Land Logistics.

Daniele Leone

Daniele Leone, PhD, is a Research Fellow at the Parthenope University of Naples, Italy. He received his doctoral degree in management from the University of Naples Federico II in February 2019. In 2017 he was a Visiting Scholar at the Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK. In 2015 he received the master’s degree in International Marketing and Management from Parthenope University, Naples, Italy. He is also a member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Globalisation and Small Business. His main research areas are innovation management, crowdfunding and healthcare management.

Junsong Chen

Junsong Chen is the Professor of Marketing at Emlyon Business School, France. He received his Ph.D. in Marketing from University of Birmingham in 2003. He has been a visiting scholar at SDA Bocconi School of Management, Italy. Prof. Chen is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Global Scholars of Marketing Science and the Journal of Customer Behaviour. Currently, Prof. Chen’s main research interests lie in the areas of service marketing, open innovation, strategy and CSR.