Port labour, competitiveness and drivers of change in the Mediterranean Sea: a conceptual framework

Abstract

Despite the progressive shift towards the capital-intensive paradigm, the human factor is still considered as one of most valuable assets in the port domain. Port labour from ship-to-shore and yard crane drivers to harbour pilots may lead to the success in port competition, affecting the quality, reliability and flexibility of port service. Several scholars started to address the major drivers shaping the causal relation between port labour and competitiveness. While some individual determinants have been already discussed, including port governance settings, innovation and technology, shifts in the demand needs, etc., extant literature fails to provide a multidimensional conceptual framework. The article addresses this literature gap by proposing an ad hoc theoretical model that identifies valuable drivers of change, which shape the relationship between port labour and competitiveness in the Mediterranean port systems. Grounded on two case studies in the Mediterranean Sea, i.e. the Port of Genoa and the Port of Marseille, the conceptual framework is tested and empirically validated. Managerial and organizational implications for port competitiveness are discussed, providing useful insights for both academics and practitioners.

Keywords:

• Port labour
• competitiveness
• productivity
• innovation

Disclosure statement

The paper benefited from the empirical outcomes of the research project entitled "Second Life: Seafarers work and live better having alternatives of a future job ashore" commissioned by The ITF Seafarers' Trust (London, UK) to CIELI.

Additional information

Funding

The present work was financially supported by The ITF Seafarers’ Trust.

Notes on contributors

Giovanni Satta

Giovanni Satta, PhD, is Assistant Professor at the Department of Economics and Business of the University of Genoa in Italy, and a member of the Italian Centre of Excellence for the Integrated Logistics. He teaches Transport Finance and Marketing for Transport Services. He won the 5th MEL PhD competition (2013) sponsored by Palgrave Macmillan with a doctoral thesis about the strategies of container port multinationals. His research interests include strategic management and its application to various business contexts including shipping, transports and high tech firms. Giovanni extensively published across various international peer-reviewed journals, such as Journal of International Management, RandD Management, Transportation Research Part A and Maritime Policy and Management. E-mail: [email protected]

Salvatore Maugeri

Salvatore Maugeri is a senior sociology lecturer at the University of Orleans, stationed at the IUT of Chartres. Founding member of the Thematic Network 30 (RT30), sociology of management, of the French Sociological Association (AFS), he is the author of several books on the sociology of management. Governance and accounting, labour organization and motivation are his main themes of research. E-mail: [email protected]

Eva Panetti

Eva Panetti, PhD (2017) is Research Fellow at the National Research Council (CNR) – Institute of Studies on Mediterranean Societies (ISSM). She has been visiting researcher at the MIT – Industrial Performance Center. and conducted her doctoral studies in Management at the Federico II University and the Parthenope University of Naples. She also joined the sea-land logistics PPP “MAR.TE” as a Research Fellow, where she emphasised the potential to analyze the sea–land logistics industry from a local innovation system perspective in the City Port areas. Her main research interests focus on local innovation systems, innovation management, transition studies and port management. Email: [email protected]

Marco Ferretti

Marco Ferretti is Full Professor in Management at the Department of Management and Quantitative Studies of Università`di Napoli Parthenope where he is Vice Director and teaches, among others, Innovation Management, Business Planning and Venture Capital. He is also Professor of Management at the L.U.I.S.S and former director of the MBA of Stoà from 1997 to 2005. He was member of the Board of Directors of the research consortium CAMPEC (ENEA and CNR) and has a significant international experience having earned his MBA at the Sloan School of Management of MIT and worked for international organisations as UNIDO, IDRO (Industrial Development and Renovation Organisation of Iran), University of Boston and MIT. He is the scientific director of the project Smart Tunnel on port systems, which involves Grimaldi Spa, Vitrociset Spa, Tecnosistem Spa, as well as CNR and the Università degli Studi di Salerno. Prof. Ferretti’s main fields of study regard innovation strategic management and local innovation systems, internationalisation of firms and development of academic spin-offs through venture capital. Prof. Ferretti is the author of numerous publications on national and international journals. Email: [email protected]