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- Competitiveness and strategic positioning of seaports: the case of Iberian SeaportsPublication . Cruz, Maria Rosa Pires da; Ferreira, João José de Matos; Azevedo, Susana Maria Palavra GarridoThe global market, with its extensive business networks and complex logistics systems, poses a high degree of uncertainty to the seaport industry and leaves seaport managers facing questions over just how to effectively respond to the ongoing market dynamics. Over the years, competition among seaports has intensified due to a number of structural changes taking place in seaport systems. Firstly, seaport hinterlands have extended well beyond national boundaries as a result of improvements to logistics and transport infrastructure. Secondly, the seaport industry is becoming increasingly concentrated through mergers and alliances. Thirdly, seaports are no longer mere interface points between land and sea or air. As communication technology advances and trade liberalization facilitates globalization, the role of seaports in the supply chain is changing. Seaports have now become one of the most dynamic links in international transport networks. There is already a clear consensus in the literature around the sheer importance of seaports to national economies, especially to those heavily dependent on international trade. Taking into account the vital importance of seaports directly or indirectly to the economy of any country, and especially to those of Portugal and Spain, this research seeks to analyse the competitiveness and strategic positioning of Iberian seaports. In accordance with the seaport context set out above, the following four research questions are raised: i) are there different prevailing levels of competitiveness at Iberian seaports? ii) what are the key factors to seaport competitiveness from the stakeholder’s perspective? Do perceptions of the importance of these factors differ between users and service providers? iii) how are Iberian seaports strategically positioned within the Iberian range? iv) What is the contribution of logistics resources to the competitiveness and performance of this sector? To approach the level of competitiveness dimension, we measure seaport efficiency through applying an alternative Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) methodology for cross sectional data from 2009 and the appropriate DEA methods (contemporaneous and windows analysis) for panel data (2005-2009). The results suggest that levels of Iberian seaport efficiency differ significantly not only from seaport to seaport but also at each seaport over the course of time. The study also identifies both the contribution of inputs/outputs to this seaport efficiency and the causes of inefficiency. Through the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), we study the key factors to seaport competitiveness from the perspectives of stakeholders as well as the strength of their respective preferences. The Delphi approach was deployed for the preliminary stages of factor selection. The results reveal how seaports users and seaport service providers disagree over the importance of the key factors to seaport competitiveness. The results empirically demonstrate that vessel turnaround time is the most important factor to seaport competitiveness from perception of its users. However, from that of the seaport authorities and terminal operators, seaport facilities and equipment is the most important factor. The importance-performance matrix analysis also confirms that the vessel turnaround time that proves most important to users is also the factor on which the seaports do not perform well. Therefore, the service providers of Iberian seaports need to focus on improving its performance in this field. To study strategic seaport positioning, we apply the BCG (Boston Consulting Group) matrix as a strategic tool generating an evolutionary perspective. The findings reveal a better positioning of Spanish seaports in relation to total traffic. According to the time series analyzed (1992-2009), the strategic positioning of most seaports in the BCG matrix had changed from the first to the third period. Furthermore, in terms of container traffic, the results identify the seaports of Algeciras, Valencia, and Barcelona as having attained a remarkable position of leadership. With the purpose of analyzing the contribution of resource logistics to seaport performance, the linear additive Multi Criterion Analysis (MCA) and the Principal Components Analysis (PCA) model were adopted. The model incorporates the contribution of two different performance indicators, operational performance and physical capacity, measured by several indicators. The physical capacity indicators considered are logistics resources. Study results show operational performance contributed 48.77% whilst physical capacity represented 51.23% of overall performance with the majority of seaports revealing a direct proportionality between their positioning in terms of physical capacity and their overall performance positioning.
- Contemporary approaches to performance evaluation of international hotel groups in PortugalPublication . Ferreira, João; Estevão, Cristina; Cruz, Rosa Pires da; Ratten, VanessaCompetition between hotel groups has become fierce over recent years because of the rise in the mobility of tourists and the rise in the number of hotel groups. One of the most important tools for measuring the competitiveness of hotel groups is their efficiency. This paper seeks to evaluate the efficiency of international hotel groups in Portugal by applying appropriate data envelopment analysis (DEA) panel data approaches (contemporaneous and intertemporal). The results of the panel data suggest that the efficiency of hotel groups differs significantly from group to group and within each group over time. These results have implications for hotel managers wanting to increase their global competitiveness and efficiency and are discussed in terms of factors affecting managerial decision-making abilities. Future research directions are also stated in the paper, as this is important for hotel marketers particularly those in international hotel groups.