The Effects of Port Security Compliance on the Competitiveness of United States and European Union Ports and Maritime Industry Terminal Firms

Abstract

This research addresses how maritime security regulations affect company competitive strategies. This research attempts to measure the impact of the way these security regulations are implemented on perceived competitiveness of terminals and ports located in the United States (U.S.) and the European Union (E.U.). A survey of U.S. and E.U. port based companies, questions companies if the way the company complies with the International Ship and Port Security code of 2004 and other U.S. and E.U. regulations provide them a competitive advantage.

The survey asks ports and firms to determine if their assets are unique, valuable, not easily imitated, not easily substituted, specific to that firm, or holds no competitive advantage. This determination is based upon Resource- Based Strategic Theory, which proposes that certain assets available can give firms a competitive advantage. The survey was distributed to all ports and terminals in the U.S. The list of ports and terminals was retrieved from the Sea-Web Port and Terminal guide.

The U.S. and E.U. firms results show that their competitive advantages mostly comes from the use of intangible assets. These particular differences are what will assist in answering the question of what do U.S. ports think creates their competitive advantage.