Abstract:
Technological advancements, globalization, and changing consumer behaviors have posed significant challenges to the maritime shipping industry. This industry has been focusing on enhancing service quality and competitiveness to ensure long-term business success. Given the various factors impacting the sustainability of maritime shipping businesses in today's global trade environment, this research aims to investigate the components of management approaches in the maritime shipping business during the new normal era. A structural equation model was developed based on the findings.
Both qualitative and quantitative research methods were employed. For the qualitative research, in-depth interviews were conducted with nine experts, and focus group discussions were held with eleven qualified individuals. For the quantitative research, a survey was administered to 500 executives in the maritime shipping business, utilizing descriptive, inferential, and multivariate statistics.
The results revealed four key components of management approaches in the maritime shipping business during the new normal era: 1) Business Alliance, which was ranked as the most important with an average score of (X̅ = 4.57), and the most critical aspect was collaboration with related private sector businesses. 2) Procedures, with an average score of (X̅ = 4.48), where regular financial analysis was highlighted as the most important. 3) Organizational Competency, with an average score of (X̅ = 4.28), emphasizing the importance of building a quality team. 4) Marine Insurance, with an average score of (X̅ = 4.18), where recruiting a cargo insurance agent was identified as the most crucial. The hypothesis testing results indicate that sea freight forwarding businesses operating for less than 10 years and those operating for 10 years show no statistically significant difference overall or in individual aspects at the 0.05 level. Both overall and in terms of individual components.
The structural equation model analysis demonstrated a good fit with the empirical data, with a chi-square probability (CMIN-ρ) of 0.229, a chi-square ratio (CMIN/DF) of 1.066, a goodness-of-fit index (GFI) of 0.958, and a root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) of 0.011.