International Maritime Business. Comparison of the German and the Greek maritime clusters

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the differences and similarities among shipping firms in the German and the Greek maritime clusters. In this context, market, financial, organizational, human resources and management related issues are identified and discussed.

The two major European players in the global shipping market, namely the German and the Greek shipping firms, are currently facing several enormous challenges. The impact of global economic downturn, the crisis in the main shipping sectors and the changes in the pattern of world trade all profoundly affect the maritime transport industry (De Monie, Rodrigue und Notteboom 2011). However the Greek shipping companies seem to manage their businesses in the crisis more successfully than their German competitors. Therefore a report on the differences and similarities among shipping firms in the German and the Greek maritime clusters is of high interest. Even though both players focus on different segments in the maritime markets, that have different rules and conditions, the main parameters and aspects of their businesses will be compared. The focus of this report lies on market, financial, organizational, management and human resources related issues. Since these issues mainly touch strategic management decisions, this report will not go to deeply into the operational aspects of the businesses such as using Key Performance Indicators (KPI´s) or other methods and applications that would serve these types of issues. The use of KPI´s would also demand the same source of their collection to have an objective analysis, but since both players operate on different markets, only a small proportion of their KPI´s would be comparable. Furthermore this paper will focus purely on companies that operate ships. Hence, ports, hinterland-logistics, education- or administration-facilities belonging to the maritime cluster will not be taken into account. After the German and Greek shipping firms have been compared, the report will highlight aspects that differentiate the particular maritime clusters and conclude with similar short prospects both players likely will face in the future.