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Dissertation

Political economy of port competition : institutional analyses of Rotterdam, Southern California and Dubai

01 Jan 2007-
About: The article was published on 2007-01-01 and is currently open access. It has received 37 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Port (computer networking) & Competition (economics).

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Citations
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present a theoretical framework to analyze and understand the co-evolution of seaports in a regional context by making use of the concept of windows of opportunity.
Abstract: How do seaports evolve in relation to each other? Recent studies in port economics and transport geography focused on how supply chain integration has structurally changed the competitive landscape in which individual ports and port actors operate. Port regionalization has been addressed as the corresponding new phase in the spatial and functional evolution of port systems. However, these studies lack theoretical foundations that allow us to empirically assess both the role of the institutional context and of strategic agency in the competitive (spatial and functional) evolution of regional (integrated) port systems. The paper presents a theoretical framework to analyze and understand the co- evolution of seaports in a regional context by making use of the concept of windows of opportunity. The empirical part will unravel the role of seaport-based co-evolution in the processes aimed at positioning market players and ports on the container scene in the Rhine-Scheldt Delta.

16 citations


Cites background from "Political economy of port competiti..."

  • ...…routines to different ports in different countries, but at the same time ports resemble ‘local communities of practice’ that are firmly rooted in robust territorial rooted structures of power and corresponding institutional realities (Hall & Jacobs, forthcoming; Jacobs, 2007a; Hall 2003)....

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  • ...In some cases this strategic coupling required institutional change, e.g. changing the ownership structure of port authorities (Jacobs, 2007b), and the development of new organizational routines by port authorities and operators in terms of contracting and allocating user rights of port land…...

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Dissertation
27 Nov 2009
TL;DR: In this article, the authors investigate the facteurs conditionnant la mise en œuvre par les armements de comportements terrestres differencies.
Abstract: Les armements sont des transporteurs maritimes parfois amenes a intervenir dans la mise en œuvre de terminaux portuaires, de services de transport terrestre et de terminaux interieurs. Ces comportements d'ancrage prennent des formes differenciees, mais chaque armement espere tirer un avantage concurrentiel sur le marche investi. Notre travail vise a repondre a deux questions : quels sont les facteurs conditionnant la mise en œuvre par les armements de comportements terrestres differencies ? Ces differences agissent-elles sur l'avantage concurrentiel degage par les armements sur les segments investis ? Un cadre theorique au carrefour de l'economie de proximite et des sciences de gestion a ete construit et confronte aux rapports qu'entretiennent les armements avec les ports et arriere-pays de la rangee Nord Europe. Les raisons ayant permis a Maersk, MSC, CMA CGM et NYK, et pas a d'autres, d'intervenir de maniere differenciee sur terre ont ete decryptees. Enfin, la competitivite que ces comportements d'ancrage procurent a ces quatre armements par rapport a ceux qui n'interviennent pas sur terre a ete apprehendee. Au-dela de la rencontre industrie-firme-territoire, les dynamiques concurrentielles entre les armements d'une part et entre les territoires d'autre part agissent directement sur les attributs des differents comportements de territorialisation. La dynamique temporelle du developpement des comportements d'ancrage conditionne sensiblement l'avantage concurrentiel procure ; avantage dont la durabilite est etroitement liee a la densite et a la connexite des services terrestres developpes.

15 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyzed the development of IWT on the Pearl River from an institutional perspective, and showed that the privatization of inland ports was triggered by the mismatch between the objectives of the IWT operators and either public objectives or market demand.
Abstract: Inland waterway transport (IWT) is the most appropriate means of transportation in the pursuit of a sustainable development strategy. The development of IWT varies per region. Public entities and institutions play an important role in the development of IWT. This paper analyses the development of IWT on the Pearl River from an institutional perspective. Chinese national fiscal reforms, land use reforms and the transfer of power from the central government to local governments impact the governance of IWT. The paper demonstrates that the privatization of inland ports was triggered by the mismatch between the objectives of IWT operators and either public objectives or market demand. This process unfolded while top-level governors did not aim for privatization. The paper shows how formal institutional changes of IWT on the Pearl River are both the result of deliberate design and a path creation in the transformation from the Chinese planned economy to the Chinese market economy. It also shows how institutional changes resulted in a dual development path (i.e. a rapid development of inland terminals but underdevelopment of inland waterways) of IWT in the Pearl River. Policy recommendations are provided based on the research findings with specific attention to the factors hindering IWT development on the Pearl River at the level of the waterway infrastructure and inland ports.

14 citations

14 May 2009
TL;DR: In this article, a conceptual approach rooted in new institutional economics for analyzing coordination arrangements in hinterland chains is presented, based on an in-depth study into the economic organization and performance of the rail transport in the port of Rotterdam.
Abstract: In the last two decades, the European railway market has been liberalized: more competition and less government involvement should lead to higher efficiencies. The central message from an economic perspective is that more market coordinates trans- actions more effectively and efficiently. In the rail freight market, liberalization did bring positive effects: quality improved and costs went down. However, by focusing on seaports, this chapter shows that liberalization does not in any case bring an optimal allocation of resources. In the new liberalized situation, new parties have entered the market, roles have changed and functions sometimes have split-up over several actors or even disappeared. This chapter shows that additional institutional arrangements or coordination mechanisms are needed in such a process that is highly interdependent in terms of time and capacity. This paper builds on a conceptual approach rooted in new institutional economics for analyzing coordination arrangements in hinterland chains. Based on an in-depth study into the economic organization and performance of the rail transport in the port of Rotterdam we will empirically use the framework.

10 citations


Cites background from "Political economy of port competiti..."

  • ...Some scholars contributed to the institutional analysis of seaports (for example, Stevens 1997; Jacobs 2007); but institutional eco- nomics in port-hinterland relations has received little attention....

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  • ...Some scholars contributed to the institutional analysis of seaports (for example, Stevens 1997; Jacobs 2007); but institutional eco-...

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Dissertation
01 Jun 2019
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the impact of functional integration and port regionalization on the economic impact of the ports on the regional economy and showed that the economic impacts of individual ports are quite different according to the size of port traffic, the cargo composition and the spatial boundary of the users.
Abstract: The changes in port-related activities have been successfully recognised by the key words in recent port studies such as a ‘node’ of a transport network, an ‘integrated component’ in a transport service, and a ‘central place’ in global logistics. Especially, the spatial enlargement of the ports to their hinterlands is generally agreed to occur in practice by connecting discrete port activities with global supply chains. These connections result in various changes in different aspects such as economic impacts, the port community, port governance etc. Port impact studies (PISs) have contributed to understanding the economic impacts of ports both at the national level and at the regional level. However, the PISs have been depending mainly on Input Output (IO) analysis and hence the PISs have methodological constraints that limit the evaluation of the economic impacts of the intensification of functional integration and port regionalisation. To fill the research gap, this study implements an empirical analysis by following three different steps. Firstly, at the level of a port, this study scrutinises the development path, the interaction with the city and the status in the national port system by applying various qualitative and quantitative methods. Secondly, at the level of a sector in a regional economy, the gross value-added (GVA) per worker of transportation and the four sub-sectors (air, land, water and supporting activities) in transportation are examined by applying the shift-share analysis which has a powerful advantage to partitioning all changes to several effects from regional economy and national one in the relationship between both of them. Lastly, at the level of a regional economy, this study estimates the contributions of the ports to the regional economies by applying an econometric analysis that builds on previous studies. In conclusion, this study suggests the significant implication that the intensification of functional integration and port regionalisation is likely to enlarge the disparity between the port cities in the sight of the impacts of the ports on its regional economies. This implication is supported mainly by the two different approaches. On one hand, this study shows that individual port cities have quite different transportation sectors in terms of the GVA per worker and the sectoral proportion of transportation in the regional economies by applying the shift-share analysis. In particular, the ports of Busan and Incheon, where containerized freight makes up a high proportion of traffic, make a greater contribution to their regional economies. The originality of this thesis rests in showing if the suggestions in the port studies take place in practice by applying the shift-share analysis and if this methodology is useful in examining the structural changes of four sub-sectors in transportation for the first time. On the other hand, this study implies that the economic impact of individual ports is quite different according to the size of port traffic, the cargo composition and the spatial boundary of the users etc. by applying the econometric analyses, including the sub-group analysis, by region. It implies that significant bias in the PISs can result from the incorrect application of the methodologies such as the IO analysis of using the national IO tables and the econometric analysis of estimating a coefficient for the whole country.

10 citations


Cites background from "Political economy of port competiti..."

  • ...The third approach is to focus on the port community which various actors consist in based on a particular territory (Hall, 2003) and the relational structure in the port community which a variety of actors and stakeholders are influencing and/or influenced (Jacobs, 2007)....

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References
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Book
01 Jan 1990
TL;DR: Douglass C. North as discussed by the authors developed an analytical framework for explaining the ways in which institutions and institutional change affect the performance of economies, both at a given time and over time.
Abstract: Continuing his groundbreaking analysis of economic structures, Douglass North develops an analytical framework for explaining the ways in which institutions and institutional change affect the performance of economies, both at a given time and over time. Institutions exist, he argues, due to the uncertainties involved in human interaction; they are the constraints devised to structure that interaction. Yet, institutions vary widely in their consequences for economic performance; some economies develop institutions that produce growth and development, while others develop institutions that produce stagnation. North first explores the nature of institutions and explains the role of transaction and production costs in their development. The second part of the book deals with institutional change. Institutions create the incentive structure in an economy, and organisations will be created to take advantage of the opportunities provided within a given institutional framework. North argues that the kinds of skills and knowledge fostered by the structure of an economy will shape the direction of change and gradually alter the institutional framework. He then explains how institutional development may lead to a path-dependent pattern of development. In the final part of the book, North explains the implications of this analysis for economic theory and economic history. He indicates how institutional analysis must be incorporated into neo-classical theory and explores the potential for the construction of a dynamic theory of long-term economic change. Douglass C. North is Director of the Center of Political Economy and Professor of Economics and History at Washington University in St. Louis. He is a past president of the Economic History Association and Western Economics Association and a Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has written over sixty articles for a variety of journals and is the author of The Rise of the Western World: A New Economic History (CUP, 1973, with R.P. Thomas) and Structure and Change in Economic History (Norton, 1981). Professor North is included in Great Economists Since Keynes edited by M. Blaug (CUP, 1988 paperback ed.)

27,080 citations

Posted Content
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine the role that institutions, defined as the humanly devised constraints that shape human interaction, play in economic performance and how those institutions change and how a model of dynamic institutions explains the differential performance of economies through time.
Abstract: Examines the role that institutions, defined as the humanly devised constraints that shape human interaction, play in economic performance and how those institutions change and how a model of dynamic institutions explains the differential performance of economies through time. Institutions are separate from organizations, which are assemblages of people directed to strategically operating within institutional constraints. Institutions affect the economy by influencing, together with technology, transaction and production costs. They do this by reducing uncertainty in human interaction, albeit not always efficiently. Entrepreneurs accomplish incremental changes in institutions by perceiving opportunities to do better through altering the institutional framework of political and economic organizations. Importantly, the ability to perceive these opportunities depends on both the completeness of information and the mental constructs used to process that information. Thus, institutions and entrepreneurs stand in a symbiotic relationship where each gives feedback to the other. Neoclassical economics suggests that inefficient institutions ought to be rapidly replaced. This symbiotic relationship helps explain why this theoretical consequence is often not observed: while this relationship allows growth, it also allows inefficient institutions to persist. The author identifies changes in relative prices and prevailing ideas as the source of institutional alterations. Transaction costs, however, may keep relative price changes from being fully exploited. Transaction costs are influenced by institutions and institutional development is accordingly path-dependent. (CAR)

26,011 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the extent to which economic action is embedded in structures of social relations, in modern industrial society, is examined, and it is argued that reformist economists who attempt to bring social structure back in do so in the "oversocialized" way criticized by Dennis Wrong.
Abstract: How behavior and institutions are affected by social relations is one of the classic questions of social theory. This paper concerns the extent to which economic action is embedded in structures of social relations, in modern industrial society. Although the usual neoclasical accounts provide an "undersocialized" or atomized-actor explanation of such action, reformist economists who attempt to bring social structure back in do so in the "oversocialized" way criticized by Dennis Wrong. Under-and oversocialized accounts are paradoxically similar in their neglect of ongoing structures of social relations, and a sophisticated account of economic action must consider its embeddedness in such structures. The argument in illustrated by a critique of Oliver Williamson's "markets and hierarchies" research program.

25,601 citations


"Political economy of port competiti..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Proponents of this model (cf. Granovetter 1985) see institutional change as arising out of collective processes of interpretation, and emphasis is put on the ways in which existing institutions structure and circumscribe the range of institutional change and creation....

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Book
01 Jan 1990
TL;DR: The Need for a New Paradigm as discussed by the authors is the need for a new paradigm for the competitive advantage of companies in global industries, as well as the dynamics of national competitive advantage.
Abstract: The Need for a New Paradigm - PART I: FOUNDATIONS - The Competitive Advantage of Firms in Global Industries - Determinants of National Competitive Advantage - The Dynamics of National Advantage - PART II: INDUSTRIES - Four Studies in National Competitive Advantage - National Competitive Advantage in Services - PART III: NATIONS - Patterns of National Competitive Advantage: The Early Postwar Winners - Emerging Nations in the 1970s and 1980s - Shifting National Advantage - The Competitive Development of National Economies - PART IV: IMPLICATIONS - Company Strategy - Government Policy - National Agendas - Epilogue - Appendices - References

22,660 citations


"Political economy of port competiti..." refers background in this paper

  • ...This argument is associated with the work on clusters (Porter, 1990), industrial districts (Piore & Sabel, 1984) and agglomeration-economies (Krugman, 1995)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors show that the Musgrave-Samuelson analysis, which is valid for federal expenditures, need not apply to local expenditures, and restate the assumptions made by Musgrave and Samuelson and the central problems with which they deal.
Abstract: NE of the most important recent developments in the area of "applied economic theory" has been the work of Musgrave and Samuelson in public finance theory.2 The two writers agree on what is probably the major point under investigation, namely, that no "market type" solution exists to determine the level of expenditures on public goods. Seemingly, we are faced with the problem of having a rather large portion of our national income allocated in a "non-optimal" way when compared with the private sector. This discussion will show that the Musgrave-Samuelson analysis, which is valid for federal expenditures, need not apply to local expenditures. The plan of the discussion is first to restate the assumptions made by Musgrave and Samuelson and the central problems with which they deal. After looking at a key difference between the federal versus local cases, I shall present a simple model. This model yields a solution for the level of expenditures for local public goods which reflects the preferences of the population more adequately than they can be reflected at the national level. The assumptions of the model will then be relaxed to see what implications are involved. Finally, policy considerations will be discussed.

12,105 citations


"Political economy of port competiti..." refers background in this paper

  • ...In such a situation, citizens and businesses can ‘vote with their feet’ (Tiebout, 1956) in the search for the most favorable package of welfare services and taxes within the metropolitan area....

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