Cross-cultural studies on organizational strategies for shipping firms : aspect of masculinity/femininity (assertiveness/humane orientation), long-term/short-term orientation (future orientation) and mastery/harmony

Abstract

The research investigates the influence of organizational culture on the strategy implementation of the shipping companies in the three continents: the United States, Europe and Asia. The recommendations of the organizational cultures and strategies to be implemented in Singapore shipping companies are also included in the research.

The framework of this report is based on a comprehensive review of past literatures, primary and secondary data. Literature review includes the dimensions of organizational culture and the influence of organizational culture on companies in each of the three continents, Singapore and other industries. Primary data includes eight interviews conducted with the professionals from the shipping companies in the three continents. On the other hand, secondary data includes annual and sustainability reports of the nine shipping companies in the three continents and three shipping companies in Singapore.

The findings indicate that shipping companies from all the three continents are long-term oriented. In addition, only shipping companies from the United States are inclined towards the mastery dimension whereas shipping companies from Europe and Asia are inclined towards the harmony dimension. Furthermore, shipping companies in the United States and China exhibit masculinity characteristics while shipping companies in Europe (Denmark, the United Kingdom and Germany), Japan and South Korea exhibit femininity characteristics.

Moreover, financial analysis based on the free cash flow (FCF) and return on equity (ROE) was conducted on the nine shipping companies in the three continents and it is determined that Nippon Yusen Kaisha (NYK) is the benchmark for Singapore shipping companies due to its increasing trend in FCF and positive ROE. Therefore, the recommendations of the dimensions of organizational cultures such as long-term orientation, harmony and femininity are proposed to shipping companies in Singapore. However, other factors such as the size of the company also influence the recommendations proposed.

Lastly, conclusions, limitations of the research such as time constraints and recommendations for future research are made based on the research findings.