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Corporate Strategies and Global Competition: Odense Steel Shipyard, 1918–2012

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

René Taudal Poulsen ,
Kristoffer Jensen ,
René Schrøder Christensen  and
Liping Jiang
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Abstract

This article analyzes the competitive strategies of Odense Steel Shipyard between 1918 and 2012 and challenges existing scholarship on competition in global industries. Until the 1980s, the yard adopted typical strategies in shipbuilding, starting with cost leadership and subsequently adopting global segmentation and differentiation strategies. From the mid-1980s, however, it successfully followed a unique national responsiveness strategy, which scholars including Dong Sung Cho and Michael E. Porter had ruled out in shipbuilding. The article shows how shipyard owners shaped strategies and influenced competitiveness.

Keywords

competitivenessconglomeratescorporate strategyglobal competitionshipbuilding
Type
Research Article
Information
Business History Review , Volume 91 , Issue 4 , Winter 2017 , pp. 707 - 734
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 2018 

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34 Hornby, Ved rettidig omhu; Christensen, “Stålskibsbygning,” 192.

35 A. P. Møller to E. Ringsted, 31 Aug. 1936, box 22242, APMM; Sørensen, “Rekruttering, arbejdsstyrke og arbejdsmiljø,” 207–32; Harnow and Morgen, “Ledelse og organisering.”

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37 Christensen, “Odense Staalskibsværft,” 106; Christensen, “Stålskibsbygning,” 172.

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41 Christensen, “Odense Staalskibsværft,” 317.

42 Meeting minutes, Dansk Smede og Maskinarbejderforbund [Danish Smith and Machinist Union] (DSMF), Odense Dep., 15 Jan. and 26 Apr. 1932, Metal Odense archives, Odense; Hornby, Ved rettidig omhu, 87; Hans Rasmussen, Ilden i min esse [The fire in my furnace] (Copenhagen, 1977), 108, 284; Bengtsson, Preben, Metal Odense 100 år [Celebrating 100 years of the labor union “Metal” in Odense] (Copenhagen, 1988), 16Google Scholar; Sørensen, “Rekruttering, arbejdsstyrke og arbejdsmiljø.”

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48 Cho and Porter, “Global Industry Leadership,” 565.

49 A. P. Møller to E. Ringsted, 8 June 1933, box 112011, APMM.

50 A. P. Møller to Götaverken management, 12 Sept. 1934, box 112009, APMM. On such practices in Swedish shipbuilding, see Olsson, Från panserbåtsvarv till tankfartygsvarv, 116, 142–44.

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62 Ibid., 315–25; Binda and Iversen, “Towards a ‘Managerial Revolution’”; Iversen and Larsson, “Strategic Transformations.”

63 Tenold, Tankers in Trouble; Bruno and Tenold, “South Korea's Ascent”; Chida and Davies, Japanese Shipping and Shipbuilding.

64 Bruno and Tenold, “South Korea's Ascent.”

65 Board meeting minutes, OSS, 9 June 1977, APMM.

66 Ibid.

67 Ibid.

68 Ibid.

69 Board meeting minutes, OSS, 16 June 1982, APMM.

70 Jensen, “Udvidelsen af Odense Staalskibsværft,” 505–9.

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75 Christensen, “Odense Staalskibsværft,” 210–17.

76 Board meeting minutes, OSS, 13 Mar. 1978, APMM.

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82 Reassessment of Lindø’s competitive position, McKinsey, 28 Aug. 1986, box 111717, APMM.

83 Ibid.

84 Board meeting minutes, OSS, 16 June 1982, APMM.

85 Finding a profitable operating mode for Lindø, executive summary, McKinsey, 31 Oct. 1985, box 111717, APMM.

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97 Jensen, “Udvikling mod en ny specialisering,” 682.

98 Ibid., 682–87.

99 Janet Porter, “Emma Maersk sets 11,000 teu record,” Lloyd's List, 12 Aug. 2006. The vessels later proved to be even larger. Jephson and Morgen, Maersk Line, 422.

100 Jensen, Kristoffer and Poulsen, René Taudal, “Lukningsbeslutningen efter nedslående markedsundersøgelser” [The decision to close down the shipyard] in Odense Staalskibsværft 1918–2012, ed. Toftgaard, Jens (Odense, 2016), 797–821 Google Scholar.

101 Maersk Broker to Jess Søderberg, 21 Jan. 2002, box 221783, APMM; Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller to Mr. Cho, 28 May 2002, box 224788, APMM.

102 Mr. Cho comments on Shipyard Management Strategy Plan 2003–2006, box 214788, APMM.

103 Lars Erik Brenøe (board chairman, OSS, 2007–12), interview by Kristoffer Jensen and René Taudal Poulsen, 2 Apr. 2014.

104 Konkurrencestyrelsen, Konkurrenceredegørelsen [Report on competition], chap. 9 (Copenhagen, 2002).

105 Poulsen, René Taudal and Hahn-Pedersen, Morten, “A.P. Møller-Mærsk i olie- og gasindustriens værdikæde” [A.P. Moller-Maersk in the oil and gas value chain] in Sjæk'len - Årbog for Fiskeri- og Søfartsmuseet, Hahn-Pedersen, Morten, ed. (Esbjerg, 2011), 66–85 Google Scholar.

106 Goold and Luchs, “Why Diversify?”

107 C. K. Prahalad and Gary Hamel, “The Core Competence of the Corporation,” Harvard Business Review, May–June 1990.

108 UNCTAD Review of Maritime Transport 2015.

109 Board meeting minutes, OSS, 27 May 2008, APMM.

110 Board meeting minutes, OSS, 3 Oct. 2006 and 22 Feb. 2007, APMM.

111 Jensen and Poulsen, “Lukningsbeslutningen efter nedslående markedsundersøgelser.”

112 Board meeting minutes, OSS, 10 Aug. 2009, APMM.