Under the influence of the global economic crisis, many shipping companies have been forced to sell their old and poorly prospective vessels and change their business strategy in order to survive on the market. The purpose of this scientific paper is to present a change in business strategy within shipping companies aimed at adapting to current needs of the trade market. The analysis of the role and features of strategic management in business operation of modern shipping companies is carried out in this paper with the aim of identifying and analysing those factors that affect the creation of business strategies and the need of shipping companies to adapt to the market. In the empirical part, business strategy of the largest Croatian shipping company, Tankerska plovidba d.d. (Plc.) of Zadar, has been explored and analysed, along with that of Stena Ltd., one of the largest global shipping companies, which represents a business sphere created through a multiple merger of shipping companies into one, with the purpose of increasing competitiveness on the market.
The Zadar Port System includes a series of ports and harbours of both the local and county importance, as well as of the national strategic importance. Year after year it has been recording good results in all its elements. However, it should be noted that the most significant growth has been recorded in sectors of nautical tourism and fisheries. Due to limited capacities and the recorded growth of the annual turnover in all the fields, the tendency is to develop the Zadar port system by improving any existing services and expanding by adding new ones. The aim is the integration into the system through diversification of services and enhancement of competitiveness on both the domestic and international markets. This paper has examined the status of existing infrastructure, traffic connections, yearly turnover and strategies for the future development that are meant to serve the purpose of enhancing competitiveness through the concept of integrating all the elements into the whole with the aim of ensuring unlimited possibilities of future development with regard to the geographical position and the needs of future users.
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