Value Creation through Corporate Sustainability in the Port Sector: A Structured Literature Analysis

Abstract

<jats:p>Corporate Sustainability (CS) in the port sector has emerged as an important driver behind strategy definition for port authorities globally. It has been argued that CS practices have the potential of delivering value for port users and, as such, grant port operators and port managing entities competitive advantages. There is, however, limited evidence behind this claim. The difficulty with collecting such evidence is that we lack measures of port value creation, and CS metrics have rarely been developed and applied in ports. This paper provides a framework for collecting empirical evidence aimed at assessing in what way CS can benefit port competitiveness. The framework is built on a systematic literature analysis of the past years. The literature analysis exceeds previous comparable contributions by its analytical detail and provides valuable new insights on sustainability in the maritime domain. The research indicates that the accurate measurement of CS initiatives in the port sector is urgent and meaningful. When appropriately measured, the value that CS can deliver to port users becomes apparent. This is, however, often created indirectly via branding, risk mitigation, etc. The paper contributes to academic knowledge as it is the first to develop a rigorous CS measurement framework usable for ports in terms of value.</jats:p>

Revisiting port sustainability as a foundation for the implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs)

“…It is very noticeable that Transportation Research Part D, Research in Transportation Business and Management, and Maritime Policy and Management journals are publishing much of the research relevant to port sustainability. This aligns with Bjerkan and Seter ( 2019 ), Davarzani et al ( 2016 ), and Stein and Acciaro ( 2020 ), who highlighted the same results. The rest of the studies are published by 25 journals, with one study per journal.…”

“…Such pressure motivates and stimulates ports not to merely focus on economic generation, but also to include resilient sustainable strategies (Lu et al 2016a ). Put differently, ports are required to balance commercial and economic growth against environmental and social sustainability (Stein and Acciaro 2020 ), and thus to achieve competitive advantage and boost service quality. Pressure on ports is driven by, inter alia, local and international regulations (Lam and Notteboom 2014 ), local communities and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) (Lee et al 2015 ; MTCC Pacific 2017 ; IMO 2018a ), corporate social responsibility (CSR) (Woo et al 2018 ), energy efficiency economic benefits (Acciaro and Wilmsmeier 2015 ; Wilmsmeier and Spengler 2016 ), shippers, 2 consignees, cargo owners and carriers (Poulsen et al 2018 ; Jasmi and Fernando 2018 ), environmental awareness and pursuit of a green port image (Notteboom et al 2020 ).…”

A Digital or Sustainable Small and Medium-Sized Port? Sustainable Port Blueprint in the Baltic Sea Region Based on Port Benchmarking

“…Making greener means making more sustainable. In this light, modern sustainable management approaches, such as Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) become crucial drivers for addressing and integrating sustainability aspects and practices into SMSPs activities (Acciaro, 2015;Lopez-Morales et al, 2020;Lu et al, 2016;Stein & Acciaro, 2020). Indeed, CSR strategies are connected to a variety of advantages for ports, e.g.…”

Corporate social responsibility in ports of Latin America

“…Also the relationship between CSR and ports is close. Ports generate important impacts on marine ecosystems through gas emissions, and water pollution, as well as on the health of the inhabitants of the region where they are located, among others (Lam and Notteboom, 2014;Stein and Acciaro, 2020). Likewise, it is important to explain how the behavior of CSR in a port, in a specific way the ports, improves their image through CSR practices, to appear socially responsible with the environment in response to the community and government pressures and requirements (Di Vaio and Varriale, 2018).…”

“…Second, it is important to find elements that allow measuring CSR initiatives and activities in ports, so the contribution of this work is to be able to achieve this through a methodological approach that allows achieving a simple and adequate measurement. Third, this work is a contribution to the body of knowledge given that the relationship between ports and CSR has not been studied in the Latin American context (Stein and Acciaro, 2020).…”