• • A theoretic based understanding of the most important maritime competences in Copenhagen with a specific focus on three themes: the product tanker and container liner shipping segments; the commercial and financial strategies of maritime operations; the regulatory regimes in security and safety
• • A comparative understanding of the drivers of supply and demand in two important maritime segments: product tankers and container lines
• • Apply a stakeholder perspective to the market formation in the two segments
• • Apply theories on the dynamic relation between finance, operations, chartering and public regulation in the two segments
• • Apply theories from international regulation/governance literature to the study of shipping policies and security
• • Critically evaluate new business opportunities in international shipping from the perspectives of finance, strategy, regulation and security

The course aims to develop the students´ knowledge of maritime economics with a specific focus on the relationship between corporate strategies, market regulation and safety. The course will bridge an introduction to relevant theories within strategic management, institutional economics and risk management with the empirical cases of maritime companies and organisations in Copenhagen. The strategic and institutional competences are defined in relation to two specific segments: Product Tanker and Container Shipping. We will study the institutional and strategic setting of these segments and analyse how commercial operations have developed over time.

The students will get a theoretically based knowledge on the drivers of supply and demand in the two segments. Then follows the study of the regulatory, institutional market formation. This understanding will create the foundation for a case based insight to the corporate strategies of four specific companies: three of the worlds leading product tanker companies Torm, Maersk Tankers, Hafnia Tankers and the worlds largest container company Maersk Line.

The course will be divided in three themes mirroring the macro-, meso- and micro-analytical levels:

1. The macro-level consists of introduction to two important global maritime segments: product tanker and container shipping including a theoretic based understand of the global drivers of supply and demand in the two segments, and a broader understanding of the various stakeholders in the segments. We will also discuss why and how Copenhagen created specific competitive advantages within these two segments.
2. The meso-level consists of a theoretically grounded understanding of the formation of markets including the regulatory regimes, which defines the rules of the game. We will discuss how and to which extent the regulatory framework can become a competitive advantage of shipping companies. This part will include guest lectures and visits to institutions such as BIMCO, the Danish maritime authorities, IMO in London and the Maritime Intelligence group in London.
3. The micro-level concerns a case based study of the strategic development of four specific Danish shipping companies: Maersk Tankers, Torm, Hafnia Tankers and Maersk Line. The aim is to provide the students with an analytical understanding of the critical relationship between the institutional setting of the market and the corporate strategies – including the commercial and financial operations.

Peter Stokes: Ship Finance, Credit expansion and the boom-bust cycle, 1997

Atle Thowsen & Stig Tenold: Odfjell, the History of a Shipping Company, 2006

Stig Tenold, Martin Jes-Iversen & Even Lange: Global Shipping in Small Nations, Nordic shipping after 1960, 2012

Chris Jephson & Henning Morgen: Creating Global Opportunities, Maersk Line in Containerization, 1973-2013, 2014

Neil Fligstein: The Architecture of Markets, 2001

Costas Th. Grammenos: The Handbook of Maritime Economics and Business, 2002

Martin Stopford: Maritime Economics, 2009

Morten Ougaard and Anna Leander: Business and Global Governance, 2010