Maritime and logistics advanced producer services within the Mediterranean: the liner shipping companies' positioning strategies in new market areas

The new global economy framework is characterised by strategic economic centres formed around networks of goods, financial and information flows that constitute the today's social morphology of our societies. In this scenario almost every international company or firm develops its own structure and positioning plan by evaluating the business opportunities linked to each possible future branch office. Of course, the way to do business differs a lot considering that can be affected by customs, language, culture, laws, geography, infrastructures and business mind-set for instance and this is why developing a strong relation between the main headquarters and the world spread company's offices has become needful for a company to be successful. The shipping sector is not an exception, on the contrary all the shipping companies, especially the liner ones, due to the nature of their business are forced to establish regional offices to cover the global market. In particular, this analysis has been conducted with a focus on the Mediterranean and on the different positioning strategies adopted by one of the biggest liner carrier in the world, the German company Hapag-Lloyd.The present research tries to answer to following questions:
- How do World City Networks and AMPS (Advanced Maritime Producer Services) affect a liner shipping company's positioning plan and how does it work in the Mediterranean?
- Which variables does a big carrier take into consideration planning its network?
- Which steps have to be followed entering a new market?