Factors Influencing Pricing Policies of Greek Shipowners during Recession Periods - Dissertation Example

A primary study was conducted to determine correlations in real-life maritime shipping practice to the aforementioned variables and level of dependency in each of these areas in setting prices during recessionary environments.
There are significant gaps in knowledge research on the Greek maritime shipping industry created by publicly-owned companies and a lack of data on operations, pricing, and general business strategies. This study added to the limited domain of knowledge by discovering high dependency in debt, currency, exchange rates, port efficiency, and asset value as it relates to pricing establishment during recessions. The study further identifies low dependency variables related to price-setting during difficult economic periods of recession. An unpredicted phenomenon in this industry was also identified, with a discussion of implications to this maritime shipping industry.
The shipping industry in Greece is highly beneficial to the national economy, with considerable dependency stemming from the European Union for Greek shipowners to handle their export and import needs. By matter of geographical location and traditionalism, Greece has become one of the largest maritime nations in the world. For EU member countries, 90 percent of their external trade obligations are managed by maritime transportation (British Embassy Trade Development, 2009). This makes the European Union member countries some of the most profitable and contributory market segments for Greek maritime shipping operations.
Greek maritime transport companies, such as Minerva Marine, Dynacom, Maritech, and Fairport Shipping are some of the most prominent shippers in Greece, each maintaining uniquely differentiated water transport systems to include dry bulk, tanker capacity, and freezer transport services. The majority of Greek maritime shipping companies are independently owned, thus maintain more theoretical control over operations and business strategy than other, Western maritime shippers that are highly regulated by investor and stakeholder demands.