Although the port sector has been facing increasing competition, there is limited research on how ports compete using non-price competition strategies. There are a few studies on non-price competition in the port sector. However they mainly focus on the marketing aspect. This paper seeks to fill this gap in the literature, especially from a combined marketing-economic perspective. Especially the paper's main objective is to identify the determinants of non-price competition in the port sector and evaluate their effect on various aspects of non-price competition. We start with a general conceptual framework to explain how competition in the sector can be affected by various factors and then propose an analytical framework on non-price competition. The analytical model is then used to support the design of a survey questionnaire. Next, hypothesis tests are conducted using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) and data collected from a survey of Turkish ports. Based on the analysis results, the implications for port management and future research are also discussed.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	non-price competition, port services, SEM, Turkish ports, port competition, marketing, maritime transport, Turkey
Research Division:	Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services
Research Group:	Transportation, logistics and supply chains
Research Field:	Transportation, logistics and supply chains not elsewhere classified
Objective Division:	Transport
Objective Group:	Other transport
Objective Field:	Other transport not elsewhere classified
UTAS Author:	Nguyen, H-O (Associate Professor Oanh Nguyen)
UTAS Author:	Bandara, YM (Mr Mahinda Bandara)
ID Code:	112220
Year Published:	2016
Web of Science® Times Cited:	13
Deposited By:	Maritime and Logistics Management
Deposited On:	2016-10-31
Last Modified:	2017-10-20
Downloads:	0