Understanding the industry
Module 1 aims to give the students a basic understanding of the shipping industry. Focus will be on the role of shipping in the global economy and an introduction to shipping economics.

Understanding the global environment
Modules 2 and 3 aims to give the students a background for understanding, how the world economy works. This will include the drivers for globalisation, trade patterns, supply chain management and the logistical implications of this development.

Focus on maritime issues
Modules 4 and 5 are devoted to industry specific issues, reflecting the holistic view of the business; they cover maritime law, ship design, and technical operational management, including the important aspect of information and communication technology development.

Core management issues
Modules 6, 7 and 8 will focus on central topics of business management, dealing with investment analysis, finance and risk management, organisational theory and company strategy.

The integrating strategy project
The last part of the programme is the writing of the thesis, following a three-step process, where each step is concluded by an oral presentation, and the final presentation serves as the oral defense of the ISP/thesis. The aim is to demonstrate an ability to analyse a practical problem in detail, drawing upon all the knowledge from the programme. An introduction to each of the three steps will be given during the last module.

Shipping as a Business and a Market

Module 1: Shipping as a business and a market
This module provides an introduction to shipping economics and combines a historical introduction to shipping with discussions of current issues shaping the future of the shipping industry. It also aims at giving a broad overview of the various shipping segments, shipbuilding and other essential areas of maritime activity such as insurance, broking, classification, financing etc. The module will introduce a series of lectures on innovation in shipping.

Understanding the Global Environment

Module 2: Supply chain management
– new logistical challenges
This module discusses main principles of logistics and their application in shipping. The module looks at implications for ship operators, because of increased customer demands in terms of higher logistical requirements, including environmental issues related to cargo owner interests. Through a simulation game, the students will gain an understanding of the importance of information flows in the logistical chain.

Module 3: International economics and market analysis

This module has two main parts. The first part introduces formal economic models simulating the behaviour of shipping markets, based on basic microeconomic theory. It focuses on the tanker and dry bulk markets, with special emphasis on the practical use of partial equilibrium models, but also more short-term forecasting models will be discussed, including the pros and cons of various types of market modelling methods and techniques, including system dynamics. For shipping segments with imperfect competition and economies of scale, the module also looks at the potential use of game theory in understanding market and competitor behaviour.

The second part aims at introducing theories of international trade and macro-economic issues such as business cycles and currency markets. A main focus will be on understanding the globalisation process.

Focus on Maritime Issues

Module 4: Ship design and the maritime legal framework
This module consists of two main parts. The first part aims at elucidating the role of ship design as a response to perceived or estimated market needs. New ship designs are typical responses to expressed needs from customers with specific transport requirements, new technologies, changes in world politics, new strategies or lessons learnt from previous ship designs. The appropriateness of ships for transport needs, their economy and operability are vital factors of competitiveness within global markets. Competitiveness and, hence, commercial success depend upon the optimum balance between investment and operational costs, position within the target markets and technical and operational innovations.

The second part of this module gives a brief introduction to maritime law, with particular emphasis on issues relevant for a shipping manager such as charter parties, liabilities, tax issues, joint ventures etc. It aims to give students sufficient insight into legal issues to be able to carry out fruitful discussions with maritime lawyers. The module also discusses the regulatory regime in shipping and international political lobbying mechanisms, including discussions on EU Competition Laws.

Module 5: Operational management and information technology
This module focuses on information technology development and its management implications. It has special sessions on e-commerce and web-based systems as a strategic opportunity and marketing tool. The students are presented with the basic elements of a ship as an engineering system and learn how to assess the reliability and durability of components and sub-systems as a basis for maintenance strategies and safety and pollution aspects of operations. Another central focus in this module is on quality management systems and their application to shipping, as well as dealing with challenges of increased safety and security requirements in operations.

Core Management Issues

Module 6: Investment analysis, risk management and finance
This module presents the basic theory and practical applications of methods of investment analysis (capital budgeting), some basic principles of financial accounting and performance mesurements. The module introduces theories and methods of risk management with a discussion of how to apply the methods in practice. It also covers discussions on empirical material related to the functions of financial markets and the financing of the companies. The presentation of case studies covers financing of ships and shipping companies.

Module 7: Organisation and international marketing
The module has two main parts. The first part focuses on knowledge creation, storage and utilisation processes in organisations, specialisation in organisational structures and how structures can be coordinated by formal and informal coordination mechanisms. It further studies the organisation of networks that allow access to members distributed over large geographic distances, how they emerge and how they can be developed and sustained. A central issue is how such an organisation may facilitate learning and distribution of knowledge.

The second part of the module focuses on international marketing, with an emphasis on marketing strategies for service providers.

Module 8: Managing strategy and change
This final module introduces theories of firm strategy, discussing the strategy process, the main characteristics of global strategies, implementation of strategies, networks, strategic alliances and intellectual capital. The main topic of discussion is the implications on strategy of the increasing globalization of international markets. The module is a primer on theories of strategy with examples from globally oriented firms. The module also serves as an introduction to the integrating strategy project, with sessions on how to conduct a proper industry analysis.

The module, furthermore, deals with strategic decision-making in practice, by using a computer simulation game.

This project is the final step before graduation and aims at integrating the various topics by choosing an issue related to each student’s company and by analysing this in great detail, using real-world data. It helps the students understand the way that different elements of management interact and how best to combine the different theoretical areas. To help students focus and to provide valuable feedback in the process of writing the project report, presentations are scheduled where feedback is given by a panel of academic and business experts.

These presentations cover the three constituent parts of the thesis as follows:
• Industry analysis
• Company and issue analysis
• Implementation plan.

A five-day workshop is planned to enhance the learning process of the different analyses related to the Integrating Strategy Project. During this workshop the participants will have the opportunity to interact extensively with their coaches.