Sustaining Singapore marine industry's premier position : a strategic review

Abstract

Since the late 60's, Singapore Marine Industry went through a healthy period of growth and earned itself the reputation of world's No.1 ships repair center. However, from the late 80's onward Singapore Marine Industry's leadership position has been threatened due to both internal and external factors such as the costs escalation, strengthening of Singapore dollar against most of the major currencies, shortage of skilled workers and new repair facilities established in the low cost countries. The thesis analyzes both the international operating environment and the internal industry structure to obtain a clear view of the Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing Singapore Marine Industry. In response to the challenges ahead, the thesis examines the strategies that Singapore has to adopt to strengthen its core competencies in order to widen the gap with its competition. The thesis would further explore the strategies of spreading the operations beyond just Singapore. Suitable location along the main shipping routes should be identified and developed. This strategy will allow the Singapore yard to offer services to its customers with wider geographical coverage. The analysis reveals the importance of forming strategic alliances with the customers and the key suppliers in order to extract more values out of the integrated value-chains. The analysis suggests that, to retain its leadership position, Singapore Marine Industry must move away from offering the traditional "Total Customer Solution" to its customer. The Singapore Marine Industry should further strengthens its one-stop maritime centre concept and the geographical advantage in order to move itself towards the "system lock-in" position.