Adaptation to Sustainability in Norwegian Shipping Companies

Abstract

The most challenging issue that shipping companies are confronted with in the coming years is the need to become more sustainable. Accordingly, exploring critical factors in the implementation process is necessary. Whereas previous research has focused on the need for sustainability within the shipping industry, research that proposes how the industry can adapt to the changes in an efficient way is still lacking. This study aims to fill the gap by understanding how Norwegian shipping companies effectively can adapt to sustainability regulations being enforced on the industry. Consequently, an explorative qualitative study with five top management officials in the Norwegian shipping industry was conducted. The shipping companies were all situated in the region of Vestland and managed operations internationally. Based on the findings, the authors have developed a theoretical model which highlights six factors that are interconnected to generate an output variable. The study argues that Vision and Communication act as main themes, and that Core Values, Analysis, Need for Change, and Capital acts as supporting themes. The authors further argue that these six factors can generate the output variable Agility. By focusing on these six factors, shipping companies can become agile and able to effectively adapt to stricter sustainability regulations enforced in the industry. The authors believe these findings may highlight critical factors when implementing sustainability initiatives in shipping companies and fill a research gap into the practical implications of implementing sustainability changes in the industry.