Key antecedents to achieving flexibility in maritime logistics industry: empirical evidence from China

The aim of this paper is to recognise key antecedents which are absolutely necessary to achieving flexibility in maritime logistics industry. Methodologically, personal interview and a three-round Delphi survey are used for data collection. We test the key antecedents and derive a ranking of the importance of these antecedents. These findings allowed us to build a model of key antecedents to flexibility in the industry. The canonical correlation analysis reveals that the interrelationships among sets of key antecedents are positive and strong. The results offer managerial insights for companies in the industry to improve their responsibility to uncertainty.