Internationalisation and Foreign Direct Investment in Shipping: A Study of Norwegian Firms

The degree of internationalisation of a shipping firm is paramount to its long-term success. As a result, the paper assesses the factors that affect the relative internationalisation of shipping firms' land-based activities, such as terminals and sales offices. Based on the response from top executives of 23 Norwegian shipping companies, a multivariate model is employed to test the proposed hypotheses. Significant differences have been found between shipping companies that are domestic-based (no foreign investment) and companies that are more global. Three factors that make investment in foreign countries more attractive to shipping firms have been identified, namely: (1) a firm's possession of exceptional technology or unique experience; (2) the possibility of gaining access to unique resources in foreign markets; and (3) shipping markets with mostly long-term contracts. © 2001, Palgrave Publishers Limited.