BSc Shipping, Trade & Transport

Saturday9 JunePresentations

Class example presentation… led by Susan!

Outline the importance of The Johanna Oldendorff for trainee brokers.

Exercise 1:

Explain the implications of “Sustainability” to your new engineers.

Thoughts

  • What is sustainability? How to find out…where to start? What value is Wikipedia?
  • Capacity to endure… from both corporate and socio-economical perspectives
  • What is the common goal in business/the company/society’s expectations?
  • How to achieve…. National and “international” law? Urban planning/ethical consumerism?
  • Are growth and sustainability compatible? Benefits (and what do we mean by this?) to both society and business
  • Scepticism… are competitive advantage and growth compatible with sustainability? Can a competitive edge and growth be driven by strong environmental and social requirements?
  • Links between sustainable business and corporate value?
  • Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)… greener products and services?

Exercise 2:

Explain the risk element in RoRo shipping.

Thoughts

  • What do we mean by “risk element”?
  • Why are/are RoRo ferries different/in a special category?
  • Design issues
  • Operational issues
  • Costs v safety
  • Compliance with SOLAS? Herald of Free Enterprise 1987 (193 dead)… now ISM

Exercise 3:

Introduce McGregor´s X-Y to a tough Ship´s Captain.

Thoughts

  • Is the recipient of the presentation/advice important?
  • What is the X-Y Theory? When devised/ revisited?
  • How important is organisational management?
  • Factors to consider… behaviour, communication, development?
  • What is company looking for/type of company/type or level of employment?
  • What type of employee is most valuable to this company?
  • Does management need a management “toolkit” and if so, why?
  • Other management theories… e.g. John Adair (action-centred leadership, 1979), Maslow’s hierarch (motivation used to achieve higher levels)… are these/is the comparison useful to the presentation?

Exercise 4:

Discuss the concept of “Accident Preparedness” to a charterer who wants to avoid another Prestige incident.

Thoughts

  • Why is an accident preparedness plan necessary and why for a charterer? How will the plan prevent another incident? What aspect of the incident will be avoided?What was the incident? The Prestige sank off north-western coast of Spain (Galicia) in 2002, spilling 50,000/63,000 tonnes of oil. Be careful… why are there two different figures here?
  • Ramifications… final conviction of the master (for gross negligence) by Spain’s Supreme Court, notwithstanding that lower court had acquitted him. Capt Mangouras sentenced to two years’ imprisonment. The London P& I Club covering the vessel and the owner (Mare Shipping) also found liable. Q… is there any difference between the conviction and the liabilities of the Club and owner, and does this matter? Is this relevant for the accident preparedness plan?
  • Cost of damage Euro 4.1 billion/US$4.4 billion.
  • Political issues? The conservative Popular Party government in power had ordered the Prestige out to sea away from the Spanish coast instead of following an emergency plan that called for it to be brought to port where the leaking oil could be confined.Greenpeace’s/Spain’s State Prosecutor’s view?
  • Start of double hull tankers phase-out following the Erika disaster (coast of France, December 1999)… what did the evidence/ investigation show as contributing factors to the structural failing of the ship?
  • Regulatory force from MARPOL. What else does international law say? COLREGS/STCW Convention/ ISM Code/SOLAS?What is a Condition Assessment Scheme (CAS) under MARPOL?

Exercise 5:

How does your company fit with Porter’s Generic Strategy???

Thoughts

  • What is the Porter’s Generic Strategy/the Five Forces tool…five important forces that determine competitive power in a business-like situation. These forces are framework that attempts to analyze the level of competition within an industry and business strategy development. Where does the power lie in the company?
  • Developed in reaction to the SWOT analysis (in 1979)…why?
  • Comparisons e.g. PEST, an acronym for Political, Economic, Social and Technological factors, which are used to assess the market for a business or organizational unit. SWOT measures a business idea/unit/proposition. Cause and effect analysis quality control Fishbone Diagrams. McKinsey 7S Framework.
  • How does this comparison/analysis help?

What the presentations should demonstrate

Knowledge, understanding/comprehension of that knowledge/critical analysis, i.e. ability to evaluate and consider that knowledge/application of that evaluated knowledge.

  • You might want to reflect on the competition and how your company’s approach impacts on your job/training/responsibilities.
  • What training do you receive? How does this match any of the theories? Do you have any critical analysis/how to build critical analysis?
  • Focus on future, possibilities of the future, where do you see yourself in, say, five years’ time – it is a good idea to end your WPR with this focus.
  • What do you think of the management style? And then, against which theories do you come to this view?
  • How to look at the business strategy? Against which theories?
  • What information do you have about the company? This is your starting base/platform for your reflection.
  • Use theory to justify what you suggest, e.g. how does the theory fit with your company’s structure.
  • History of company – yes, but only about 500 words.
  • References – but, be careful “what my boss said” may be sensitive and will raise ethics issues. Ah – now… we will talk about this in respect of the ethics procedures required by the University!
  • Side headings are very useful/title for each chapter.
  • Explain role and customers and what you hope to get from the course.
  • We need to know about the company in order to understand your experience to date, but this is not a description of your company!
  • Looking at different cultures of people and how it may be difficult to persuade them to change – use theory to justify your suggestions, so not just your view!

Leading on to the WPR…

Basically… this exercise is to move you into being able to focus and understand what critical analysis is so that you are ready to start your level 6 modules. So… you will be required to present an outline the company in terms of,
(a) the principal products/services and their characteristics;
(b) the main markets served and their characteristics;
(c) the main sources of competition and their characteristics;
(d) the types of technology involved and their characteristics;
(e) historical development of the company;
(f) mission statement and declared objectives;
(g) financial performance;
(h) financial structure;
(i) communication and information systems;
j) management style-values and priorities, responsiveness to
external change and management succession, etc. ….

Some guidance…

-You will need to present an outline of your company's organisation and show the place of the particular department or section in which the student's work experience was undertaken.

-Describe and analyse the work roles, tasks and responsibilities of the work.

-Identify special opportunities and problems faced and the means adopted for exploiting and overcoming these during the work experience.

-Describe and analyse the operations of the company in terms of such functions as logistics, production and marketing and management's approaches to procurement, staffing, financing and technological development.

-Identify and analyse any differences between theory studied and operational practices perceived.

-You will need to rely on academic management theory as a base for critical analysis… this will be the hardest part for you all at this stage, but worry not!
The report also may need to show the impact of
(a) government measures and policies;
(b) the economy;
(c) changing social attitudes on the market supplied by the company and the industry to which the company belongs.

But with YOU as the main focus!

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