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PETERSSON, Niels (2018). Managing a 'people business' in times of uncertainty: Human resources in Ocean Transport & Trading’s strategy in the 1970s. Enterprise and Society, 19 (1), 88-123.
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PDF (Article)
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PDF (Abstract)
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PDF (Figure 1 - Ocean group structure)
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PDF (Table 1 - British Shipping companies)
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PDF (Table 2 - UK and World fleet)
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PDF (Table 3 - Ocean fleet size)
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PDF (Table 4 - Ocean Group activities)
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PDF (Table 5 - Ocean employee numbers)
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Abstract
This paper will examine the role of human resources in the business strategy of Ocean Steam Ship Company (later Ocean Transport & Trading), one of the UK’s leading shipping firms, over the 1970s, a time of rapid and disruptive change for the shipping industry and of considerable difficulties for the UK economy. As a result of uncertainty over the development of the shipping industry in general and Ocean’s business in particular, managing staff numbers and career opportunities became key elements of the company’s overall business strategy in these years. The paper examines the changing objectives of that strategy, the means by which these objectives were pursued and the external constraints under which this had to take place. It will argue that Ocean found itself privileging the requirements of running a ‘people business’ over other strategic concerns and that external constraints prevented the firm from pursuing theoretically more appropriate strategies such as increased use of outsourcing and extricating itself from its UK-based, human resource intensive business.
| Item Type: | Article |
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| Uncontrolled Keywords: | maritime history; management; human resources |
| Research Institute, Centre or Group - Does NOT include content added after October 2018: | Humanities Research Centre |
| Departments - Does NOT include content added after October 2018: | Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities > Department of Humanities |
| Identification Number: | https://doi.org/10.1017/eso.2017.26 |
| Page Range: | 88-123 |
| Depositing User: | Niels Petersson |
| Date Deposited: | 08 Jun 2017 15:01 |
| Last Modified: | 18 Mar 2021 01:24 |
| URI: | https://shura.shu.ac.uk/id/eprint/14393 |
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