Abstract for: Competition in the shipbuilding industry: sustaining competitive advantage in the global economy

For many decades, Korean shipbuilders have been the leader of the global market. They offer cost effective and high quality vessels based on their advanced production technologies, good management and process control which helps them utilize their economies of scale and learning effect. Korean shipbuilders top the industry with highest market share. However, China is a powerful rival with the low labor cost and huge amount of domestic demand. Chinese shipyards are rapidly closing the gap with Korean companies. This research is conducted to explore how the Korean shipbuilding industry can sustain its competitive advantage in the long-run. The methodology used was the use of classical strategy analysis framework which involved analyzing the industry structure and conducting macro-environmental analysis, SWOT analysis and value creation frontier analysis. The paper attempts to provide a detailed analysis of the Korean shipbuilding industry stressing the competitive advantage strategy of Korean shipbuilding firms.