【正文】 ent cargo handling and hinterland connections) but it is alsoa?ected by its links in a given supply chain. As a consequence, the risk for ports oflosing important customers can derive not only from de?ciencies in port infrastructures, terminal operations and inland connections, but also from the customer’sservice work reorganization and its entry into new partnerships with logisticsservices providers, which may be using a di?erent hub. In other words, portpetitiveness is being increasingly dependent on external coordination andcontrol of the whole supply chain.Wecan,therefore,the port is considered as a cluster of organizations in which di?erent logistics andtransportoperators areinvolvedinbringingvalueto the?nalconsumers. Thisvaluees into play when a port operator or, in general, a logistics supplier goesbeyond the mere transport of merchandise, which could be de?ned as a basicservice, and provides a package of logistics services di?erentiated on the basis ofcustomer’ requirements. A value adding activity is, therefore, an activity along thechainthataddsvaluetotheproductorserviceandwhichthe?nalcustomeriswillingto pay for.In a wide sense, ports are plex entities supporting the procurement of rawmaterials, themanufacturingandthe arepotential members of di?erent supply chains. Their contribution to the satisfaction ofspeci?c customer’s requirements (and therefore their potential role in a given supplychain) will depend on:(1) Theavailability ofe?cientinfrastructuresandinlandconnections,aspartofa global transport system.(2) The ability of logistics and transport operators to contribute to the valuecreation and to acplish also the qualitative attributes of demand (reliability, punctuality, frequency, availability of information, and security).This paper deals with (2) . the providers’ behaviour for the satisfaction ofcustomer needs, leaving aside the role of the port authority (1) in shaping portfeatures through investment decisions and land management and subsequently inmaking it attractive for speci?c supply chains.Inparticulartheaimofthisworkistoanalysehowportoperatorsareinvolvedinagiven supplychain. Theadoptedmethodology isbasedonasupplychainmanagement (SCM) approach.We describe the integration process undertaken by di?erent port operators inrelation to the focal ?rm of the automotive chain, taking into consideration(among other variables) the kind of services o?ered by port operators, namelytheir belonging to the cargo handling system, the more extended transport systemor the logistics system.306 V. Carbone and M. De MartinoDownloaded by [Sultan Qaboos University] at 18:39 22 May 2020 The kind of supplied services determines in which measure a port creates value inasupplychainand,inperspective, ifitcouldo?ermorevalue, forexampleinvestingin a certain activity more than in another one.Section 2 deals with SCM de?nition and the Lambert tridimensional model.Section 3 provides an overview of both the major trends taking place in theautomotive industry and the ‘make or buy’ strategies undertaken by automakersin managing logistics. In section 4, we describe the potential role of ports in theautomotive supply chain, whereas in sections 5 and 6, after illustrating the Lambertmodel which has been adapted according to the research aim, we present the main?nding of the empirical analysis.2. SCM de?nition and the Lambert tridimensional modelOne of the most important changes in modern business management is that individual ?rms no longer pete as solely autonomous entities, but rather as supply[2] suggeststhatthesupplychainisaworkoforganizations that are involved, through upstream and downstream linkages, in thedi?erent processes and activities that produce value in the form of products andservices in the hands of the ultimate consumer.The management of multiple relationships across the supply chain is beingreferred to as SCM。MARIT. POL. MGMT., OCTOBER–DECEMBER 2020VOL. 30, , 305–320The changing role of ports in supplychainmanagement: an empirical analysisVALENTINA CARBONEINRETS—The French National Institute for Transport andSafety Research, 2, av. Du Ge180。 Management ISSN 0308–8839 print/ISSN 1464–5254 online 2020 Taylor amp。(3) the management ponents, . the variables by which the integration canbe realized.The SCM work structure describes the system of relationships betweensuppliers and customers at each level of the supply chain. Not all the links throughthe supply chain are relevant for the focal ?rm and, in the choice of partners,the management has to determine which members are critical to the success of thepany and therefore have a crucial role in bringing value to the customer. Thefocal ?rm of the supply chain will choose panies who carry out valueaddingactivities (primary memberstodi?erentiatefrom supportingmembers)astheya?ectdirectly the ?nal value delivered to a speci?c customer or market [5].SCM involves the coordination of activities within the ?rm and betweenmembers of the supply chain through a set of business processes. The members ofThe Global Supply Chain Forum identi?ed eight business processes that should beimplementedwithina?rmandthenlinkedup,asappropriate,withkeysupplychainmembers: customer relationship management, customer service management,demand management, customer order ful?lment, manufacturing ?ow management,The changing role of ports in supplychain management 307Downloaded by [Sultan Qaboos University] at 18:39 22 May 2020 procurement, product development and mercialization, and returns. Anyway,business processes that are critical or bene?cial to integrate and manage betweenpanies will likely vary. In any case, all functions a?ecting the product andproviding information must work together. As a consequence of the choice ofoutsourcing rather than managing inhouse speci?c activities (or business processes)theneedtocoordinatesupplychainprocessesincreasessincethefocal?rmb