A study of the Portuguese maritime industry's attractiveness as foreign direct investment destination for Norwegian firms

Abstract

The purpose of this case study is to understand more about how Norwegian companies perceives the attractiveness of the maritime industry of Portugal as a destination for foreign direct investments. Four in-depth interviews with key actors in the industry were conducted, in addition secondary data were examined, to explore how companies perceive the strengths and weaknesses in the industry. The findings indicate that Portugal has natural endowments due to its geographical location. Also the maritime industry in Portugal may be perceived to be neither competitive on cost nor competitive on technology and innovation compared to other locations. The actors in the industry appear to perceive that there is a gap a in the labor market that is restricting the attractiveness of Portugal. Another finding is that it may be that AICEP should tailor the promotion of FDI in the maritime industry to what the actors in the industry perceive as the main strengths of the maritime industry. This study may have implications for how the Portuguese government promotes foreign direct investments in the maritime industry in the sense that they may in the future use promotions that highlight industry specific advantages instead of country specific advantages.

Date of Award	2014
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Nuno Cardeal (Supervisor)