Along the 3,200km-long coastline, Vietnam has a significant number of seaports, which are relatively large and named as the keys to economic development. However, most ports are relatively small with obsolete facilities and poor supporting services. Among three largest ports countrywide, Ho Chi Minh City seaport has had the highest throughput and productivity per annum of the country for years, assumed the role of the major port in the south, where cargos and containers come and go from all industrial parks in the southern region. Situated on what was the outskirts but is now the outskirts or suburbs of Ho Chi Minh City, it has however shown some drawbacks, i.e., expansion of the port is not an option regardless of the high throughput. Apart from the inadequate infrastructure, ports are facing another setback due to backward pricing. The rapid increase in number of ports also created a “race to the bottom” situation, where Vietnam ports have reduced their price to attract customers. The direct results are lower service quality and an inability to reinvest into port development. Therefore, the restructuring of Ho Chi Minh City seaport system has been launched since 2006 whereby the plan not only resolves the limited size, obsolete facilities and traffic issues, but also becomes more efficient as the new port complex is located conveniently among the region’s industrial parks and export processing zones of Ho Chi Minh City, Binh Duong, Dong Nai, and Ba Ria – Vung Tau. In line with this plan, the paper will mainly aim to provide the outstanding constraints which Ho Chi Minh City seaport system faced, including illogical distribution among ports/terminals regardless the scale, capacity and geographic locations; ineffective and insecured mooring and anchorage buoys; undeveloped logistic services centres and lack of connecting infrastructure. As so, the recommendations for single issue will be provided.

Following more than thirty-five years of ten percent per annum growth, China is now the second largest economy in the world (Worldbank.org, 2014). Although some cooling has occurred in the past few years, China’s continued growth, expanding middle and upper classes, increasing tendency to follow the rule of law (accelerated by WTO entry in 2001), and a seemingly unlimited labor pool coupled with modest wages, have motivated entry by businesses from around the world. The result? China is an intensely competitive environment, with global companies battling each other for securing supply chain partners and/or developing Chinese domestic markets. And, the competitive battle is not just between global brands. Chinese companies, including State Owned Enterprises (SOEs), are intent on modernizing operations and changing business practices to be able to earn customer loyalty in both domestic and global markets.mostly focused on practices in North America and Europe. Meanwhile, KAM is on the rise in China, with Non-Chinese (WOFEs and JVs) and Chinese suppliers developing KAM platforms. KAM is a system of customer-driven resources dedicated to achieving profitable growth by providing special personnel and/or special activities to an organization’s most important customers (Homburg, Workman, & Jensen, 2000). Through KAM, there is the expectation that vendors benefit (Stevenson, 1981), enhancing profitability through appropriate resource commitments and effective value-based pricing (Ryals, 2006) and through greater switching costs to customers (Sengupta, Krapfel, & Pusateri, 1997). KAM is considered such a valued approach for serving key accounts that Friend and Johnson (2013) call it an “imperative for facilitating a firm’s long-term viability”.Over the past decade, we have interacted with hundreds of Chinese KAM personnel from non-Chinese wholly owned foreign enterprises (WOFEs), joint ventures (JVs) between Chinese and Western partners, and Chinese suppliers, discussing their KAM activities, along with their challenges a nd uncertainties in growing key account relationships. These KAM-involved companies range from component parts manufacturers, financial services providers, and pharmaceutical companies, among many more. In this rapidly evolving landscape, key accounts are located at each step of supply chains. For instance, in consumer markets Western retailers such as Walmart and Carrefour and Chinese retailers such as Bailian (Brilliance) Group in supermarkets and Gome in appliances are among the key accounts pursued by thousands of WOFE/JV and Chinese suppliers. In another instance, while WOFE/JV car manufacturers compete with Chinese car manufacturers such as SAIC Motor Corporation Limited, Chang’an Motors, FAW Group, and Dongfeng Motors, among others, to win the hearts and minds of consumers, nearly countless Chinese and non-Chinese suppliers compete for preferred status with each of these key accounts. The result of the intense competitive landscape across so many industries in China is that KAM is a lever embraced by both Chinese and non-Chinese suppliers.There are many reasons why Western-based KAM research cannot be presumed to apply to China. Among these, China’s market development path and scale, Chinese culture, and the Chinese state capitalism system create conditions that are distinctly China. By taking into account China differences, our major contribution is to introduce a KAM research agenda for China. A China-based KAM research agenda broadens the scope of analysis to one of the most compelling markets in the world. Guided by our knowledge of KAM literature, accompanied by extensive hands-on experience in China, we make propositions regarding conditions where WOFE and JV suppliers are at a competitive advantage or disadvantage relative to Chinese suppliers. We emphasize the role of guanxi relationships and how these relationships affect suppliers and key accounts behaviors including retention of key accounts, information sharing, and demands made by key accounts. We further propose that these relationships are affected by company-to-company matches/mis-matches. Finally, to fully understand the KAM landscape in China, we also encourage an expanded view of issues to include the effects on KAM of the ever-present Chinese government.

This study provides a dynamic perspective of new service development (NSD) project management by exploring the joint impact of project manager’s behavioural orientation, internal team dynamics and knowledge management strategies on NSD resource optimization and decision-making quality. A hierarchical research design is adopted with evidence drawn from both NSD managers and participants from several service sectors. Results illustrate the importance of internal marketing philosophy, personalization and codification strategy, team climate, role ambiguity and conflict resolution for the specific NSD outcomes.

본 연구의 목적은 우리나라의 해양보호구역 제도를 개관하고 제도의 문제점을 도출한 후 해양보호구역의 효과적인 관리를 위한 대안을 제시하는 것이다. 연구결과, 우리나라에는 다양한 법률에 기인해 여러 형태의 해양보호구역이 존재하고 있으나 이를 통합적으로 관리할 수 있는 제도는 마련되지 못한 실정이며 보호구역내 유해행위의 규제에 대한 규정이 미흡하며 해양보호구역의 기능을 제대로 활용하지 못하는 것으로 나타났다. 이들 문제점을 해결하기 위한 방법으로 해양보호구역 지정 및 관리를 총괄하는 단일법률의 제정, 국가차원의 전담 관리기구 조직, 어업금지 해양보호구역 설정 및 해양보호구역 네트워크 구축 등 네 가지의 정책이 제안되었다.

The aim of this paper is to propose an integrative definition of key account management (KAM) at the organizational level through a content analysis of the existing definitions of KAM available in the business literatures. A representative pool of definitions of key account management was generated through literature review from twenty three journals that covers the divergence of name variety like global account management, strategic account management, national account management, international key account management, key client management, major account management, key customers management and key account management. Relating to the definition of key account management various attributes are identified through content analysis and according to the relevance, profile for each attributes are developed. On the basis of these attributes a diagrammatic and textual definition is proposed that covers the different standpoints and aspects of key account management approach and captures its essence as well. Eventually, several strategic implications are derived that create the field for further empirical investigation.