抄録
The dramatic decrease in global demand due to the financial tsunami of 2008 forced the ocean container carriers (OCCs) to re-examine their maritime marketing strategies. In an attempt to help the OCCs establish effective marketing strategies, this study conducted a survey regarding the ocean freight forwarders’ (OFFs) needs on the OCCs’ service. An evaluation framework with 21 attributes was developed based on the concept of marketing mix. The fuzzy Delphi method and DEMATEL were adopted to synthesize the OFFs’ opinions and examine the perceived causal relationships between the attributes. The analysis results showed that sales representative’s expertise and transportation reliability are the most important attributes valued by the OFFs instead of transportation fee. The OFFs with various characteristics have different perspectives on the importance of attributes and their causal relationships. The results reflect the distinct capabilities of handling cargoes and negotiation powers in dealing with business partners of various-sized companies.
