STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT DISCOURSE OF TOP-LEVEL MANAGERS: AN ANALYSIS OF THE MARITIME INDUSTRY IN TÜRKİYE

In today’s globalised and technologically advanced business landscape, businesses experience various challenges in securing future success. The maritime industry is among the sectors profoundly impacted by global shifts, necessitating decision makers to enhance and adapt their strategic management practices to navigate these challenges effectively. Despite the crucial role of strategic management in the industry, the literature lacks sufficient documentation of decision makers’ perceptions, approaches and practices related to strategy. This study addresses this gap by analysing top managers’ strategic management discourse. Using a dataset of 68 published interviews, the authors employed deductive content analysis based on a novel strategic management keyword dictionary. This process identified 56 keywords categorised under six distinct themes: Government and Markets, Positioning, Performance, Growth, Technology, and Human Resources. The findings revealed that top managers in Türkiye’s maritime industry placed the greatest emphasis on the Government, Markets, and Positioning themes. While top managers’ strong awareness of global environmental challenges signalled the industry’s awareness of sustainability issues, the fewer codes in the ‘Human Resources’ and ‘Technology’ themes suggested top managers’ limited attention to the working environment, required skills, and management styles. Future research can expand on this study by incorporating additional maritime industry-related magazines and publications and provide broader perspectives.