Enhancing Economic Performance in Maritime Transportation via Strategic Partnerships: Empirical Insights from SEM-DEA Hybrid Modelling in an Emerging Market
Abstract
This study investigates the determinants of supply chain efficiency in maritime transportation enterprises confronting persistent volatility in marine fuel prices and identifies optimal strategic alliance partners. Drawing on strategic alliance theory and supply chain management principles, it develops a relational network model that positions strategic alliance intensity as the central moderator among digital transformation capability, supply chain integration, supply chain resilience and risk management capability, green logistics and environmental compliance, and operational and asset management capability, all converging on supply chain efficiency. Structural equation modelling of survey data reveals that operational and asset management capability exerts the sole substantive direct positive effect on supply chain efficiency (β = 0.47), with the remaining antecedents influencing the outcome primarily through mediated pathways. Input-oriented super slack-based measure data envelopment analysis under variable returns to scale, applied to 2025 audited financial statements, constructs virtual composite decision-making units and identifies the alliance between the Hanoi-based container specialist (DMU10) and the Da Nang-based bulk operator (DMU8) configuration yielding maximal efficiency gains. Theoretically, the research clarifies mediated relational pathways in capital-intensive logistics. Practically, it provides executives and policymakers with a replicable toolkit for partner selection that may help mitigate fuel-price exposure, support decarbonization, and strengthen resilience.
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