How the landlord port model impacts corporate social responsibility policies: The case of Incheon Port Authority

Lee, Seungmin ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5315-2636, Sanchez Rodrigues, Vasco ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3375-3079, Mason, Robert ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9089-2521 and Geng, Ruoqi ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8183-7379 2022. How the landlord port model impacts corporate social responsibility policies: The case of Incheon Port Authority. Presented at: International Association of Maritime Economists Conference 2022, Busan, Republic of Korea, 14-16 September 2022.

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Abstract

The government of South Korea requested that state-owned enterprises improve management efficiency as a priority in the past. However, two topics: consolidation of publicness and reflection of social value, are recently referred to as recommended tasks of state-owned enterprises (Kim and Pyo, 2018). In 2020, Korean politicians proposed the Basic Act for the Realisation of state-owned enterprises’ Social Responsibility. Once this becomes lawful, state-owned enterprises have to promote public interests such as human rights, safety, environment, and job creation. These regulations are essentially in agreement with the definitions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) claimed by the International Organization for Standardization, i.e., ISO 26000:2010 Guidance on social responsibility. Port devolution had improved port competitiveness by rectifying inefficient management and assigning the port’s future growth engines (Munim et al., 2019; Zhang et al., 2019). However, there was emerging political controversy in South Korea related to the role of state-owned enterprises in expanding tasks in CSR (Kim 2018). This is because South Korean taxpayers ask that port authority (PA) should not only be focused on the economic at micro and macro levels, but they should also take care of the environmental and social pillars of CSR. In this manner, Incheon port authority (IPA) has recently been expected to digest many local IAME Conference 2022 demands in the context of CSR. In the meantime, Korean government conducted port reform and founded IPA in 2005. The structure of IPA is a typical example of landlord governance model. In this model, PAs possess infrastructure and lease it out to logistics service providers (LSP), such as terminal operators, and shipping companies (Brooks, 2004). At the same time, PAs retain regulatory functions by direct controlling of strategic port activities (Soares and Casaca, 2022). Incheon port authority implemented CSR activities on three pillars: economic, social, and environmental. These activities are comprehensive of its efforts to minimise pollution in the port cluster, to create more jobs in Incheon, and to foster operating earnings of stakeholders. The ratio of handled cargo is arguable to justify case selection in this research. The quantify of cargo transported by container and bulk ships in Incheon port showed relatively equivalent volumes (Incheon port authority, 2021). On the other hand, the importance of container cargo in the Port of Busan, the busiest port in Korea is more than 90% percent (Lee et al., 2021). It means IPA not only has to remain indifferent to types of maritime cargo but also deal with a wider range of CSR. Previous container terminal authority in Korea was pilloried for inefficient management and spending. Therefore, port reform is regarded as the proper step to solve the situation in Korea. However, there is a missing link between how stakeholders can influence and be influenced by CSR policies and what implications the devolution to PAs rendered in CSR above and beyond economic purpose. This study mainly explores stakeholders’ understanding of CSR – the relationship between IPA’s CSR as landlord and its achievement. Hence, research questions were formulated as follows to answer identified research gaps: RQ1) How do the port stakeholders understand the role of the port authority and their CSR aims? RQ2) Which are the main factors influencing port authority’s CSR planning? RQ3) How does the role of the port authority, as landlord of the port, impact on CSR?

Item Type:	Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Schools > Business (Including Economics)
Last Modified:	14 Aug 2025 13:00
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/180411

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