General Management for Shipping (Online)

Introduction

The maritime sector plays a pivotal role as an enabler of world trade. About 90 percent (by volume) of goods traded internationally are transported by sea. Additionally, countries with large coastlines may have a significant proportion of their domestic trade transported by sea, rivers, or inland waterways.

Over 50000 ships (of over 1000 gross tonnage) plying world-wide, support the transportation sector, while more than 2000 Ports, along with canals, waterways, and off-shore facilities, serve the Infrastructure segment.

The nature of the business makes it highly capital intensive, with considerable investments being required for acquisition of ships, and building of Ports/ Terminals and associated facilities. Several risks are also associated with the sector. Financial risks arise out of dependency on global economy, as evident from the boom/bust cycles experienced by the shipping industry. Numerous operational risks prevail due to high-value movable assets being subjected to the perils of the sea.

The geographical scale of operations, the diversity of the workforce in terms of skilling, cultures, etc., the physical distances that separate the various functions of a ship operator, are some of the perennial challenges faced by shipping executives. The technological evolutions over the last half-century have demolished many traditional practices in the sector and continue to do so at a rapid pace. Today information technology provides the leverage needed to meet customer demands of cost and time efficiencies.

In this background of complexities, managerial decision-making is a critical success factor which will impact an organization’s survival, growth and sustained profitability. Managers at all levels would benefit from a broader understanding of the business environment, as also the different dimensions of management, in order to achieve organizational goals. Thus an investment in development of managerial skills is imperative both from an individual and a corporate standpoint. The high degree of customization of this programme to suit the maritime sector allows the participants to apply directly the learnings from the classroom to their field of work.

The Programme “General Management for Shipping”

This programme was developed by the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, in the early 90’s, with research support by the Vasant J Sheth Memorial Foundation; the first programme was conducted in 1994 by IIMA.

During the intervening years 1999 to 2014, further development and updating continued under a collaboration with Wilhelmsen Ship Management (India) Pvt. Ltd., (part of the Wilh. Wilhelmsen group of Norway), during which the programme was conducted by the International Maritime Training Centre, Mumbai, a unit of Wilhelmsen Ship Management.

Managers and Executives from a wide spectrum of the maritime industry have benefitted from this programme since its inception. This is the 31st offering of the Programme.

Programme Schedule

The programme will be delivered in a Live Online format over the Zoom platform.

For more information or any questions, contact Suman Verma: suman-exed@iima.ac.in | +91 92277 93191