The transition of shipping companies from family business to corporate governance

Family businesses have played an important role in the shipping sector for centuries. In the last 20 years, the shares of family-owned shipping companies have been decreasing. In this study, the dimensions of the corporate governance of the maritime sector affecting the potential and quality of family-owned shipping companies are examined. For that structure of shipping family businesses, their management style, the basic elements that make up the family company, the effects of generational differences, professional manager and family management relationships and interactions, corporate governance structure, the life process of family companies, the characteristics of family values, habits and bonds are examined. An Unstructured Interview Research Method was used in making face-to-face and telephone interviews with the owners, CEOs, directors, and managers of four different sized Turkish shipping companies. The Fishbone (Ishikawa) Diagram Method was applied to identify, analyze, and examine the barriers in the transition process of family shipping businesses to third generations. PESTLE analysis was used to evaluate the results of the research and to shed light on future research. In this research scope; • The emotional commitment of family members restricts the input of hired professionals and their say in the family dominated board and this negatively affects sustainability; • Family members of shipping businesses do not always have a positive effect on the decisions taken; • It has been recognized that the changes experienced by family shipping companies as the generations change will directly affect the success of the business and this will result in significant difficulties in the transition to corporate governance. As a result of the regarding the short, medium and long term plans of the shipping companies, the effectiveness of corporate governance was confirmed and the importance of the transition to corporate governance was made clear. Keywords: Shipping family business, corporate culture, corporate governance, sustainability