Managing Shipping Companies, the Way Their Pioneer Managers Did: The Case-Study of Stavros Niarchos, 1909-1996 ()
ABSTRACT
Present, and future, managers of shipping companies
have a lot to learn from their past colleagues. Students of the shipping
industry always ask: How did Niarchos build such a fortune so as to leave $400
m upon his death? This is a third paper, presenting the business life of the
late shipowner Stavros Niarchos, another “golden” Greek. He conceived the value
of vertical integration in business, first applied by the Japanese. He
established a ship-owning company, a shipyard, and a steel mill. In 1974,
Niarchos owned 64 ships of 4.4 m GRT. This not only made him a top shipowner,
but also master of an entire business environment, focusing on the tanker
market. Shipping, being an international industry, was the victim of many major
political events, and Niarchos, born in 1909, was a victim of the same events.
Niarchos pursued economies of scale. Niarchos did not come from an Aegean
Islands, which were the birthplace of many shipowners. Fifty Greek shipowners
came from Chios and Aignouses. While Onassis failed as a father, Niarchos
failed as a husband, marrying six wives, five women, and his tankers making the
sixth.