Recently, the shipping market recession has brought about lower financial performances and higher competitive market structure in the ship supply industry. In Busan port a lot of ship supply companies compete each other to attract customers. There was a need to analyze the market structure of the ship supply industry in Busan based on theory of market structure.
This study reviewed literatures on market structure and applies the S(Structure), C(Conduct), and P(Performance) theory to the ship supply industry in Busan. It investigated the correlation between the market structure and market performances of ship supply companies by using financial statements of 45 ship's suppliers in Busan port.
The Hirschman-Herfindahl Index(HHI), the Concentration Ratio of top 3 companies(CR3), and the Concentration Ratio of top 5 companies(CR5) were used as the market structure indices. Price-Cost Margin(PCM), Return on Asset(ROA), and Return on Equity(ROE) were used as the market performance indicators.
The results of this study showed that the market structure of the ship's suppliers in Busan port is the competitive market close to the oligopoly market. The simple regression result of the market structure has found that the Hirschman-Herfindahl Index(HHI), CR3 and CR5 has not significant relationship statistically with Price-Cost Margin(PCM), Return on Asset(ROA) and Return on Equity(ROE). The findings of this study contributes the theory of market structure and the analysis on the structure of the ship supply market in Busan port.