Dynamics of Global Catch-up Process in Shipbuilding Industry: A Case of Hyundai Heavy Industries

This study aims to identify the dynamic process by which shipbuilding companies keep up with competitors. The Korean shipbuilding companies have transformed themselves from cheap imitators of Japanese shipbuilders into the world’s most competitive shipbuilding powerhouses. As an example of this phenomenon, Hyundai Heavy Industries has developed into one of the world's leading shipbuilding and offshore contractors in terms of advanced information technologies, systematized shipbuilding technologies, and a vast quantity of large plant and offshore structure management experience. However, as Korean shipbuilders’ cost advantages are eventually eroded away through competition, the question remains whether fast-growing Chinese shipbuilders as late-movers pose a threat to Hyundai Heavy Industries. To answer the question, this research focuses on success factors of which Hyundai Heavy Industries can take up the lead in shipbuilding industry and confrontational strategies to the chase of Chinese shipbuilders by using SWOT analysis.