Seminar Series #1: AI integration in ecosystems and the competitive repositioning of shipping multinational enterprises
Details: 9 April, 13:00–14:00, 3A07 (Rued Langgaards Vej 7). Open to staff and students.
Invited Speaker: Agnieszka Nowinska, Associate Professor at Aalborg University
Title: AI integration in ecosystems and the competitive repositioning of shipping multinational enterprises
Abstract: This paper examines how shipping multinational enterprises (MNEs) leverage AI through ecosystems rather than as standalone firm-level tools. Drawing on Adner’s ecosystem-as-structure perspective, the study investigates how AI changes activities, actors, positions, and links. Empirically, the paper is based on qualitative data from 43 interviews across 29 firms, including shipowners/operators, charterers, shipbrokers, and software providers, complemented by field notes and observations. Using abductive thematic analysis in NVivo, the study identifies how AI integration reshapes workflows, encourages hybrid build–buy ecosystem architectures, and deepens data-driven interdependence across firms. The findings also show that AI changes roles and relationships by changing trust and signaling dynamics, intensifying competition among providers, and creating new alignment challenges linked to privacy, inertia, and regulation.