Turbulent Waters: Viking Line and the Accession of Estonia to the European Union. Bruges Series on European Business Cases 01 / 2015

Tervo, Tomi and Pelkmans, Jacques and Heene, Aime (2015) Turbulent Waters: Viking Line and the Accession of Estonia to the European Union. Bruges Series on European Business Cases 01 / 2015. UNSPECIFIED.

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Abstract

The historical shipping routes between Helsinki/Turku, Finland and Stockholm, Sweden have been operated for decades as duopolies with some insignificant fringe competition. Although the traffic to and from Estonia was already lively and its effects were being felt by Viking Line, the Estonian accession in 2004 had a profound effect; it offered an opportunity to cut costs by flagging ships over to Estonia and by introducing Estonian salary levels for the on-board workforce, thus significantly reducing personnel costs. This business case analyses the response of Viking Line to this changing environment.

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