A'WOT MODEL OF THE STRATEGY OF TRANSPORTATION OF GOODS BY RAIL: CASE STUDY TURKEY - SERBIA

Abstract

The importance of strategic management is increasing as the business environment becomes more and more unstable. Strategic planning in rail transport has also gained importance as this industry, known for having changed relatively little since its inception, adopted principles of open market economy and implemented measures aimed at deregulation and liberalization. Steadily growing freight volumes carried from Turkey to the region of Western Balkans, as well as recently launched Eurasia routes going through Turkey provide another business opportunity for the rail and logistics companies, but present a great challenge too. In this paper, SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) analysis is used together with Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to prioritize factors included in SWOT matrix and to propose a number of strategies for the improvement of rail freight transport between Turkey and Serbia. A hybrid method, known as A'WOT, circumvents certain limitations of the SWOT analysis as a basic tool, primarily those related to obtaining quantitative information on the priorities of the evaluated factors. The results obtained are suitable for further research and application.