GEOPOLITICAL RISK AND REAL INVESTMENTS IN SHIPPING COMPANIES: A BIBLIOMETRIC ANALYSIS BASED LITERATURE REVIEW

Islam Abdallah, Mohamed Bahaa Bekheit

Abstract


Geopolitical threats and events have significantly increased geopolitical risk in the first two decades of the 21st century. A growing body of research examines the impact of geopolitical risk on the macroeconomic environment and on companies' financial decision-making. No previous studies have investigated the effect of geopolitical risk on the effectiveness of corporate investment in shipping. This distinction is crucial because the success of business investments determines a company's value, economic growth, and overall economic health. Managers need to understand how geopolitical risk influences a company's investment decisions, allowing them to develop flexible strategies that mitigate risks and optimize resource use. This study aims to explore recent developments and identify research gaps related to geopolitical risk and real investments in shipping companies. The goal is to gain a comprehensive understanding of geopolitics, a relatively new field that has gained interest over the last five years due to rapid and recurring geopolitical events. This growing interest is reflected in the number of published articles: only 11 articles appeared between 2018 and 2021, while 23 articles related to this topic were published in 2022, marking a significant rise. The number of published articles has grown exponentially, reaching 36 in 2024. This study conducted a thorough review of international literature on the subject using the Web of Science database. An extensive bibliometric analysis was performed utilizing the R language and the bibliometric package. Visualization tools were used to provide an overview of the field and to clarify key thematic areas. The results highlight the progress of research on "Geopolitical Risk and Real Investments in Shipping Companies," emphasizing major contributors, countries, and institutions. The paper explores various categories systematically used to classify the selected documents, including areas such as shipping companies, economics, finance, transportation and logistics, and international relations and geopolitics (called "geopolitical risk").
 

Keywords


Geopolitical Risk (GPR), Shipping Companies, Shipping Finance, Investment Decision, Real Investment.

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References


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DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.21622/MARLOG.2026.15.1.84

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The International Maritime Transport and Logistics Journal (MARLOG)

E-ISSN: 2974-3141
P-ISSN: 2974-3133

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Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport (AASTMT)

Alexandria, Egypt