Co-evolution of the strategic reorientation of port actors: insights from the Port of Rotterdam and the Port of Barcelona

•We explore co-evolution of hinterland strategies of port authority and terminal operator.•Port authorities and terminal operators are strategically interdependent organizations.•Market and institutional forces drive strategic reorientation of ports’ actors.•Interdependence impact the strategic reorientation of ports’ actors.•Interrelationship dynamics is an output but also an input variable in the process. This paper explores changes in the strategic orientation of port authorities and terminal operators towards the hinterland network in the Ports of Rotterdam and Barcelona. Port authorities and terminal operators are economically, institutionally and geographically related organizations. The argument here is that such organizations experience a mutually influential and interactive effect in their strategy over time. The research explores the evolution of the market, institutional and governance forces behind these organizations’ strategic orientation, while acknowledging their interdependence and interrelationship. To that end, it builds a conceptual framework analysing these organizations’ strategies in different points in time. It draws upon firms and port theories to design a co-evolutionary framework, which is later refined with insights gained from an empirical study of the port context.