Carnival Corporation & Plc (2010)

Case 13: Carnival Corporation & plc (2010) Executive Summary

Carnival Cruise Lines was founded by Ted Arison in 1972 with only one ship, the Mardi Gras. The current Chairman and CEO is his son, Mickey Arison. By the end of 2010, the corporation had grown to 98 operating ships serving seven continents (Keeffe, Ross III, Ross, Middlebrook, & Wheelen, 2015).

Synopsis of the Case

Carnival Corporation is headquartered in Miami, Florida and London, England, while Carnival plc is incorporated in England and Wales. It has demonstrated continued success over the years, even through a recession, travel advisories, and other environmental factors. Carnival Corporation has expanded significantly since the beginning. It now included, along with Carnival Cruise Lines: Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Seabourn Cruises, Costa Cruises, P&O Cruises, AIDA, Cunard Line, Ocean Village, and IberoCruceros (Keeffe et al., 2015).

Relevant Factual Information about the Problem or Decision the Organization Faced

The main concern of Carnival Corporation is its ability to extend its vision years into the future, and attempt to forecast to 2016 and beyond in order to be successful. The purchase of new ships and developing them to fit the company’s needs could take at least five years to complete (Keeffe et al., 2015), so an accurate forecast is crucial for the success of the corporation.

Explanation of Relevant Concepts, Theories and Applications Derived from Course Materials

Performance is “the end result of activity” (Wheelen, hunger, Hoffman, & Bamford, 2015, p.304). The use of controls can help a company appropriately evaluate its current and future performance. Carnival Corporation is using several behavior controls that affect its operations and performance. There are several government regulations, such as Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) regulations, U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Public Health regulations, the Maritime Transportation Security Act, and U.S. Pollution Act of 1990 to name a few. The main behavior control adopted by Carnival is the International Standard ISO 14001:2004, which entails the requirements for the environmental management systems of all subsidiary lines. Carnival established “internal policies concerning the reduction of its carbon and environmental footprint, energy reduction, shipboard waste management, the environmental training of crew members, health, safety, and security, and corporate social responsibility” (Keeffe et al., 2015, p.13-12).

Recommendations

It is recommended that Carnival Corporation use the balanced scorecard approach to better assess the future performance of the firm. The balance scorecard approach “combines financial measures that tell the results of actions

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