Economy Jobs And You Essays - Alcohol, Underground Culture

Economy Jobs And You Economy, Jobs, and You 1. If the government were to tax alcohol on volume alone we would see a rise in consumption of higher grained alchohol. People would be able to buy a less amount and reach the same effect due to a higher concentrate of ethyl alcohol. The governments' current system helps reduce drunkenness a bit because it puts a greater price tag on alcohol that is higher in potency. 2. I would believe that the quality of liquor in a speakeasy that was less prone to police invasion would be higher than that of one that was not. If a speakeasy had made certain arrangements with a law enforcement agency they would be able to ensure their customers better product without the possibility of losing their product. By doing so they could afford a higher quality because they knew they were not going to lose inventory to police brutality. A speakeasy that could not guarantee police invasion would only try to get rid of cheaper product in case they were raided. They would protect themselves knowing that the chances of losing product were greater and that a cheaper alcohol was better losing than one which cost them more. 3. I believe that in New Jersey the price of hiring a prostitute would be lower than that of one in Nevada. In New Jersey prostitutes trey to earn as much as they can. There a quick buck is not as regulated and therefore a customer has to be attracted more to price than to quality. A quick hit is better if it is cheaper despite the overall effect. Although it is sad I feel as though there would be more consumption in New Jersey. People are more concerned with money today than any other time. Cheaper is almost always more appealing especially when we measure the values these people particularly have. 4. Smoking is still legal for simply one reason. The amount of dollars coming in is greater than that going out. Until only recently has the tobacco industry had to worry about paying out to its customers. With the fear of lawsuits the industry has begun to take further steps in protecting itself. Despite the fact of the amount of people who lose their lives, this particular drug is still readily available. Most smokers argue that they smoke because they have become addicted. I feel though that if cigarettes were not as readily available there would be less consumption. Economics Essays

Trade Unions A future essays

Trade Unions A future essays A trade union is an independant self-regulating organization of workers created to protect and advance the interests of its members through collective action. Over recent years, it has become fashionable in many quarters to write off Britains trade unions, to label them as obsolete institutions out of touch with new realities and incapable of change. In todays world of individual employment contracts, performance-related pay schemes, Human Resource and Total Quality Management and all the other ingredients of the so-called new workplace, trade unions are often regarded as anachronistic obstacles preventing success of the market economy. As collective voluntary organizations that represent employees in the workplace, it is argued, trade unions no longer serve a useful purpose. The main priority of this essay is to represent the arguments for and against the relevance of trade unions in todays working society. Furthermore, I shall comment on the future of the trade union movement, based upon the facts and findings that helped construct this text. Trade unions exist because an individual worker has very little power to influence decisions that are made about his or her job. The greatest advantage in joining a trade union is because, by doing so, individuals possess more chance of having a voice and influence in their place of work. By joining forces with other workers, an individuals opinions and beliefs regarding their job will also be voiced by other union members, thus creating a stronger stance against management, if needed. Therefore, the main purpose of a trade union is to protect and improve people's pay and conditions of employment. This objective is usually achieved through negotiation and representation. Negotiation is where union representatives discuss with management, issues which affect people working in an organization. The union finds out the members view...

My Experiments in Communication Skills Personal Statement

My Experiments in Communication Skills - Personal Statement Example Social workers are designated to collect information from various sources related to a particular issue and sort out the relatively relevant ones for the references according to the requirements of the context. Involvement of verbal, written and non-verbal elements of communication makes the interaction more feasible for better understanding the situations for optimum resolution. While negotiating the problems of individuals with possible solutions, suggestions are also required from experts in the concerned field of excellence. Most of the contexts related to the social worker’s career demand consultations for better conclusions. The ability to communicate well is required for listening to the issues through interpersonal interactions and collecting the resources for developing a beneficial solution from expert opinions. When I personally evaluate my own potentials to the effect of communication, I find some defects in my oral as well as written patterns. These problems are identified with a large majority – while some of them speak rather quickly it lacks clarity of the listener. Cultural differences and the influences of the developmental stages are considered as the factors responsible for most of this condition. On the other hand, while written communication is concerned, lack of professional experience pulls me back from making most of the effect. I understand that my abilities to organize the message and chronologically listen to the information have to be enhanced. These potential variables are those that make a professional social worker distinctively able to interpret and resolve issues of clients. With the help of this project, I have developed the methods of personal assessment of communication abilities and designed certain tools to modify my present skill level. I think following certain principles like convincing nature, patient and active listening, abstinence form argument, and well-timed presentation of ideas as the basic guidelines for a possible improvement.

Charging and Discharging Capacitors Lab Report Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Charging and Discharging Capacitors - Lab Report Example b) The value of the charging current at the same instant: Since, I = = = 0.42625 amps = 426.25 mille-amperes c) The time constant value of the circuit. As already calculated in (a) time constant: = RC = 40 x x F = .480 Question 2: . A 20 microfarads capacitor is charged to 400 volts. At t = 0, a resistor of 12 kilo-ohms is connected across the capacitor. a) Calculate the voltage remaining across the capacitor after 180 milliseconds. In this case the capacitor is being discharged and the voltage drops from the maximum at t=0 to almost 0 when the discharge is complete. The drop is exponential as per Kirchoff's Voltage Rule. This time the voltage at time t is = = {}(for a differentiating circuit). The time constant for this circuit is: = RC = 12 x x F = .240 Therefore, voltage across the capacitor after 180 milliseconds: = {} = 400{} = 400{.472} = 188.8 V d) Calculate the discharge current at 180 milliseconds. Since, I = = = 0.0176 amps = 17.6 mille-amperes e) Calculate the time taken for the voltage to fall to 36.8% of its initial value. From the initial relationship: = {} it is derived: = .368, or = .368 t = = .24s The time taken by the voltage to fall to 36.8 % of its initial value is the time constant itself. Question 3: A coil having an inductance of 2.5 henrys and a resistance of 40 ohms is switched on to a 60 volt d.c. supply at t = 0. a) Calculate the value of the steady state current ultimately reached. The time constant in this case for inductance is: = = = .0625 Therefore, I = {1 - }= {1 - } = x .9933 = 1.49 amps b) Calculate the value of the current when t = 30 mille-seconds. Therefore, for the same circuit, I = {1 - } = {1 - }= .57 amps c) Determine the current...This is also true of the current through the circuit. Ultimately, at full charge, the voltage, ideally, becomes equal to that of the charging battery. In the case of LR circuits, the same is true of the current that increases exponentially according to Kirchoff's Current Rule. Transiently, when the switch is put on, the change in current is opposed by the back emf (rate of opposition decreases exponentially) until, at 5 time constant values, at 1 % accuracy, the change stops and the current reaches steady state. (Multi-loop Circuits, 1999) = (for an integrating circuit), Here, is the time constant which represents the minimum time the system needs to make significant change in voltage, charge and current. It is also called the 'resistor decay' and has the value 'RC' where 'R' is the resistance value in the circuit and 'C' is the capacitance value. In this case the capacitor is being discharged and the voltage drops from the maximum at t=0 to almost 0 when the discharge is complete. The drop is exponential as per Kirchoff's Voltage Rule. This time the voltage at time t is = = {}(for a differentiating circuit). a) Draw to scale waveforms to show the growth and decay of the current in L and the voltages across the two components R and L when the switch is operated to the left at t = 0 seconds and returned to the right after 5 seconds. While rising the current tends towards the maximum o

Monsters Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Monsters - Essay Example As history depicts, monsters were separated from the society of humans since the ancient times. However, other people have described monsters as being fictitious and nonexistent. This is where by; monsters were described in accordance to the characteristic of a person. For instance; most were described from words such as horrible, weird, wild and inhuman. Still, some people believe that monsters are real and present in the society. However, it has been noted that it is rare to see a gigantic, hideous creature manifesting itself as a monster (Williams, 13). This is because; monsters are believed to take different forms. For instance; some wild cats have been taken to be monsters in some societies due to their ugly features. Other societies associate bats with monsters and hence are put at the edge of the society. In addition, different people have been heard say that they have seen evil spirits, which appear as shadows or appear in dreams and nightmares. Therefore, indeed monsters hav e a meaning and an implication in the society since; human beings have believed that they are there, and they have obtained different translations of them. Function Most of the theories and manifestations of monsters appear in cinemas, horror movies, and fictitious stories. In these movies, monsters usually appear as being very real and very present among humans. Some of the movies also show monsters as helpful creatures that notify human of any unforeseen dangers. In addition, the movies also give a notation of existence of communication between human and the monsters. However, in the real world there is very limited interaction between monsters and human beings. In the real world, humans are very scared and afraid of monsters and cannot even stand them. In addition, monsters are believed to be carnivores in the real world and thus they cannot interact with them since, humans are afraid of the fact that they might be harmed by these creatures (Williams, 34). In addition, in the real world monsters are also destructive. They function by getting everything they desire by use of force and fight. Monsters also destroy property and interfere with th e peace of humans. In the real world, monsters are also associated with appearing in the night or in dark places. They are believed to avoid light or overcrowded places where they might be spotted by humans. Humans also associate monsters with supernatural powers, such as ability to appear and disappear in a place, or ability to deform or change their shapes. They are also believed to possess a lot of strength and might that can destroy a whole building. Example Different scholars have researched on the true existence of monsters in the real world and have come up with results showing that monsters indeed exist and live among human (Scott, 34). The studies also show that for the past ninety years zombies existed among humans. These creatures were found to be the animated dead representing greater danger to the survival of humans, than a mere corpse. The research also provides that zombies show no favoritism and exercise no judgment (Scott, 35). Mason asserts that monsters came about through the belief by the ancient people that during their long distance trade journeys, they would meet terrifying and mysterious creatures. Therefore, people started imagining creatures such as giants, vampires and ghosts. Since the people were completely convinced that the creatures would try to destroy them, they brought in the idea that monsters were scary creatures that were to be feared (Mason, 7). Negation Although some scholars assert that monsters indeed exist, other scholars have noted that monsters don’t really exist (Mason, 4). They assert that monst

The research process: Beginning to end

The research process: Beginning to end THE RESEARCH PROCESS Introduction The research process is the steps included or needed to conduct a research from the beginning to the end. Research that have been identify should be carried out in a deliberate and systematic manner in order to produce a substantive besides useful outcomes (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). The specific way in each of these stages and their attendant sub-stages is operationalized will wary from project to project (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). Furthermore, research also is an extremely cyclic process, where the review of earlier work might be necessitate for the later stages (Leedy and Ormrod, 2001). Therefore, it can be difficult to determine on where to begin or where to end the research due to its cyclic (Leedy and Ormrod, 2001). According Weaver and Lawton 2006, there are basically seven steps in the research as shown below. Step 1: Problem Recognitions According to Leedy and Ormrod, 2001, a research begins with a problem. Therefore, the first step in any research process or before conducting a research is to recognize the problem or issues that interest the investigator (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). In tourism-based corporation, the core issues that require research are reduced patronage and declining market share (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). From a destination perspective, additional concerns may be harbored about negative community reactions to tourism or declining environmental conditions that will affect the industry (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). However, methodological bias of the researcher might dictate the problems As we know, before starting to conduct a research, at first we should come out with a question because all of the research that begins with a question. Besides that, curiosity of a researcher is often used as a foundation for scholarly inquiry. Before start to conduct a research, the researcher should know the problems a nd broad issues that interest them to conduct a research. Researcher should clearly understand and clarify what they want to know to conduct the research. After problem has been recognized and the researcher understand what they want to know to conduct the research, it will makes them easier. Researcher can ask themselves question on what they want to know actually based on the research that will be conduct. By this, it can help them to conduct a better research because they have the purpose for conducting the research. After problem has been recognizing, the researcher can plan or create a useful framework for clarifying or contextualizing the broad problem. For example: if you are interested in finding out about how many students will take the opportunity to involve themselves in the sports events in school? You might need to pose out a question that what is the advantages of taking part in sports event in school? Researcher should understand what they really want to find out by t his topic. They should indentify what problem, concepts or keywords in this question on what they want to know by doing this research and then plan their framework well before start to do their research. Step 2: Question formulation After all the problem and topic that researcher identify or broad problems that have been selected, research questions must be focused to prevent that time and resources are not wasted on tangential avenues of investigation(Weaver and Lawton, 2006). Furthermore, hypothesis may be expressed when question formulation. As a basis for question formulation, it is helpful to clarify that the level of investigation that is warranted by the problem and the resources of the company or destination that are available. There are four levels of investigations which are description, explanation, prediction and prescription. All of this level will be using based on the research that will be conducted by the researcher. The first level if the investigation is description (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). Description it is the most basic level of inquiry. For example, the managers of a particular destination are concerned that the local people appear to be increasingly hostile toward visiting tourists. The logical first step in addressing this issue is to describe the actual situation, by asking questions such as what are the attitudes of local residents towards visiting tourists. Next level for the investigation is explanation (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). Explanation is the decision whether to or not to proceed to this level of investigation, which is to explain the resultant patterns is often constrained by the availability of resources. However, the decision should be based on whether one or more serious problems have been revealed after the research process has been completed at the descriptive level. For example, the perceived hostility of residents involves only a few isolated incidents instigated by known troublemakers, and then there is probably no compelling reason to precede any further investigation. But, if the suspicious of emerging hostility have been confirmed, and the parameters of the hostility are identified as being broad-based, then the explanation is necessary towards its resolution. Level three for the investigation level according to Weaver and Lawton, 2006 is prediction. Prediction means once a plausible explanation for a problem is found out, the further investigation is to predict the problems consequences if no remedial measures are taken. As with any prediction involving humans, this stage of inquiry will be speculative, but it is possible to engage in intelligent and well-considered speculation that will inform the final stage of prescription. Example would be like asking what will happen to the local tourism industry if no steps are being carried to address the hostility of young adults towards tourism. Lastly, the final stage of the level of investigation according to Weaver and Lawton (2006) is prescription. Prescription is the culmination of research process, involving the consideration of various solutions to the problems. If the predictive phase reveals that the above situation is highly volatile, and that the community will endure great suffering if no correction action was taken, then it is essential to proceed with prescriptive phase. To summarize, the intervention or the actions that should be taken to ensure optimum outcomes for the company or destination, is a core component of the process in management and in applied research. Appropriate solutions or prescriptions will only emerge as a result of the knowledge that is obtained through preliminary research at the levels of description, explanation and prediction (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). Step 3: Identification of research methodology and/ or methods Next step of the research process is to identify the methodologies that will be use to conduct the research that the researcher already selected (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). In the other words means identify the specific research methods that will be best allow the project or research to be proceed, and normally all this probably will based on the problem that have been identified and the question set for the research. For example, in the descriptive phase, the investigators may undertake quantitative surveying in which resources, time; cultural and social context will be taken into account. Whereas in the explanatory phase, the researcher will engage in qualitative, in-depth interviews to identify the reasons for revealed attitudes and behavior. While for prediction level, the interviewer has a number of options that can be pursued in conjunction with each other to see whether the different methods yield the same results. As shown in the above example, the usage of all the techniques in the same research process also can be known as methodological triangulation. Furthermore, If all of this four methods for the research reveal the similar outcomes, it will gives the researcher high degree of confidence that the real situation of their research that they want to be conduct has been identified. Moreover, it is likely that each of the method will yield its own unique insights into this situation, thereby strengthening the knowledge base that is obtained from the research. Step 4: Data collection After the most appropriate have been identified, the next step of the research process can be proceeded (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). In a former case, a sample of data collection mostly is randomly drawn from the population and each of the members of the population has the equal probability to be selected as the sample for the data (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). Researchers will simple drawn out all the names of those will be involves in the research by using the random number tables to prevent biases when collecting the data. However, researcher also will select a large enough sample so that inferences can be made about the entire population. According to Neuman 1997, it is advisable that the sample should be at least of 30 per cent of the entire population to make sure that it will achieve the same effect. In the data collection, researcher commonly will practiced the non-probability or convenience sampling in the qualitative research and deliberate selection of certain cases to build th e sample for the research that will be conducting. (Weaver and Lawton, 2006) Besides that, for the data collection, once the sample size and procedure of selection for the research have been decided, the actual or the process of the data collection can be started and there is few factors that need to be considered at this stage such as consistency for the result in as short a time period as possible, timing of the interviewing or observation for the research (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). The reason is that it can save the cost and resources for the research without wasted and the collection of the data will be more accurately as well. Theory will be developed from the data gathered and analyzed by the researcher (Neuman, 2000). Furthermore, each research that will be conducted must use an appropriate data collection technique based on the research methodology that has been chosen. The researcher might also involve in pilot study or test, in which the researcher will conduct a trial test of the data collection tools and analysis by using the same sample of the po pulation used in the final study (Jennings, 2001). Besides that, once the sample size and selection procedure have been decided, the actual data collection can be started (Weaver and Lawton, 2006).   The main goals of both quantitative and qualitative studies are to maximize the responses and the accuracy of the research (Walonick, 1993). The researchers will also validate the data collection process When others data collection service are being used, by contacting a percentage of the respondents to verify that they were actually being interviewed ( David S. Walonick 1993). Not only that, the checking process for inadvertent errors in the data also involves data editing and this process normally required a computer to check for the out of boundaries data. Step 5: Data analysis The data analysis is the next stage after data collection, which is a stage that attempts to answer the related research questions by examining and assessing the collected information to identify patterns and meanings (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). At this stage, filtering and organizing the database to eliminate the invalid responses usually will be involves to get a better result for the research. Next (at least in quantitative research), it is follow by the coding and entering of the data that already been collected into a computer software system such as SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Science) facilities which have the further classification and analysis (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). Actual analysis of the research can be undertaken after all the data already been cleaned to eliminate error in the coding procedure. According to Weaver and Lawton, 2006, the most basic analysis in a qualitative research is to record a simple descriptive statistics such as means, frequencies and standard deviation besides test also can be use when in a more sophisticated level. Researcher need to be open to the data to ensure that the data that they collected do not force the data (Glaser 1992). According to Neuman 1997, qualitative data analysis includes organization of the same categories as well as the relationship development and process models based on a constant comparison of the text-based data. There are 3 aspects of data analysis which is data reduction, data displaying and drawing conclusion (Miles and Huberman 1994). The relationship between different variables and groups can be examined or determined simultaneously by using multivariate technique, such as analyzing the factor and the multidimensional scaling. Level of sophistication depends on the nature of the research question and the datas characteristic collected by the researcher (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). In a qualitative research, the sorting, comparing, classifying and synthesis of the collected informat ion can be involves in analysis for qualitative research (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). Step 6: Data presentation In data presentation, the results of the analysis should be presented in the way that can be easily understood by the target audience. When preparing data for presentation, make sure that you are choosing the key points of the research (Gayle Jennings 2001). The most common devices that use to presenting data is by using tables and graphs but great care also should be always be taken to avoid complexity and clutter particularly if the intended audience is non-academic (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). The reason is that to prevent that audience did not understand what are being present. Furthermore, researcher also can use maps for their presentation because maps are extremely efficient means of presenting spatial information if being constructed properly (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). According to Jennings 2001 Power point presentation also can be use to present the data but there is some consideration when using it to presenting data such as slides should not overwhelmed with text, text is ea sy to read, try not to use colors that are hard to focus on or gaudy, not to over use different font and different style such as italics, bold, use an infra-red or timber pointer if need to indicate something, do not turn your back to audience and check out the slide is in the correct order.   Step 7: Data interpretation The final stage of the research process is data interpretation, in which the meaning from the research results will be extracted (Weaver and Lawton, 2006). This is the stage where important implication of the research result are considered from theoretical and/or practical perspective besides in this stage, researcher also will consider higher levels of investigation which means the researcher will revisit the previous stages(Weaver and Lawton, 2006). Data that been interpret maybe will be influence by the methodological and other biases of the researcher.   The important of the effective interpretation at the specific or broad level cannot be overstated since leads to translation of research results into policy decision and other outcomes that are important to the target audience (Weaver and Lawton, 2006).   

Chinua Achebes Things Fall Apart versus Fasting and Feasting by Anita Dasai :: essays research papers

From the title of the story â€Å" Things Fall Apart † and from the name of the author Chinua Achebe ,who is one of the most eminent post-colonial writers, readers can predict what this novel is going to talk about. This book is mostly concerned with the coming of imperialism to a tribe called â€Å" Igbo† in Africa and its social complexity. When I first read this book , I see a lot of similarities and differences in comparison to â€Å"Fasting , Feasting†, which particularly focuses on life in India after the period of colonialism. Anita Dasai , the author, is also a remarkable post-colonial writer so I decided to discuss about the similarities and differences of both books. This paper is going to point out 2 major subjects which these novels share the similarities and differences.The first is the attitudes of native towards the colonizer including the outcomes of cultural clash and second, life of women in both societies. Both Africa and India were invaded by the English Empire during the period of imperialism but the attitudes of the native towards the colonizer are different considering in the books. In Things Fall Apart , the native tribe of Africa or â€Å" Igbo†, which is separated into many villages seems to be violently opposed to the coming of the colonizer and the colonizer too reacts violently.Foe example,when English government had known that his missionary was killed in Abame village,They massacred the village â€Å" †¦until the market was full and they began to shoot. Everybody was killed †or Okonkwo, who was a leader of the African Igbo community of Umuofia couldn’t stand the coming of the Christian religion so he suggested Mbanta , the village of his mother to fight against the Whites â€Å" Let us not reason like cowards†¦If a man comes into my hut and defecates on the floor,what do I do?Do I shut my eyes? No! I take a stick and break his head.† And the situation that was most severe was when Okonkwo killed the head messenger who was sent by English to stop the congregation of Igbo. After that he hanged himself because he knew that the District Commissioners wouldn’t let this pass and they would dishonor him as they had done when they caught him and his friend for destroying a church by whipping him and shaving his head. At first English came with Christian religion and many villagers converted to Christian and forgot their old pagan gods like Amadiora, the god of thunder.

Is the Uk political system democratic? Essay

â€Å"A government of the people, by the people, for the people.† The word democracy comes from the Greek words â€Å"demos† which means the people and â€Å"kratos† which means authority, or power. A democratic political system is one in which the ultimate political authority is vested in the people this means that all eligible citizens are able to participate equally either directly or through elected representatives in the proposal, development, and creation of laws that will change and shape everyday life. A democratic country aims to have an accountable government that serve the best interests of the people it is governing. The UK is a liberal democracy which ensures that citizens should be able to influence governmental decisions made. The UK’s governmental system contains no written constitution. This means that theoretically the government are free to pass any legislation as long as they have the majority in parliament which could be easily achieved if the party has a large majority of seats. This means there is no safeguard for laws that can be altered or new ones that could be created. This is very undemocratic as the government therefore have too much power. The government is also in possession of other powers such as the royal prerogative that allows the prime minister to go to war without consent from parliament. An example of where this was used was the Iraq war in 2003 which was heavily resented by a large majority of the public. The most important thing is that true democracy is participatory democracy, where members of the public are effectively members of the government by voting directly on policies. However this is difficult to administer and as a result most modern democracies are representative. The public chooses who they wish to possess power and trust that person to devise policies that will benefit them. A representative democracy can easily become an elected dictatorship if the population’s views are not heard. Considering it from a purely political stance, democracy is power to the people, which establishes itself through the vote. We vote on members of the Commons but not on the Lords. We vote on local representatives but not party leaders. We vote on people but not policies. We vote people into Parliament but not out of it. We vote for a particular party but our second choices are not considered. We vote on only that which we are asked to vote on. We cannot ensure policies are maintained throughout a ministerial term by our vote. Evidently our democracy is far from flawless, and this is not even considering the social aspects of its meaning, i.e. the extent to which we are free police barraging of public protesters and Rupert Murdoch’s mass media control showed us that we are not quite as free as the democratic terminology seems to suggest. You could say that the UK can be made more democratic through a proportional electoral system, compulsory voting, a removal of unelected members of Parliament and more referendums. But it seems in these examples, more democratic is inversely proportional to more efficient. Proportional electoral systems may confuse voters and will result in less strong government, compulsory voting would cumber us with the careless votes of those uninterested in politics and therefore would not be an accurate representation of what the population wants a removal of unelected members of Parliament may increase political bias and reduce the expert value of the Lords. Referendums may be subject to people who do not know what is best for the country, and even then only those who set the agenda of democracy can be understood as a process of people governing their state and managing community affairs all together, based on consensus. The UK is in many ways not democratic. Firstly, the UK amongst many other countries claims to be a democracy. This would suggest that UK citizens have effective influence over government and over decisions that affect them. However there has been much controversy over this claim some arguing that power lies in the hands of just a few and others standing by the allegation that power in the UK is widely distributed. Secondly, First Past The Post has had a big impact on UK democracy. The system we use to elect our MPs has a real impact on how politics works in The UK. It has a direct effect on whether politicians truly represent us and whether we can hold them to account if they let us down. The defeat of the 2011 Alternative Vote (AV) referendum means it is now more important than ever to discredit our failed system and we are continuing to build the case for change at Westminster. This in turn means any of our votes just don’t count. Millions of people have no chance of deciding who their MP will be. And our votes are wasted by the system. Additionally, parties continue to focus all their time, money and effort on a handful of ‘marginal seats’, so just a few thousand voters can decide who runs Britain. As Jean-Jacques Rousseau highlighted in The Social Contract democracy in its political sense can only be efficient when the general will of the people is the same as each and every individual will. Here he argues that this can only be achieved through a classless society with censorship and civil religion. As democracy in modern society is now taken to be equal to freedom its efficiency as a political system is halted by its connotative meaning. This means Rousseau’s method of effective and true democracy would be considered undemocratic in the modern world. Britain may not be truly democratic but it is as democratic as it can be whilst maintaining the constancy and competency of its political workings.

Meaning of Sovereignty and the Extent of Contemporary Nation

Meaning of Sovereignty and the Extent of Contemporary Nation Introduction Sovereignty is supreme authority inferred upon a country or state that makes it immune to jurisdiction outside its boundaries. For sovereignty to be achieved a territory a nation-state must have an effective government that exercises independency from the influences of other governments of other nation-state (McNeely p.38).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Meaning of Sovereignty and the Extent of Contemporary Nation-State Sovereignty specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This paper discusses the notion of sovereignty as applied to nation-states. The paper first examines the definition and concepts of sovereignty and then explores the application of sovereignty in the contemporary world. This paper notes that sovereignty has been overly responsible for the relative peace stability and prosperity among nation-states; however, there is a new form of war that exists within territories of nation-states, among vario us nation-states, that is threatening their capacity to exercise authority hence, their sovereignty. Other than the internal threat to sovereignty, nation-states are also losing their classical form of sovereignty to emerging multinational corporations and international organizations that exercise their authority of decision-making beyond traditional territorial boundaries. Contemporary nation-states are no longer sovereign if the classical definition of sovereignty is considered. This paper therefore offers a brief analysis of the contemporary view of sovereignty. Classical Definition of Sovereignty Sovereignty is an idea of supremacy and depends on the expression of absolute supremacy to suffice. The idea has been in existence as long as the formation of state boundaries goes. It forms the essence of having state boundaries to differentiate a state’s sovereignty from another (R. H. Jackson ix). Sovereignty forms the epicentre of political and legal application of the world. Initial conception of sovereignty occurred during the controversies and wars that engulfed seventeenth-century Europe and has evolved and spread in the present world (R. H. Jackson ix).Advertising Looking for essay on political sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In the formation and organization of contemporary nation-states, state sovereignty forms the foundation. The sovereignty of the state follows opposite ideals from those followed by theocratic and transnational idea present in the medieval times such as the Latin Christendom. Sovereignty now extends across religions, cultures, languages, race and other divisions of humanity. With the advent of sovereignty as a global authority system, people can no longer live outside any jurisdiction of a sovereign state as was possible before the wide adoption of state sovereignty. Nation-state sovereignty is a political and legal of a state within a system that is r ecognized by other states. Origin of Sovereignty Kings and rulers, to respond to the circumstances facing their authority, in the sixteenth and seventeenth century Europe (Devenney p.154), worked out the idea of sovereignty. Further notable refinement of the idea of sovereignty was undertaken after the World War I. Allies in the war discussed very little about their goals and principles apart from military objectives and there was no clear distinction of the two sides in the war in terms of what was their view of the international order after the war. Each country in the war had its own intentions and coalitions developed based on superficial agreements. The US president Woodrow Wilson intervened on the arrangement of the Allied forces and came up with a statement of principles to differentiate each ally among themselves and from the central powers. Wilson declared that the war was as an end to all wars by formulating a balance of power, and creation of self-determination and democr acy for the world populations. Wilson defined a legitimate nation as one with a defined national population and with a government accountable to its people (Barkin and Cronin p.120). Britain and France eventually accepted the ideas brought up by Wilson after the war as the basis to form an international order. France in particular proposed a post war settlement that rests peace on the principles of self-determination and the protection of minority rights.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Meaning of Sovereignty and the Extent of Contemporary Nation-State Sovereignty specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Britain agreed that a lasting peace required the recognition of the sanctity of treaties, territorial dispute resolution based on self-determination and the establishment of international organizations that will thwart possibilities of future wars. Germany also turned to the program laid down by the president of the United States on the verge of their defeat (Barkin and Cronin p 121). The Principle stating that people should not be bartered from sovereignty to sovereignty came into play when Germany freed its former colonies and placed them in the protective wing of the League of Nations, which later appointed various nations as guardians (Barkin and Cronin p. 122). State Sovereignty The holder of sovereignty has authority in form of the right to command and the right to enjoy obedience within the boundaries where the jurisdiction is applicable (Phillpot para. 5). Territory is a principle of defining community members and offers a powerful definition that surpasses identity. All people inside a state fall under the authority of the state’s ruler. Modern sovereigns assume supremacy within geographical territories (Phillpot para. 7). Sovereignty exists in a plural form of many sovereign states in the world. The manner in which there states exercise their sovereignty is in relation to other sovere ign states. The political map of the world is only formed by states that demonstrate a sovereign authority. It might be argued that sovereignty can be shared such as the case of the European Union’s legal and political authority; however, this does not amount to supremacy because individual countries making the EU retain territorial sovereignty to address vital questions like peace and security (R. H. Jackson). Sovereignty has two dimensions, the inside of a territory where everybody within the territory subscribes to the authority of the government of the territory and the outside or external environment of the authority where its independence is tolerated and unharmed by other sovereigns.Advertising Looking for essay on political sciences? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More A colonial government does not possess supremacy of decision in the world politics and therefore is not a sovereign state. It has to rely on external authority from its imperial powers to carryout commercial relations or declare war (Nash p.27). The authority of sovereignty has two absolutes. It either exists or does not. In the same manner, supremacy is also categorical, such that a government is either supreme or not supreme. However, power possessed by sovereigns is relative. It is a capacity to act concerning the activities of a government in relation to other activities involved. All governments have power structures to carry out decisions and policies. The extensiveness of the structures at the disposal of a government to exercise its authority within its boundaries sum up to its capacity, however the capacity does not give the government authority. Before the World War I, governments could assume authority by exercising their powers beyond their territories and colonize popul ations but the ability to use power to get authority became unlawful after the war (R. H. Jackson p.14-16). The recognition of treaties and independence of states makes all aggressions against other states unlawful and illegitimate. In the same manner that authority does not come out of power, it does not diminish in the absence of power. Weak governments are still sovereign. The argument of whether a state is strong or weak does not constitute the definition of sovereignty. Sovereignty is a matter of freedom from legal subordination to another authority (R. H. Jackson p. 16). For example, Mexico is a sovereign country and is a far weaker power economically and militarily than the United States. The difference in power significantly bears on the international relations of the two countries however; the power difference does not withdraw sovereignty of Mexico. Contemporary View of Sovereignty As an idea, sovereignty is evolving and the contemporary understanding of the idea is not th e same as the initial understanding in the sixteenth century (J. H. Jackson p. 788). The linkages also involve international organizations like the International Monetary Fund (IMF). These and other related reasons make the reader question the relevancy of sovereignty. The erosion of the idea of sovereignty as evidenced above does not warrant a total elimination of the principles that it. Instead, a new approach to understanding the extent of sovereignty is required. The antiquate version of sovereignty does not exist. The version of sovereignty that dwells on absolute supremacy of authority over subjects within a territory unchallenged by any higher law unless the nation consents in a meaningful way is antique. Subscription of the idea of sovereignty is not applicable in totality. The relative peace enjoyed in the world in the last two centuries has can be attributed to the concepts of sovereignty of nations. Sovereignty has cultivated world order through legal protections against any type of external intervention. It also forms the core of recognition of treaties, how international organizations are formed as well as how international law is developed. Without sovereignty, there would be no clear channel for representatives and market economies to emerge in many nations. In the contemporary world, sovereignty still serves as the basis of democracy, prosperity and peace. An Allocation of Power Analysis of Sovereignty The practical use of sovereignty today rests in the allocation of power of governments to make decisions. This means that certain set of decisions are supposed to take place at a nation-state level and not in the international level. To further understand this concept, the reader may ask is it is okay for governmental decisions to be made in Geneva or Washington, D.C. when the two cities are not within the territory of the government in question. In the current global politics power is allocated exclusively to state governments who then relinquis h some of it to international bodies through treaties and other international agreements. Allocation of power occurring among states is termed vertical allocation while subsidiarity of power within state entities like legislature, the executive and judiciary is termed horizontal power allocation. The decision on how to allocate power depends on answers to questions raised. Answers to problems facing a single area within a state like street lighting require allocation of power within the state entities however; complex issues such as food safety standards for the integrated global market efficiency pose deeper decision challenges on where to allocate decision-making power. A set of values are considered when looking at the task of allocating decision-making power. First, the reasons why governmental action at an international level is desired are formulated. In the case of international standardization, governments finds themselves in situations where failure to coordinate internatio nally leads to a damage for the states and others. Economically, factor mobility of capital and labour warrants placement of decision-making power on a higher level than the government. Environmental concerns also bring up reasons for having a bigger than state institution to make decisions mainly because environmental concerns are global commons and degradation in one part has negative externalities on another. Trade issues of monopoly may also form reasons to consider allocation of power at a higher hierarchical order than the state government (J. H. Jackson p. 782). Secondly, the principle of subsidiarity forms another value factor for allocating state power. This principle arises from the catholic philosophy of the nineteenth and early twentieth century (J. H. Jackson p. 782). It advocates for allocating decision-making power to the lowest level of state hierarchy in the interaction with constituents on the belief that only the state entities at the closest to constituents know the needs of the constituents. Accountability at the lowest government is guaranteed because decisions made directly affect constituents. The notion of subsidiarity was the basis of various movements for decolonization in the nineteenth century (J. H. Jackson p. 793). John H. Jackson discusses the modern interpretation of sovereignty as a focus on subsidiarity. He notes that subsidiarity proposes that government functions are allocated within a hierarchical government institution framework to those most near the constituents (Amar p.1427-1429). He attributes these anomalies to the division of sovereignty to facilitate diplomatic compromise. Furthermore, he concludes that the concept of sovereignty appears to be misleading and affords politicians and the media an excuse to avoid complex thinking about real policies involved in international relations (J. H. Jackson p. 788). Thirdly, there are factor values that support both subsidiarity and higher allocation of power. Such a factor a rises when the discussion centres on a particular issue and leadership divisions emerge on whether to use state entities on top of the power hierarchy or at the bottom. For example, a policy to prevent a government misuse of power might receive arguments for implementation at an international level however; those arguing against such a move will point out the chances of power misuse at the international level brought out by increased bureaucracy. The essence of having a power analysis is to overcome hypocrisy that surrounds the concepts of sovereignty. The analysis has pointed out other factors that concern the sovereignty of a state, other than the core authority issues. Sovereignty in contemporary world faces various challenges brought out by instant communication, fast and cheap transportation, weapons of mass destruction and emerging viral diseases. A new concept of sovereignty is required to cope with these and other emerging challenges (J. H. Jackson p. 799-802). The Modern Th reats of Classical Nation-State Sovereignty Gangs There is a silent war going on in part of the major continents of the world. The protagonists of the war have been designated are street gangs and their allies. The new war is undermining national sovereignty of the affected countries daily. The illicit commercial motives of these gangs have become a portentous political agenda (Jouvenel p.98). This paper has discussed state sovereignty based on the concept of supreme authority within a territory and the independence from other authorities outside the nation-state. The kind of gangs referred here do not undermine state sovereignty by interfering with its independence through a major coup or in prolonged revolutionary wars as has been observed with insurgents and rebel groups. Instead, gangs take control of a street at a time, a business at a time or a government office at a time. When governments fail to extend their legitimate sovereign presence throughout their national territory, they leave a vacuum that gang, cartels, insurgents and other power competing interests to operate. The gangs and other illegitimate groups challenge the state authority in the following five major ways as described by Manwaring (p.10-11). Gangs strain governments’ capacity and therefore power to exercise its authority. They undermine the principle of sovereignty as the right to be obeyed by subjects within a territorial boundary. Secondly, gangs challenge the legitimacy of the state especially where the state is unable to exercise jurisdiction due to corruption challenges and an inferior political system that does not function well to provide basic goods and services for its constituents. Thirdly, the challenge of sovereignty come to play when gangs act as surrogate governments in the areas ungoverned by the legitimate government due to inadequate capacity. Fourth, these gangs dominate the informal economic sector, form business that do not fall under formal state regulation and use coercion and co-optation of government authorities so that they have an upper hand in the competition with legitimate businesses. The slow and indirect means that gangs undermine state authority within its boundaries result to a gradual sliding of the state to failure where the state loses all capacity and will to exercise its authority within its territory through state entities (Manwaring p.14-16). Empires To abandon sovereignty entirely is not feasible because it forms the fabric of international law. However, the modern world has numerous examples in which sovereignty in its classical definition faces neglect (J. H. Jackson p.788). A new form of sovereignty is emerging in the global world that supersedes the sovereignty of individual nations. Shumaker (p.92) has named this new form of sovereignty; an empire, because its authority moves traditional territorial boundaries and is only limited by mobile or temporary boundaries. In the globalized world empires exist in milita ry formation, international trade formation and political formations. The nature of the formation of the empire determines the extent of sovereignty that the empire exercises. An empire succeeds a combination of monarchy, aristocracy and democracy such that it assumes different characteristics of each type of government at any single time. In military conflict the pentagon as the military arm of the United States rules over the world with its array of weapons of mass and vast destruction (Khagram p.110). International economic institutions like the World Bank and World Trade Organization also fit the description of monarch empires when they exercise their jurisdiction beyond traditional boundaries (J. H. Jackson p. 789). Aristocracy tendencies of empires appear when few elitist states govern the flow of economic affairs of the world as well as international governance. Such an empire exists in form of the G8 meetings or the UN Security Council meetings and the exercise of their auth ority, which covers other states that have no capacity to exercise the same authority (Schumaker p.92). International corporations also act as aristocracies by monopolizing trade in certain types of goods by controlling all production levels of the good around the globe. These corporations are able to determine how domestic policies of a country shape up through the influence of capital inflows to the countries. Major world corporations like Wal-Mart, Coca Cola and General Electric have turnovers that dwarf the GDP of some developing countries (Baker, Gamble and Seawright p.400). Lastly, empires demonstrate democratic characteristics when they claim to represent the global population even though such a claim is often illusionary (Schumaker p.92). Nation-states forming the membership of the United Nations are assumed to represent the interest of their individual populations (Nash p.46-48). An empire therefore claims sovereignty over existing sovereign nation-states. Now nations canno t claim absolute independence from other sovereign states because there is a higher authority that oversees the various implementation of jurisdiction among nation-states. The dominant nation-states of the world enjoy a higher level of sovereignty than the subordinate nation-states. The transformation of the global sovereignty from individual nation-states to global empires such as international institutions has only been effective for dominant nation-states. In some cases, national sovereignty was not a reality, as countries claiming to be sovereign did not have capacity to exercise independent authority within their territories. The undermining of authority was brought up by reliance on dominant nation-states for governance assistance that came with influence of domestic affairs and international commitments to suit those of the dominant nation-state (Devenney p.92). Conclusion The classical definition of sovereignty specifies the need for a nation-state to have independence in ex ercising authority within its territorial boundaries. The exercise of this authority is categorical and is determined by the power or capacity that the nation-state has. Any threat to the authority exercised by the nation-state within its boundaries amounts to a threat to its sovereignty. Therefore, in the contemporary world characterised by international organizations, multinational corporations whose jurisdiction extends beyond traditional territorial borders, nation-states cease to be sovereign in the absolute sense of the idea of sovereignty (Opello and Rosow p.94). Amar, Akhil Reed. â€Å"Of Sovereignty and Federalism.† 1987. Faculty Schorlaship Series. Web. Baker, David, Andrew Gamble and David Seawright. â€Å"Soveriegn nations and global markets: mordern British Concervatism and hyperglobalism.† British Journal of Politics and International Relations 4.3 (2002): 399-428. Barkin, Samuel and Bruce Cronin. â€Å"The State and the Nation: Changing Norms and the R ules of Sovereignty in International Relations.† International Organization 48.1 (1994): 107-130. Devenney, Mark. Ethics and politica in contemporary thoery: between critical theory and post marxism. London: Routledge, 2004. Jackson, John H. â€Å"Sovereignty-Mordern: A new approach to an outdated concept.† The American Journal of International Law 97 (2003): 782-802. Jackson, Robert H. Sovereignty: evolution of an idea. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press, 2007. Jouvenel, Bertrand de. Sovereignty: an inquiry into the political good. London: The Syndics of The Cambridge University Press, 1957. Khagram, Sanjeev. â€Å"Possible Future Architectures of Global Governance: A Transnational Perspective/Prospective.† Global Governance 12 (2006): 97-177. Manwaring, Max G. â€Å"A Contemporary challenge to state sovereignty: gangs and other illicit transnational criminal organizations in central America, El Salvador, Mexico, Jamaica and Brazil.† 2007. Strategic Studies Inst itute. Web. McNeely, Connie L. Constructing the nation-state: international organization and prescriptive Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1995. Nash, Kate. Contemporary Political Sociology: Globalization, Politics and Power. West Sussex: Blackwell Publishers, 2010. Opello, Walter C Jr. and Stephen Rosow. The Nation-State and Global Order: A Historical Introduction to Contemporary Politics. 2nd. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2004. Phillpot, Dan. â€Å"Sovereignty.† n.d. The Stanford Encyclopedea of Philosophy(Summer 2010 Edition). Web. Schumaker, Paul. The Political Theory Reader. West Sussex: Blackwell Publishing, 2010.

Carnival Case Issues Essays

Carnival Case Issues Essays Carnival Case Issues Essay Carnival Case Issues Essay SPRING 2013 – GLOBAL STRATEGY AND POLICY MAN4720009_2013S_11202: , Schwartz: Tuesday and Thursday 9:30 to 10:50 AM – LA 331 GLOBAL STRATEGY AND POLICY MAN4720009_2013S_11202 Spring, 2013 Prepared for Professor Harry Schwartz, March 14, 2013 by the following students: Robert OndercikZ8384Finance Ron AbrahamZ4458Accounting Jenna FranzoneZ3483Business Management Tabitha Palmisano Z0857Marketing Jeffrey VonZ7035Accounting Aaron SchneiderZ0653Business Management Sabine BorgesZ7510Accounting 1. Current Situation: CRITICAL CASE ISSUES Human Relations (CI #1) Employee and Labor Lawsuits Employees of Carnival are claiming unfair working conditions with poor compensation. (CI #2) Succession Mr. Arison stepping down in the future, who will run company, third generation Arison or someone else. Operation/Logistics (CI #3) The Costa Concordia Cruise Ship lawsuit Cruise ship laying on side, environmental risk, and lawsuits from crash. (CI #4) The Carnival Triumph dead at Gulf of Mexico Pending lawsuits from this event, leading to more negative publicity (CI #5) US Corporate Tax Congress continues to try to charge Corporate taxes on Carnival, but has failed recently. This could change soon. Marketing CI #6) Serving on 20 % of Americans It becomes expensive for customers to get to ports to cruise, discouraging some customers from cruising. Carnival Corporation plc is currently the largest cruise company in the world and is among the most profitable and financially strong leisure travel companies in the world. Carnival Corporation PLC’s portfolio of cruise brands in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia are comprised of Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, Seabourn, AIDA Cruises, Costa Cruises, Cunard, Ibero Cruises, PO Cruises (Australia) and PO Cruises (UK). Collected, these brands operate 100 ships totaling 203,000 lower berths with nine new ships scheduled to be delivered between March 2013 and March 2016. Carnival Corporation PLC is the only group in the world to be included in both the SP 500 and the FTSE 100 indices. A. CURRENT PERFORMANCE Carnival reported net income for the year 2012 decreased to $1. 3 billion compared to $1. 9 billion for the prior year due primarily to a combination of lower revenues and higher fuel prices. Revenues declined $410 million primarily as a result of the Costa Concordia incident. Net revenue yields declined 2. 5 percent due primarily to lower cruise ticket prices and occupancies for the Costa brand. Excluding Costa, Carnival was able to maintain year 2012 net revenue yields in line with the prior year. Even with the many challenges faced in 2012, Carnival generated $3 billion of cash from operations, more than enough to fund our net capital investments of $1. 8 billion. All of the subsequent free cash flow was then returned to shareholders. Carnivals regular quarterly dividend of $0. 25 per share, combined with a special year-end dividend of $0. 50 per share, resulted in $1. 2 billion of distributions to their shareholders. Carnival also purchased 2. 6 million of the company’s shares in the open market at a cost of $90 million during 2012. B. STRATEGIC POSTURE * Carnival remains dedicated to profitably growing our cruise business and driving returns on capital higher. Carnival will continue to increase their fleet through a measured pace of two to three new ship introductions each year. Some of these vessels are expected to replace existing capacity from the possible sales of older, less-efficient ships * Currently, Carnival has nine cruise ships scheduled for delivery through March 2016. * In addition, Carnival is focused on the growth of developing cruise regions. During the previous five years, Carnival has doubled their guest sourcing fro m up-and-coming markets, a trend Carnival expects will continue in the future. CI #6) * Carnival and its Operating Lines place the uppermost importance on guest health, safety and security. Carnivals objective is to maintain an exceptional health, safety and security record. As well as constantly strive to better our health, safety and security standards and procedures. (CI #3 and 4) 1. Mission â€Å"Carnival Corporation plc mission is to take the world on vacation and deliver exceptional experiences that appeal to a large variety of consumers, all at an outstanding value. † 2. Objectives To our stakeholders, this mean: Consumers | Take the world on vacation and deliver exceptional experiences that appeal to a large variety of consumers, all at an outstanding value| Employees | Recruiting and Retaining Qualified Employees. Carnival considers their employee and union relations generally to be good| Business Partners | Carnival shall communicate with our business partners frequently to ensure that we receive high-quality products and services and that our ships receive the goods and services that they need to operate sustainably. Shareholders| The strength of their people, values, culture and mission has driven superior returns for their shareholders. A dollar invested in Carnival stock 25 years ago would be worth 19 times that today, representing a total return almost twice that of the SP 500 over the same period. | Communities | Carnival strives each and every year to make a difference in their homeports and various regions around the world in need. During the past year Carnival Corporation plc gave nearly $10 million to charitable organizations, including a $2 million donation to support Hurricane Sandy relief efforts. | 3. Strategies * Carnival now has its ships in ports that are within reasonable driving range for a good portion of the country. Galveston, San Diego, Mobile, New Orleans, Charleston, Baltimore and New York all have Carnival ships sailing from their ports, making it cheaper and easier for more Americans to cruise. CI #6) * Identify those managers responsible for implementing health, environmental, safety and security performance and ensure that there are clear lines of accountability. (CI #3 and 4) * Promptly report and properly investigate all incident and take appropriate action to prevent recurrence (CI #3 and 4) * Establish and act upon goals and objectives to continually improve our performance * Continue to publicly report to and maintain open dialogue and cooperation with key stakeholders (CI #3 and 4) * Carnival operates Under Section 883 of the Internal Revenue Code; certain non-U. S. corporations (such as our North American cruise ship businesses) are not subject to U. S. federal income tax or branch profits tax on U. S. source income derived from, or incidental to, the international operation of a ship or ships. (CI #5) * Since defueling on Costa Concordia began until 7 a. m. Feb. 17, a total of 251,492 gallons of fuel have been pumped out of 4 tanks located on the ship. (CI #3) * According to Costa Cruise, a total of 377,237 gallons of fuel is still onboard in 13 tanks. Following the schedule drawn up by the Neri/Smit Salvage experts, if sea and weather conditions remain favorable, all of the fuel still on board the vessel should be removed within three weeks. (CI #3) * Carnival has several defined contribution plans available to most of their employees. Carnival also has single-employer defined benefit pension plans, which cover some of their shipboard and shore side employees. (CI #1) 4. Policies Protecting the health, safety and security of Carnivals passengers, guests, employees and all others working on behalf of the Company * Protecting the environment, including the marine environment in which Carnivals vessels sail and the communities in which we operate * Continue to follow Carnivals Corporate Standards which go considerably beyond the requirements of current environmental law and regulations. * Carnival is primarily a foreign corporations engaged in the business of operating cruise ships in international transportation. (CI #5) Key Executi ves: Mickey Arison: Chairman and CEO of Carnival Corporations David Bernstein: CFO and senior Vice President of Carnival Corporations Howard S. Frank: Vice Chairman and Chief operating officer Alan B. Buckelew: CEO and President of Princess cruises Gerald R. Cahill: CEO and President of Carnival Cruise lines Larry Freedman: Chief Accounting Officer and Vice President-Controller Michael Thamm: CEO of Costa Crociere, S. p. A. Arnaldo Perez: Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary Stein Kruse: President and CEO of Holland America Line David Dingle: CEO of Carnival UK Michael Ungerer: President of AIDA Cruises Board Members: Mickey Arison: (Internal) President since 1979 and CEO since 1990 Howard Frank: (Internal) Vice Chairman of the board of directors of Carnival Corporations since 1993, and Chief Operating Officer since 2003. Pier Foschi: (Internal) on the board of directors for Carnival Corporation since 2003. Chairman and CEO of costa crociene SpA. A vice chairman of confitama, the federation of Italian ship owners. Robert Dickinson: (Internal) Director of Carnival Corporation since 1987 and of carnival plc. since 2003. He served as president from 1993-2007 and CEO of Carnival cruise lines from 2003-2007. Jonathon Band: (External) Director of Carnival Corporation and Carnival plc. Since 2010. Stuart Subotnick: (External) Director of Carnival Corporation since 1987 and of carnival plc. Since 2003. Richard Glasier: (External) Director at carnival corporation and carnival plc. since 2004. From 1995-2002 he was executive vice president and CFO of royal Caribbean cruises. Arnold Donald: (External) Director of carnival corporation since 2001 and a director of carnival plc. ince 2003. Modesto Maidique Ph. D: (External) Director of Carnival Corporation since 1994 and of carnival plc. since 2003. He also served as FIUs president from 1986-2009. John Parker: (External) Director of Carnival Corporation since 2003 and of Carnival plc. since 2000. He served as Deputy Chairman of Carnival plc. from 2002-2003 Laura Weil: (External) Director of Carnival Corporation and carnival plc. since 2007 Peter Ratcliffe: (Ext ernal) Director of Carnival Corporation since 2003 and director of Carnival plc. since 2000. 003 to 2007 he served as the CEO of PO Princess cruises. Randall Weisenburger: (External) Director of Carnival Corporation and Carnival plc. since 2007 Debra Kelly- Ennis: (External) Elected to the committee of the carnival Corporation and carnival plc. in January 2012. Conflicts of Interest: Richard Glasier was once the CEO of Argosy gaming and although no longer the CEO he still is a chairman and major shareholder of the company. Argosy gaming mostly deals with casinos but also operates riverboat gambling cruises. There is a definite conflict of interest because he is not only concerned with the success of Carnival Corporation but also Argosy gaming success as well. Even though he is not the CEO anymore he still converses with the top management of Argosy and is up to date about what’s going on within the company as well as knowing about what’s going on in Carnival too. This means he might have information on the companies such as release dates for new ships or new specials that he cannot share with the board members of the other company and if he did it would be ethically wrong. Therein lies the conflict of interest, if he was not on both board then there would be no conflict. Being on both boards is a conflict of interest because he is not only concerned with the success of Carnival but also Argosy gaming as well. Since 2010, Start Subotnick has been the president and CEO of Metromedia. Metromedia is a holding company that has many subsidiaries that operate in various activities such as restaurants, internet, software technology, and more. The main conflict of interest for Subotnick is that Metromedia develops software for the hospitality industry. Since Carnival uses hospitality software to perform most tasks such as when you get checked at the port to the server on the cruise ship placing your dinner order, it would be in Subotnicks best interest to try to get Carnival to use Metromedia’s software. This is a conflict of interest because it might not be what’s best for the Carnival but it what’s best for Metromedia. Mickey Arison: Mickey Arison, CEO and chairman of Carnival Corporation is #64 on Forbes billionaire list in the United States. His father ted Arison founded carnival cruises in 1972. Mickey started working for the company in sales. He quickly moved up the ranks not just because of who his father was but because he was hard working and had great ideas. In 1979 he became president and finally in 1990 he became the CEO and he currently still holds that position. He turned carnival into what it is today, which is the world’s largest and most successful cruise ship company. Mickey said the best lessoned he learned from his father was to â€Å"hire good people to run your businesses, give them the support they need to be successful, and let them do the job you hired them to do. He is known for his â€Å"hands-on† or â€Å"open door management style. He lets his employees’ do their own thing because he knows that they will do it right and he doesn’t have to be watching over them in order for things to get done because he hired the right people. Micky Arison goes above and beyond what a manager does. He is to say the least a competent manager. His company has been the most successful and r ecognizable cruise line in the world for over two decades. Arison learned the basics of the company from the bottom so he could really understand the company and make better decision for the company as a whole down the road. He directed his company to make many acquisitions, including their most important, the acquisition of the PO princess cruises. Royal Caribbean also wanted to acquire the line so it was not an easy fight. Luckily for Arison they got it and with the acquisition it made them a clear industry leader. David Bernstein: David Bernstein Started with carnival in 2003 as vice president and treasurer. He was then promoted in 2007 to senior vice president and CFO. AS CFO and VP of carnival he overlooks all finance, treasury, insurance, accounting, tax, and investor relations. Howard Frank: Howard frank has been Vice Chairman of the board of directors of Carnival Corporations since 1993, and Chief Operating Officer since 2003. He is responsible for the corporate-wide business strategies. He works closely with all carnival corporation management, especially with Mickey Arison. He provides oversight to Mr. Arison of the companies many worldwide ventures. He also serves as a chairman of the executive committee of the cruise line international association. (CLIA) Partnership Management: Based on the information gathered the Carnival Corporation shows a partnership management model. They have many characteristics of this model. There is a high degree of involvement by top management and an equally high degree of involvement from its board members especially since their CEO is also their chairman and they also have a few other top guys on the board. * This enables the top management and board members’ to work more closely with each other to develop strategies and to co nverse on a daily basis about the many things going on in the company. * Howard frank who is the vice chairman of the board is known for working closely with all management of Carnival Corporation plc, As well as with Micky Arison himself, the CEO and chairman of carnival. When disaster strikes the company’s senior management team and board members take on the responsibility for what’s going on and work together to come up with the best strategy to fix the problem. * Also the board creates committees by matching certain members’ functions to their expertise. For instance, David Bernstein was promoted to senior vice president and Chief financial officer in 2007 because of his expertise in finances. He was the CFO of Cunard line and Seabourn cruise line for five years and before that he held various financial positions at royal Caribbean for seven years. Carnivals board consists of 15 members. 3-A. External Environment: Opportunities and Threats A. Natural Physical Environment: Sustainability Issues 1A. Opportunities a. The climate could be a benefactor since nice weather usually attracts tourism and cruising. 1B. Threats a. When the weather is not pleasant on the coasts of the United States, there may be a negative impact on the num ber of cruise ships sailing since the shipping ports are located in these areas. For example, during the hurricane season, cruises along the Atlantic and Gulf coast do not set sail due to danger the storm may bring. . The weather in places like Europe, is not as threatening when it comes down to storms compared to the United States. This lessens the degree of one threat in the European market for Carnival cruise lines. B. SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT 1. Opportunities Economic: * | Potentially expand their luxury liners which can cause an increase in revenue. (CI#2)| * | Increase their capacity of their cruises by 30-40%. (CI#2) | * | Offer more travel destinations that they currently do not offer, such as China, India, and various countries in South America (CI#2) | Technological: | Improvement of the technology on the cruise. | * | Working on their home web page since millions of people visit this site daily. They can improve their format so that it would be better understood and easier to n avigate by people in foreign countries. | * | Using more technological machines for the cleaning staff; for example, to check off each room that was cleaned or is in need for something, such as towels, toiletries, blankets, etc. (C#1)| Political-legal: * | Avoiding paying some of the taxes that other companies in the same industry pay for. CI#5)Ship waste disposal is highly unregulated; waste is dumped off shore without any consequences from a legal point of view. (CI#5)| Sociocultural: * | The diversity of customers that are traveling with Carnival Cruise Lines for their vacation get-away is very large. (#CI2)| * | Brand name is well known among the society. | * | Reached an agreement with Italys Fincantieri shipyard to build a 2,660-passenger vessel for Holland America and a 4,000-passenger vessel for Carnival. Ships should be delivered by 2015. This will generate more revenue in the future. CI#2)Some people take a cruise with carnival just to gamble in the casino because some sta tes do not have any casinos at all. | 2. Threats Economic: * | Prices of fuel constantly increase. (CI#6)| * | One of the biggest weaknesses that the company and the industry itself are facing is hurricanes and bad weather during specific seasons. Revenues go down, refunds go up. | Technological: * | Technological problems on-board which can be a big threat for Carnival. For example, the latest incidence was last month. Carnival ship was stuck at sea for almost a week because of technological mishaps. This caused many lawsuits, refunds, and a bad reputation for the brand. (CI#1)| | | Political-legal: * | Progressive accumulation in water waste caused the cruise line to pay millions in fines. | * | More regulators are trying to force Carnival and other cruise line companies to pay more taxes. (CI#5)Major law-suits of the sinking Costa Concordia. (CI#3)| | | Sociocultural: * | Seasick; some people can’t take a cruise because they get seasick after a while. People that suffer from this generally do not board lengthy cruises. | * | Most people do not eat at the higher class restaurants because the dining room is complementary. Most passengers are generally not looking to spend more money on a cruise that was already paid for and clearly states that it is â€Å"all inclusive†. (CI#6)| * | For some people cruises can be very pricy. (CI#6)| | | 2. Some of these opportunities and threats are different in other parts of the world because of different climate, economical issues, and different regulations. III. Internal Environment: Strengths and Weaknesses A. Corporate structure 1. Carnival Corporation and Carnival plc operate under a dual listed corporation structure with primary stock listings in the United States and the United Kingdom. Carnival corporate structure is based on the concept of â€Å"profit center. † a. The decision making authority is decentralized. b. The corporation is a fleet organization worldwide. For the most part, most of Carnival business runs in North America and Europe. 2. Carnival keeps telling its employees this phrase: â€Å"do one thing and do it better than anyone else†. Well that could sound very promising, but from a personal experience I enjoyed royal Caribbean a lot more than I did with carnival. Whatever the CEO preaches to the employees does not really justify the truth. To clarify, Micky Arison the CEO of the company quotes: Carnival doesn’t view a cruise the way Procter Gamble would view toothpaste or Dial would view soap. Each of Carnival’s lines has its own personality and corporate focus. (CI#2) 3. The current structure of the company is pretty much consistent with all of its objectives, strategies, policies and programs, as shown and seen in their financial report their profit keeps increasing. (CI#2) 4. The structure of Carnival cruise is very similar to the other cruise companies that strive to succeed and make money. B. Corporate culture 1. Carnival Corporation maintains a friendly, family-like atmosphere on all of its ships. I agree to this based on my previous experience on their ships. ( CI#1) 2. In my opinion, the corporate culture is consistent with current situations of objectives, strategies, policies and programs. They have an â€Å"open door† policy where each and every employee can communicate with upper division managers and let their voice to be heard, and the reason for that is to benefit the employee and potentially even benefit the company. CI#1) 3. â€Å"Unique to the cruising industry is its promotion to protect the environment. The core values include preserving the marine environment and, in particular, the pristine condition of the waters upon which our vessels sail. † This statement is posted on the Carnival website and is the biggest flaw that I have noticed with the company. They are constantly polluting the water, dumping trash into the water, and they contri bute a great deal to air pollution. Therefore the statement above is not accurate. (CI#4) 4. Carnival employs a variety of different kinds of people from various different cultural backgrounds. Many employees that work for Carnival have different ethnic backgrounds but are all being treated equally(CI#1) 5. The company does take into consideration the value of cultures of each nation the company operates in. This is shown in the diversity of Carnival employees and their cultural backgrounds from all around the world. (CI#1) 3-B. Corporate Resources Finance IV. All numbers in millions except for ratios | 2012| | 2011| | 2010| | | Carnival| RC| Carnival| RC| Carnival| RC| Revenues| 15,382| 7,688| 15,793| 7,537| 14,469| 6,753| Operating Income| 1,642| 403| 2,255| 932| 2,347| 803| Net Income| 1,298| 18| 1,912| 607| 1,978| 515| Net Profit Margin| 8. 4%| 0. 2%| 12. 1%| 8. 1%| 13. 7%| 7. 6%| EPS| 1. 67| 0. 08| 2. 42| 2. 80| 2. 47 | 2. 4| OperatingCash Flows| 2,999| 1,382| 3,766| 1,456| 3,818| 1,663| Debt to AssetRatio| 39%| 58%| 38%| 58%| 39%| 60%| V. Financial Analysis The chart above displays a list of relevant figures and ratios for the Carnival Corporation. It is important to highlight that some of these numbers show increasingly negative results each year. If this negative trend continues it would represent a significant problem for the company, as it would become unprofitable. But how does Carnival compare to others in the industry? Two key players dominate the cruise industry. According to a report by Cruise Market Watch, Carnival Corporation controls 48% of the market share, Royal Caribbean controls 23%, while the rest is controlled in small portions by over 30 other companies (Cruise Market Watch). By generating double the revenues of Royal Caribbean, Carnival is clearly the leader in this industry. For the purpose of this section of the paper, we analyzed the financial statements of Carnival Corporation to measure the health of the company. We will also use financial ratios which best allow us to compare Carnival side by side to its smaller but closest competitor, Royal Caribbean. A notable decline can be seen in the operating income. This figure is considered by analysts to be one of the most important on financial statements because it reflects to a great extend the strength of the company and success of its core business operations (Kennon). Operating income is arrived at by subtracting operating costs and expenses from gross revenues. It is the profit that is left to invest, expand, pay debt, distribute to shareholders, and achieve other objectives that a company may have (Kennon). For Carnival Corporation, Operating income declined 27% from 2011 to 2012. Let’s see why. Carnival mainly generates its revenue from the sale of cruise tickets and onboard items and services (Carnival). Although revenue has remained stable in the past years, operating income has been declining which indicates that the company is making less and less profit of the revenue it generates. This could be due to several reasons, but in the case of Carnival Corporation, there are two major factors. One is the rising price of fuel. Cruise companies are heavily dependent on fuel and any change in its price has a significant impact on the company’s financials (Carnival). From 2011 to 2012, the carnival’s fuel expense increased 7% or $188 million. Another factor that has affected profits for the company is accidents. In its annual report for fiscal year ending 2011, Carnival Corporation included a note to its shareholders regarding the tragic event of the Costa Ship (Carnival). It states that the company takes careful measures to prevent accidents such as the Costa cruise incident (Carnival). In the 2012 Income Statement, Carnival Corporation reported $28 million for â€Å"ship incident-related expenses that were not covered by insurance, including a $10 million insurance deductible related to third party personal injury liabilities (Carnival) CI#3. It is safe to expect that in the 2013 financial statements, Carnival Corporation will again report incident expenses not covered by insurance and possibly higher ones due to the â€Å"Triumph† ship incident CI#4. Although Carnival’s decline in operating income is significant, Royal Caribbean’s 56% decline truly is worrying. Even though Royal Caribbean had nothing to do with the Costa ship incident, there were indirect consequences that affected the company. Royal Caribbean had to report a $413. 9 million impairment loss because â€Å"booking volumes and pricing are down substantially in Spain due to the impact of additional austerity measures there, the lingering impact of the Costa Concordia tragedy and other factors†(Royal Caribbean). Now let’s compare the two companies in terms of efficiency generating profit. The profit margin ratio shows how much after-tax profits are generated by each dollar of sales (Kennon). It is a good indicator of how efficiently a company manages its resources and how well it keeps costs under control. Carnival Corporation has an 8% profit margin. In other words, of every dollar that the company receives from sales, only eight cents represent profit. With expenses increasing more than revenues each year, a low profit margin represents another sign of potential unprofitability. However, taking into consideration Royal Caribbean’s 0. 2% profit margin, which means that they keep much less than a penny for every dollar they sell, Carnival Corporation is performing much better than Royal Caribbean. Off course, there are additional expenses that are not calculated in operating income like interest and tax expenses. It is worth mentioning that carnival corporation currently does not pay any U. S. federal income taxes because it qualifies for the benefits of section 883 of the Internal Revenue Code (Carnival). Section 883 basically states that some non-U. S. corporations that generate income from the operation of ships are not subject to federal income tax in the United States (Carnival). However, the closing of this tax loophole could become a potential threat for Carnival, as it would significantly affect their net income in subsequent years CI #5. Senator Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia confronted representatives of the cruise industry in a hearing last year (Walker). Senator Rockefeller questioned why Carnival, a company that sells to many American and extensively benefits from the resources of forty U. S. ederal agencies, gets to pay no federal income taxes (Walker). Let’s analyze the Debt to Asset ratio, measured with total assets and total liabilities. Carnival Corporation has a 38% Debt to Asset ratio which by itself represents an okay picture. More specifically this means that debt was used to finance 38% of the assets. On the other hand, Royal Caribbean has a 58% debt to asset ratio which indicates that the company m ay run into problems borrowing more money in the future. For its debt, Carnival paid $336 million in interest in 2012, a healthy amount compared to the $2. 3 billion operating income (Kennon). Operating income divided by interest expense gives us interest coverage ratio, which indicates problems when it is below 1. 5 (Kennon). But carnival has a 4. 8 interest coverage ratio which means that there is still room for earnings to decrease before the company would default on bonds and loans for not being able to keep up with interest (Kennon). But will Carnival be able to meet short-term liabilities? The current ratio is short-term indicator of the company’s ability to pay its short-term liabilities from short-term assets; how much of current assets are available to cover current liabilities (Kennon). A healthy current ratio is greater than 2, but for Carnival Corporation’s is only 0. 25 which indicates that meeting current obligation could be a problem for the company (Kennon). But again we see that Royal Caribbean may have a bigger of a problem since their current ratio is only 0. 08. Another important factor to point out from the financial statements is that operating cash flows show a declining trend. From 2011 to 2012, cooperating cash flows declined 20%. What this means is that unless the current trends change, the company may start running out of cash and become unable to fulfill its obligations, which could lead the company into filing for bankruptcy. Interestingly, Royal Caribbean’s cash flows also declined 20%. However, it is worth mentioning that cruise companies have the advantage of receiving money for unearned revenues because cruise tickets are generally paid in advance. It’s like getting loans at 0% interest. Another important figure to analyze is Earnings per Share (EPS), which is especially important to stockholders. Carnival’s $1. 67 EPS means that if net income was divided amongst all outstanding shares, investors would receive $1. 67 per each share owned. Although a good EPS does not necessarily represent company strength or weakness, its changes affect the price of a company’s stock and therefore it is one of the most looked at figures by investors (Kennon). Based on EPS only, Royal Caribbean may not be an attractive choice of stock since their EPS is only $0. 08. Corporate Resources Marketing Product (Service) Carnival sells cruise tickets for vacations around the globe. Although Carnival markets the experience on the cruises as the vacation destination, their ships go to hundreds of destinations worldwide. Carnival sells numerous products and services onboard either directly or through independent concessionaries from which a commission is collected. Some of the onboard products and services offered that are not included in the ticket price include â€Å"liquor and some non-alcoholic beverage sales, shore excursions, casino gaming, gift shop sales, photo sales, full service spas, communication services, art sales, a wide variety of dining options and laundry services† (Carnival). Moreover, Carnival offers shore excursions and activities, and depending on the destinations, it owns or has stake in hotels where customers are offered a stay in a vacation package. In addition, carnival owns or leases private islands where it operates â€Å"among other things, beach bars and restaurants, water sports, sky lifts, cabana rentals and a surf rider attraction† (Carnival). Promotion: Carnival’s annual report states that each of its brands has â€Å"comprehensive† advertising programs designed to attract the local market. The principal mediums used for marketing and advertising are television, magazine, radio, outdoor billboards, direct mail, e-mail, online websites, online advertising and social media† (carnival). Social media’s utilized are facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Pinterest. In 2012, Carnival’s facebook pages reached over five million â€Å"likes†. In addition, Carnival has â€Å"past guest recognition programsâ₠¬  designed to give past guest’s incentives such as reduced prices and gifts in order to create customer loyalty. Price: Through its many brands, ships, and packages, Carnival claims to provide an option for every generation, taste, lifestyle, and off course, budget. The company categorizes their â€Å"cruise experiences† as contemporary, premium, and luxury. A contemporary experience is the cheapest and most casual alternative, lasting a week or less. A premium experience is designed for experienced consumers with an emphasis on quality, comfort and style and lasts from a week to two weeks. The most expensive alternative is the luxurious, which provides high standards of accommodation and service in a smaller cruise. All cruise tickets include dining and entertainment but other options are available at additional prices. Carnival’s brands all offer special promotions, early booking or past guest recognition programs that reduce the regular price of a vacation. But regardless of the type of experience and discounts taken, cruise ticket prices can vary due to many factors including demand and season. To have little bit of an idea of prices we went through the steps of booking a vacation on carnivals website. The first thing we noticed on the carnival-U. S. website was a sale of â€Å"up to $200 off + free upgrades for 3-5 day sailings† or â€Å"up to $400 off + free upgrades for 6+ day sailings. Using this sale, for travel in July and departing from Miami on a cruise to Bahamas, the cheapest alternative per person came out to be $330. On the other hand, high-end vacations can cost thousands of dollars. Place: Consumers can always book their cruise vacation directly on the company’s website. But according to Carnival Corporation, their cruise vacations are sold â€Å"mainly through travel agents, including wholesalers, general sales agents and tour operators that serve our guests in their local markets† (Carnival). Accordingly, the company puts a lot of emphasis on their relationship with travel agents. Carnival provides additional commission incentives to travel agents in order to motivate them to sell more of carnival’s vacations. Carnival also provides agents with educational tools such as training seminars, online courses, and videos for them to better understand and sell Carnival’s products and services (Carnival). . TASK ENVIRONMENT Threat of New Entrants: medium * Economies of scale: expansion of current companies is the greatest weapon against new entrants. The few leading companies, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, ; Disney, purchase or build larger ships or renovate older ships. Carnival, the leading giant of the industry, â€Å"As of January 20 11, the company operated 98 cruise ships with a passenger capacity of 191,464 berths. The company operates through four segments: North America cruise brands; Europe, Australia and Asia (EAA) cruise brands; cruise support; and tour and other. (â€Å"Global hotels†, 2012) * Government regulations: as a global industry, it is very difficult for government of any particular countries to impose regulations. Therefore lack of enforcement or adherence to regulations regarding employment, safety, and health requirements make it less bureaucratic for a new entrant. * Capital requirements: large capital is required to own and maintain a ship. * Product differentiation: many companies offer a variety of theme cruises to attract or cater to different needs or preferences. It is an opportunity for a new comer although quite difficult to grasp. Access to ports cannot be so easily obtained. There are very few ports embarkations in populated cities. Giant companies sometimes share ownership of ports when they financially contribute with state government to build them. Rivalry: medium high * Capacity growth: the cruise industry is driven by capacity maximization; every square inch of space must be utilized to accommodate and maximize the experience of the passenger. * Service characteristics: cruises and ships are designed to cater to the various ‘wants’ and preferences of different demographic around the world. Many cruise lines difference themselves by the amenities or destinations they provide or offer. This uniqueness in the service adds an edge to the competitive field. Creativity is key in designing cruise themes that respond to or attract unexploited market niches. * Rate of industry growth: based on various reports the industry is growing at a much slower pace in North America than Europe and Australia. The slow growth may be because of the economic downturn that we are facing or it may be the result of how difficult it is for the cruise industry to reach the wallets of more Americans. Number of competitors: the industry is somewhat fragmented and few competitors have a hand in multiple niches. Competition is very high in the industry because they are fighting for a bite of a pie that is already small. The companies try to maximize their revenues by offering attractive prices and exotic destinations to customers. (Lester, Thyne, ; Weeden, 2011) * Switching cost: can be high or low ba sed on the type of cruise that is analyzed. Threat of Substitute Products or Services: medium high * Existence of substitutes: land-based vacations are the biggest threat to the industry. The cost is half or one third less expensive, the vacationer has more control in land than over sea, greater sense of security towards land than sea. Although land transportation does not provide the sea experience that a cruise does, it is by far preferred to sea transportation. Also, a cruise is considered a luxury item and can be compared to the purchase or acquisition of luxurious items such as jewelry, high-class automobiles or whatever else discretionary money is used for. A cruise is not a necessity; it is a choice, a reward or a gift to oneself or loved ones. The rating of medium high is mostly due because of the fact that choosing a cruise over a road trip, a flight, a hotel is determined by preference and affordability. * Switching cost: the only cost is the loss of the experience of the cruise. Power of Buyers: medium low * As a luxury item, the cost of a cruise is not negotiable. The expectation of a high cost is lightly brushed with the hope that a cruise will not drain a savings account. The buyer does not have a significant influence on the price. Prices are more inelastic than elastic. Backward integration is quite impossible, the capital necessary to lease or purchase a ship is over tens of thousands dollars. Average passengers cannot afford it. * Alternative suppliers do exist but high product differentiation does not allow the buyer to compare oranges with oranges, more likely the buyer has a choice between grapes or oranges. Moreover, the same company under different names may offer different theme or budget cruise. Cruise com panies own more than one cruise lines, therefore choosing one cruise line over another may not represent a competitor’s advantage. Carnival and Royal Caribbean cater to different income brackets, Windstar offers exotic destinations for adventurers, Disney Cruise Lines are more family oriented. (Deep sea, 2012). * Due to the hefty price of a cruise, the buyer has a high expectation about the service. The demands and expectations of buyers greatly influence the marketing techniques and expansion projects that cruise companies undertake. Brand recognition is a magnet to create and retain customers and helps increase demands. Power of Suppliers: medium high * Supplier dominance: only a few companies build ships, provide staff and services to cruise companies. Forward integration for suppliers is less likely but backward integration for the cruise line industry is highly possible. Carnival uses backward integration to reduce costs and retain control of how its ships are built. * Product and services that the suppliers provide to cruise lines is very unique and specific to that industry; switching cost is high. What t hese suppliers make or produce can only be sold to the cruise industry. * Economies of scale: purchasing industry is very important to the supplier. All the major cruise companies own at least 5 to 10 cruise lines; which strengthen their purchasing power. However, there are not that many suppliers to choose from. Having limited purchasing options, increases the power of the suppliers. Relative Power of Other Stakeholders: very high * Special interest groups: environmental activists voice their concerns to the industry and directing their attention to fuel emissions, waste water dumping and few others. Thousands gallons of sewage and water bathroom water are discharged untreated in the ocean daily. Onboard observers are placed on ships that use ports in Alaska to ensure that wastewater is sanitized before being dumped in the ocean (Klein, 2011). In his article, Klein also indicated in his article that the daily fuel emission of one cruse ship could be equivalent of that of thousands of cars. * Loyal customers: their perception regarding the safety of the industry affects their decision about whether to use discretionary money on a cruise or elsewhere. It also taints their views of the brand recognition. They are less likely to refer that cruise line or to become repeat customers. * Travel agencies: most cruises are sold and advertised by travel agencies. Travel agencies are described by Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA, 2011) as ‘the distribution channel offering the best service† to the cruise industry. * Government regulations: even though some of the big companies have headquarters in the USA, they are incorporated in Antillean territories such as Panama, Bahamas, and Virgin Islands. Doting a ship with a flag registered in countries like Liberia and Panama, becomes a convenient avoidance tool that shields the cruise companies from adhering to labor and environmental laws, health and safety regulations, and most importantly avoid paying corporate taxes. Airlines industry: they provide means of transportation to different ports (from one state or one country to another), when airfares are high, it adds to the cost of transportation to a port. To overcome this dependence more ports are being built in areas that can be driven to. * Local communities: when a cruise ship arrives at a destination, the community of that foreign location receives the passengers. How passengers and the cruise line are received affect how the cruise experience is perceived. * Global workforce: many describe the work environment as ‘sweat ship’ and it does not project positively on the companies. In the cruise industry, employees are in contact with passengers 24 hours a day and for several days; an unhappy or miserable employee is contagious. It does affect indirectly the bottom line of the company. Lack of respect, living quarters, rigorous demands of the job, being underpaid, language and culture differences separate the cruise workforce from the visibles and the invisibles. The cruise industry is part of the service sector; an unhappy, mistreated, undervalued workforce does not contribute to a pleasant experience for the passenger (Agaard, Larsen, ; Marnburg, 2012). SWOT ANALYSIS Strengths:1- wide variety of theme cruises Case issue #6 2- largest ship capacity Case issue #63- backward integration4- heavily invest in marketing Case issue #65- experienced managenent Case issue #1, #3 ; #4| Weaknesses:1- Corporate culture regarding ship workforce Case issue #12- PR handling of current sea tragedies Case issue #3 ; #43- HR: employee training and recruitment Case issue #1| Opportunities:1- partnership with travel agencies Case issue #62- leader in environment protection ; safety Case issue #3 ; #43- Adopt a global standard of ethics ; conduct Case issue #14- develop a positive rapport with ship workers Case issue #15- treat labor force as valuable contributors Case issue #1| Threats:1- Extra costs (taxes, cleaner waste water) Case issue #52- slow growth of North American market3- workforce motivation Case issue #14- land-based transportation and hotel resorts Case issue #65- brand recognition mudded by sea tragedies Case issue #3 ; #4| MODIFIED TOWS SO Cross referencing * The capability of backward integration puts Carnival in a better position to build ships that are safer friendlier to the environment while controlling costs. S3, O2 Case issue #3 ; #4 * Experienced management can develop standards that could help improve the workforce environment on board. S5, O3, O4, O5 Case issue #1 * Sharing marketing techniques with travel agents may improve and strengthen their relationship. O4, S1. W2, O2, Case issue #3 ; #4 * Treating employees as valuable contributors helps HR in their recruitment strategy. W3, O5 Case issue #1| ST Cross referencing * Experienced management can use their expertise to create a working environment that empowers and values the ship employees. S5, T3 Case issue #1 * Marketing techniques is the best weapon to weaken the threat of substitutes and ‘clean’ the brand. S4, T2, T4. T5 | WT Cross referencing * When morale is low, ‘the ship may sink’. Employees are the foundation of companies, the weaker the base, the less solid is the company. W1, W3, T3 Case issue #1 * A PR is the voice of the company. After a tragedy, responsibility, reassurance, and compensation is key in re-building confidence. The opposite drills the hole deeper. W2, T4, T5 Case issue #3 ; #4| 5. EVALUATE STRATEGIC ALTERNATIVES Alternative #1 Pause/Proceed with Caution Strategy: Proceed with caution until they are able to evaluate how the new tax and fuel regulations will affect the company and how to go about decreasing lawsuits due to employee exploitation and onboard guest safety. (CI #1, 3, 4, 5) Pros: * Customers will continue to do business with Carnival if they feel that they are working to improve the ship’s safety. * Employees put forth more effort if they do not feel as though the company is taking advantage of them and increased motivation from the staff can increase the company’s bottom line. Cons: * Only making small changes gives the competition a chance to catch up. * Nothing can be done to stop new regulations, so the company is bound to lose profits if there is an increase to fuel prices and taxes. Alternative #2 No-Change Strategy: Since Carnival Corporation ; PLC has the largest ship and passenger capacity in the cruise industry with many diverse brands they can continue to do what they have been doing and hope they remain ahead of the competition even with the replacement of Mr. Arison in the future (CI #2). Pros: * Carnival is already one of the most profitable cruising companies with a 47% market share in the UK, 68% in Italy, 51% in Germany and 45% in France, so they are dominating the global market competing mainly with Royal Caribbean. * Doing nothing new gives the company time to fix some of the current issues. Cons: * Competition could pass and take control of market if Carnival sits idly by especially with growing customer concerns about safety of the ships. Profits are already decreasing from previous years so doing nothing new could keep the company from enjoying profits that could be acquired with innovative ideas. Alternative #3 Horizontal Growth Concentration Strategy: Carniva l can increase operations in the current European market as well as reaching out to new regions (CI #6). Pros: * Carnival derives a majority of its revenue (nearly 52%) from US customers which is currently on the decline, so it would be beneficial to tap into other markets around the world. * Carnival already has market presence in Europe, so it would not be as difficult to increase capacity in that region as opposed to starting fresh somewhere else. Cons: The value of the dollar against Euro appreciated from 1. 60 in January 2010 to 1. 53 by April 2010 against the Pound. If the dollar strengthens it would record lower revenue than is actually earned. * The European economy is also faltered, so profits are not guaranteed and an increase in operations could instead cause a company lose. RECOMMENDATION I would recommend that Carnival begin with the pause and proceed with caution strategy for at least 1 to 2 years. This would give them time to get the company back in line with the aspi ration of earlier business days when the safety and satisfaction of customers and employees came before the profits of the corporation (CI #1,3). Once they are back on track I would then recommend for Carnival to go forward with the horizontal growth. It is in their best interest to reach out to untapped markets particularly since there is a decline in the current US regions and they are looking for ways to increase revenues since Carnival is only currently reaching 20% of the total US market (CI #6). Growing horizontally in any market has significant financial implications for a cruise company. Considering that the newest Carnival Dream-class ships cost $740 million each (Shipcruise. org), it is a very expensive strategy to implement. In addition, the company would have to engage in research, planning, training, and marketing activities which can be very costly. Because Carnival’s balance sheet shows $465 million in cash, it will most likely be necessary for the company to borrow money to finance their growth. But borrowing money would not cause any problems for Carnival Corporation because as we analyzed earlier, the company has a healthy interest coverage ratio which measures the ability to pay interest on outstanding debt (Kennon). Although it is costly and risky, investing the money to expand into new and existing markets now, Carnival would have the potential to increase its revenues in the future years to offset the increasing costs. Carnival is already in the process of building two new ships to be entered to service in 2013 and 2014 and estimates that these two new ships will increase their passenger capacity by 19% (Carnival). Also, a continuous growth by the largest company in the industry could drive some of its competitors out of business and capture a larger market segment. 6-A. Implementation After an extensive in-depth review of the Carnival Corporation ; PLC, it is apparent, as with any large corporation it has many strengths and weaknesses. Carnival and its subsidiaries have a dominating; nearly 50% market share and strong support base among its customers. With plenty of loyal customers, and many recognizable and respected brands it would  appear to have few  problems. However, despite all the good attributes, several recent negative events have arisen concerning both  safety and corporate concerns, which have shaken the company and its shareholders. 6-B. What must be done?  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   1. Shareholder Confidence  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   2. Safety Concerns  ·Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   3. Improvements and New Ship Building Action Steps| Responsibility| Start-End  | Financial impacts| Questions? | Concern:| WHO? | WHEN? | HOW MUCH? | What Must be done? |   |   |   |   | | 1. Shareholder Confidence| Micky Arison (CEO), Upper Management| 4/1/13-Ongoing| Determine Future Earnings|   | 2. Safety Concerns| Upper Management,Howard S. Frank (COO)| 4/1/13- 12/31/13| Cost of Training and current safety assessment|   | 3. Improvements and New Ship Building| Upper Management, Design Team,David Bernstein (CFO)| 4/1/13- 4/1/16| Set budget for cost of research| Shareholder Confidence Over the last 5 years Carnivals stock price has  collapsed. Granted, the worldwide economy has endured one of the worst periods in history, but In 2008 the stock was trading roughly 15% higher than what it is today, and between that time it fell as much as 70% to the 2009 lows. I believe Micky Arison (CEO) should be focusing on how to re-energize and grow the company in the face of some very difficult times. I believe this could be achieved by continuing to expand to new entrant markets in Asia, Europe and Australia. The United States has been saturated for some time, with little growth and shrinking profit margins due to fierce competition. In addition the company must provide a great experience for clientele in order to ensure repeat business, which is essential to Carnivals success. Safety Concerns Over the last couple years Carnival has experienced several bad events and even worse publicity. This has caused many to suspect wrong doings and create concerns over safety. Incidents like the MS Costa Concordia in 2012, which was one of the worst  disasters in modern cruising history, in which 34 people were killed and the ship was a total loss costing nearly 600 million dollars are a nightmare for a cruise line. In a more recent case, the Carnival Triumph endured an engine fire disabling the ship and causing the boat to be stranded at sea for several days. Although no one was hurt, it  caused a severe inconvenience to the passengers and crew. Tales of rotten food and overflowing toilets ran for several days on international media. Safety should always be of utmost concern with any industry. The last thing people want or need is to have a feeling of insecurity  on a vacation. Cruises overall have been very safe for many years but still in the back of many people’s minds the thought of the Titanic lingers. Carnival needs to make sure people know that safety is  the top priority of the Carnival Corporation. Although it shouldn’t be pushed to the point where people get scared, it definitely needs to be continuously addressed. Carnival needs to constantly implement the most modern safety techniques and they must educate the crew how to keep passengers as safe as possible. Improvements and New Ship Building Because of the fierce competition in the cruise industry it is vital to constantly upgrade older ships and build larger and more desirable new ships with more features and amenities. A new trend in the industry over the last couple decades is to build bigger and bigger ships. Cruise lines such as Royal Caribbean have been very successful over the last decade by initially building  100,000 Gross Tons ships. Since then the Oasis Class that is well over 200,000 Gross Tons has been put in service. Carnival and its subsidiaries aren’t necessarily building the biggest ships but they are uilding larger ones as well. I believe this is very important because more and more people are going on cruises for the entertainment rather than the ports. Many cruise goers are like the typical individual who want th e newest and the best and this is the reason it is pivotal for Carnival to keep up with the new trends of constant upgrades and services. 6-C. How should it be put into action? Action Steps| Responsibility| Start-End  | Financial impacts| Questions? | Concern:| WHO? | WHEN? | HOW MUCH? | How should it be put in action? |   | Micky Arison (CEO), Howard S. Frank (COO), Upper Management| 4/1/13| Determine budget in conjunction with finance dept. | Concerning safety, it must be a top priority to follow the standard government mandated procedures, which are given to the entire Cruise Industry. Carnival can go above and beyond this by simple measures such as drills and employee training. They can go beyond the recommend amount of life jacket and lifeboat requirements. I believe the biggest concern is to hold top officials such as the Captain responsible for such disasters as the MS Costa Concordia. Carnival is doing a great job in terms of shipbuilding and upgrades. They have kept up with the competition so in my personal opinion I believe the company needs to make security a given so that passengers focus on the amenities of the cruise ship. The company should also take guest recommendations seriously and look at what competitors such as Royal Caribbean are doing in newer ships and follow as well. As for the Shareholders it is important for Carnival to insure that it is strong and well managed, generating consistent profits and growth. This is very important to any shareholder and I believe this can be achieved by expanding to new markets in  Asia, Europe and Australia. Logistics is also important to have available ships to move to these new ports to expand. 6-D. Who should do it and when should it take place? Action Steps| Responsibility| Start-End  | Financial impacts| Questions? | Concern:| WHO? | WHEN? | HOW MUCH? | Who Should Do it and when should it take place? |   | Micky Arison (CEO) Howard S. Frank (COO), Upper Management,  | 4/1/13| Determine budget in conjunction with finance dept. | Carnival and its subsidiaries future expansion and safety goals need to be implemented and enforced at senior management levels in order for the employees to know that it truly is important to the companys success. It takes a strong leader to do what’s necessary for future growth and fend off new fierce competition within the industry. It is important to start as soon as possible because the competitors within the industry will try to take advantage of Carnivals recent problems. I believe safety is a big concern with two major issues within a year of each other. This has brought bad press and will most likely follow up with loss of customers in the future. 6-E How much will it cost? Action Steps| Responsibility| Start-End  | Financial impacts| Questions? | Concern:| WHO? | WHEN? | HOW MUCH? | How much will it Cost? |   | Upper Management,Micky Arison (CEO),David Bernstein (CFO)| 4/1/13| Set budget for cost of research| Modern cruise ships  cost no less then 250 million dollars, with the most expensive costing well over 1 billion dollars. Carnival as well as the rest of the industry has absorbed these costs by constantly upgrading ships every year or two rather then building many ships at once. They also have sold older ships to other cruise lines, or even created new cruise lines with their older ships to cut costs and continue making more money with new locations around the world. As far as safety is a concerned it shouldn’t cost much considering a large amount of the cost of new cruise ships is equipping them with the most modern safety equipment available. It is very important for the employees be able to use and know this safety equipment because it is worthless if the staff doesn’t know how to use such equipment. Work Cited Carnival PLC. (2012, March 03). Carnival corporatoion ; plc 2012 annual report. Retrieved from http://phx. corporate-ir. et/phoenix. zhtml? c=140690;p=irol-reportsother2 Carnival PLC. (2010, March 03). Carnival corporatoion ; plc 2010 sustainability report fiscal year 2010. Retrieved from http://phx. corporate-ir. net/phoenix. zhtml? c=140690;p=irol-sustainability_env Carnival Corporation ; PLC. 2012 Annual Report. Washington, DC. 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