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Example research essay topic: Cruise Lines Joint Venture - 1,469 words

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Carnival (NYSE: CCL) is the largest and most popular cruise line in the world, with 16 "Fun Ships" operating voyages of 2 to 17 days in length to the Bahamas, Caribbean, Mexico, Alaska, Hawaii, the Panama Canal, New England, the Canadian Maritimes, Bermuda, and Europe. The company currently has five new "Fun Ships " two 88, 500 -ton "Spirit-" and three 110, 000 -ton "Conquest-class" vessels with an estimated value of $ 2. 2 billion US scheduled for delivery between now and 2004. Online Article The history of the Carnival Corporation begins in 1972, when Ted Arison set up Carnival Cruise Lines as a subsidiary of the American International Travel Service. The first ship ran aground, but Arison remained steadfast in achieving his vision of a cruise line offering affordable vacation packages to middle-income consumers. By 1977, Carnival had three ships, and ten years later, as the industry leader, the company went public. In the early 1990 s, Carnival began to diversify into land-based entertainment, thus changing its name to Carnival Corp.

The company is the world's # 1 cruise operator with about a third of the market. Carnival Corporation is comprised of Carnival Cruise Lines; the world's largest cruise line based on passengers carried, Holland America Line, Windstar Cruises and Seabourn Cruise Line. It owns 25 cruise ships serving customers worldwide and has 6 new ships under construction (EXHIBT 1). It basically has three market segments: Contemporary, Premium and Luxury. Carnival also operates 14 hotels in Alaska and Canada and runs Holland America Westours, which markets sightseeing tours.

Carnival has a 29. 5 % stake in Airtours, one of the UK's largest tour operators, and is bidding for control of cruise line NCL. CEO Micky Arison and family control Carnival. Carnival was able to increase profits through the acquisition of Holland America Line in 1988 and consequently Carnival expanded its cruise lines to a broader market, however Carnival experienced a loss of $ 135 million from disposal of the Crystal Palace Resort & Casino in 1991. The companys current strategy is to attract more repeat cruisers and new cruisers of different segments by offering different types of packages. Such differences include choice of shorter or longer cruises, a low to moderate price for affordable cruises for middle class, and longer luxury cruises for affluent classes.

As part of the companys plan, Carnival is "going global" through a joint venture with Hyundai Merchant Marine to the Asia market. Strengths Carnivals strategy focused on the "Fun Ship" concept, beginning with the Mardi Gras, which targeted people of all ages. In recent years the driving force behind why a person needs to take a vacation has changed. Today vacationers look to get away from everyday stress, and opt for a stress-relieving cruise. Carnival is considered the cruise industry's leader, and in the past few years, Carnival has increased its market share through acquisition and joint venture. In 1988, Carnival acquired Holland America Line to expand its market share in Alaska, Mediterranean, and South Pacific.

Holland America Lines (HAL) is an upscale line. It targets the older, more sophisticated cruisers with fewer youth-oriented activities and emphasizes on the beauty of the Alaskan wilderness. Furthermore, the Holland America Westours operates various tours targeting different markets. Similarly, Westmark operates a hotel business, which enables Carnival to participate in another profitable industry.

Seabourn, known as the "Rolls Royce" of the industry, targets the luxury market. In terms of targeting international cruisers, Carnival has purchased 29. 5 % equity interest in Airtours to enter into the European and Canadian markets. Also, Carnival entered into the Asian market through a 50 - 50 joint venture with Hyundai Merchant Marine, one of the worlds leading marine shipping companies with knowledge of Asian Market, in order to expand its market worldwide. Carnival and its cruise companies together operate 25 ships in the Caribbean, Alaska, and other worldwide destinations. Combined, Carnival Cruise Lines and Holland America have six new ships slated for delivery over the next three years. Weaknesses In the late 1980 s, Carnival built the Crystal Palace Resort and Casino situated in Bahamas.

During the 1990 fiscal year, the company incurred a $ 25. 5 million loss for the operation of Carnival Corporation Carnival Corporation, the world's largest and most profitable cruise company, owns or has interest in seven cruise brands: Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, Windstar Cruises, Cunard Line, Seabourn Cruise Line, Costa Crociere S. p. A. and Airtours's un Cruises.

Combined, these lines operate a fleet of 46 cruise ships that sail to exciting destinations around the world. Carnivals corporate legal department reviews each and every contract for every product and service provided on the cruise ships. Even the original contract to build the vessels is reviewed. With plans for fifteen additional ships for delivery between now and the end of 2005, the department will be busy. But if this is not enough, the department is also responsible for legal work regarding acquisitions, mergers, SEC filings and more. Problem To keep the corporate legal affairs in order, thousand of files are created each year.

The paper work, done by a small staff of six attorneys, two paralegals, three administrative assistants and a department manager, is massive. For example, the latest new cruise ship is a new 110, 000 -gross-registered-ton vessel for its Carnival Cruise Lines unit. The new 2, 974 -passenger vessel, a longer and larger version of Carnival's highly successful "Destiny-class" series, will cost approximately $ 500 million. In the early 1990 s, to keep aggressive growth plans on track, Carnivals management decided to review their document, file and records management systems. An outside consultant performed the audit and found an outdated filing system.

File lists were kept as a WordPerfect document and searching for specific file required a good memory of the possible keywords. Even though the file list was in an electronic format, the process was labor intensive and prone to errors. Sometimes, it could take more than one hour to find a file. Files were not easily found, resulting in delays for very time-sensitive work, said Edy Espinosa, manager, legal department, Carnival Corporation. When the audit was complete, Carnival knew the priority was file management. Solution In looking at its records and document management needs, Carnival first selected File Surf, MDY Advanced Technologies record management system.

File Surf was selected for its automated features of file creation and tracking and its tight integration with PC DOCS, the document management system that Carnival had chosen. MDY offers one click integration between its File Surf product and PC DOCS document management system, Espinosa said. This is one of the key features that sold us on File Surf. With the adoption of File Surf, the workflow has been greatly improved. We have a standard memo that generates the opening of a matter, Espinosa said. When we open new files, the folders are created automatically, labels printed and the system starts the records tracking for the file location.

When files are requested, a handheld scanner is used to scan the bar code on the file and another bar code indicating the destination. The simple process keeps an up-to-date record of where each file is located. Every location cubicles, offices, library -- is identified by a bar code. The product is extremely easy to use, Espinosa said. In addition to finding files faster, the software helps in the purging process.

Prior to File Surf, it was a manual process that took us a long time to purge documents to send them to our warehouse for storage. Now, its automated and so simple, Espinosa said. Yearly purges are done in the Summer, during the slow season for the corporate legal department. The prior filing system required our staff to go through each file, to see if the matter was in fact closed, Espinosa said. Now the software tracks the necessary information and we dont have to look at each file in order to make the decision whether to send it off-site. The use of File Surf is so successful that Carnivals Corporate Tax Department has also purchased it and Crew Administration Department is evaluating it as well.

Carnival is also using the system to track the location of its 1, 500 + legal library books. All departments have access to the legal library. Before the use of File Surf, the library staff would lose track of important reference materials. We now use File Surf to catalog our legal reference materials, Espinosa said. Just like the files, when someone requests a book, it is logged out and the bar code identifies the person and keeps track of the location of the reference material. The adoption of File Surf has provided great productivity gains for Carnival.

And, customer satisfaction is much higher. The staff no longer waits for files...


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