Supply chain management is adapted in Cruise Line international to support the business strategy of the company.

Companies rely on
effective supply chains management to focus on key strategic activities (Scott, 1993).
Cruise Line International would use the application of supply chain management in areas such as food supply, fuel supply, Coach
Services, warehousing near harbors, Port Services, Consumables supply, entertainment among others which can best be provided by
other businesses to help it provide the best client experience on their cruise. Hotel accommodation is another service which is needed
by clients of Cruise Line international, and to make Cruise Line International focus on its core business, such a service can be
provided by another business which would form part of the supply chain. Financial Services, ticket sales and Insurance Services can
also be provided by cruise line International to its clients through travel and tourist Agencies. Services such as cruise maintenance
which might include technical repairs, maintaining a clean Cruise, Ship’s Electronic Equipment, Machinery Equipment, Lubricants,
Internet and Information Technologies can be contracted to another business which specializes in these services to make sure the
Cruise Shipsget the best service which would make clients stay on the cruise pleasant. Such on-demand services when contracted can
go a long way to reduce cost of operation and also help management to focus on core business and essential services.

Staffing and personnel training are essential parts for success in the service industry. Employee satisfaction and loyalty are seen as
critical to the capability of service organizations to respond effectively to customer needs (Silvestro, 2002). Great employees will help
create great and memorable customer experience. Training is shown to positively impact on employee’s productivity, which results in
higher levels of employee satisfaction (Choo & Bowley, 2007).

Employee training provides opportunities for the employees to broaden their knowledge and skills to engage in more efficient
teamwork and achieve individual growth and development. Numerous studies observe that workers who receive training report higher
levels of job satisfaction than those who do not, and the development of competencies through various
training programmes has a positive impact on employee satisfaction (Marie, 1995; Saks, 1996).
Training employees has also been found to result in facilitating the updating of skills, increasing professionalism and increasing
employee commitment and satisfaction to the organization (Bateman & Strasser, 1984; Bushardt & Fretwell, 1994). In this regard, it
might be easier for Cruise Line International which has multiple working site including onboard the ship and multiple harbors to
contract Human resource management professionals with the capability to handle all the various Human resource responsibilities for
the Cruise Company.

The application of SCM in the cruise industry would require improve trust and collaboration between all the supply chain partners.
There must be greater logistics flexibility (Bask, 2001), a close collaborative system wherein the businesses work closely on strategy,
planning and share relevant information at all levels. The collapse of any of the suppliers and inability to supply its service or product
on time would create serious problems for the operations of the receiving business which would create a chain reaction of major
service disruptions to the Cruise line international company and their customers.

I. Partnership with Suppliers

Partnership by Cruise Line international with its suppliers must be based on the services and products which are needed by the
company to best serve its clients. The company needs to keep its core business and outsource its noncore functions to supply chain
partners. Cruise must first identify a partner who can provide the service at a good price and deliver at the right time. The company
must then decide on the quantity of the product it need at a specific time in a specific location. Each of the partners needs to be
flexible and easy to do business with. Partners should not let short-term goals to impede the achievement of long-term strategies.
Cruise line international must make sure that, their supply chain strategy in aligned with their reward structure. Mentzer & Bienstock,
(1998a) stated that, “What gets measured gets rewarded, and what gets rewarded gets done.” Therefore, the measurement and reward
structure must be standardized to encourage suppliers to deliver. For the success of the supply chain partnership, there should be a
supplier guiding policy and contract which will guide all parties in the delivery of their services.

Suppliers' policies and practices must agree with every single applicable law and regulations, including those concerning child or
forced labor; freedom of association, aggregate haggling; separation; wages and benefits; working hours and extra time; wellbeing and
security and ecological practices. Monitoring and controlling this system of partnership and suppliers requires a mix of important and
regional association: while observing and controlling of supplier execution and everyday contact with logistics accomplices are best
overseen internally.

MANDATORY REQUIREMENTS OF SUPPLIER PARTNERSHIP

Successful supplier partnerships require commitment and continual nurturing. The following points as mandatory requirements of
supplier partnerships;
 Supplier personnel should meet with buyer personnel beyond those in the purchasing office. It is particularly important for them to
meet with personnel who actually use their products so that needed improvements can be identified and made.
 The price-only approach to buyer –supplier negotiations should be eliminated. Product features, quality, and delivery concerns
should also be part of the negotiations. The goal of the negotiations should be to achieve the optimum deal when price, feature,
quality, and delivery issues are all factored in.
 The quality of supplier products should be guaranteed by the supplier’s quality processes. The buyer should have no need to
inspect the supplier’s products.
 Both partners should be capable of sharing information electronically so that the relationship is not inhibited by paperwork.
Electronic data exchange is particularly important for successful Just in Time (JIT).
 The supplier should fully understand and be able to practice just-in time (JIT). Buyers should not need to maintain inventories.

Importance of CLI-Suppliers partnership

The objective of a supply chain is to maximize overall value created

Supply chain partnership gives Cruise line International various prospects to enhance their business operation, for example, more
extensive delivery of services at lower cost without immediate physical presence in the places where the businesses’ customers are
located. Information sharing, Joint problem solving, Precise resource allocation, Sharing of both financial and non-financial risks,
compensation sharing, asset pooling, decrease in coordination and operating costs, capacity to focus on core competencies, and quick
reaction to market needs are the reasons that make supply chain partnership important.
The most important thing that happens in supply chain partnership is the utilization of the power of synergy. This makes all the
companies involved in the supply chain to have greater output and business success than they could have done it if they were to do it
all by themselves.
Role of supplier partnership
1. Timeliness
The suppliers should ensure that they deliver the required inputs on time while in return the customer (organization) should pay for the
supplied inputs on time hence saving time and creating a good relationship.
2. Information
The customer (organization) is responsible for providing the supplier with clear and sufficient information of requirements so that the
supplier can know precisely what to produce. Both the customer and the supplier should continually exchange information, sometimes
using multifunctional teams, in order to improve the product and service quality.
3. Product evaluation
Both the customer (organization) and the supplier should decide the method to evaluate the quality of the products or services to the
satisfaction of both parties. This will enhance their relationship which may lead to better provision of services to organization’s
customers.
4. Monitor customer complaints
When dealing with business transactions, both the customer and the supplier should always have the best interest of the end user in
mind. Having a complaints handling system in place will help you pick up on any adverse incidents and trends relating to your
products. For example, the Australian Standard AS/ISO 10002:2006 Customer Satisfaction—Guidelines for complaints handling in
organizations provides advice on the complaints handling process, including planning, design, operation, maintenance and
improvement.

5. Awareness of product liability laws

Both customer and supplier should ensure that their products comply with the safety standards. If end user suffer serious injury or
death from problems with your products, you and your business could be liable under the product liability provisions of the Consumer
Law or at common law.

6. Ensure necessary tests are done

Many products need testing to ensure they are safe and free of faults and consistently meet any mandatory standards that apply. If you
are supplying products covered by mandatory standards or bans, every item must comply. If you claim that all your goods comply,
you must be able to support this with evidence. Having an effective compliance program helps you to gather this evidence.
 7. Provide dependable products

In supplier partnership it’s the role of the supplier to ensure the quality and reliability of the products they supply. The supplier must
be reliable at all time. The quality of the products should not be compromised hence quality improvement.

8. Anticipate changing needs and acting on them

The customer (Organization) should be aware of changing needs of the end user and therefore adjust accordingly. On the other hand,
the supplier should adjust according the needs of the consumer.

9. Commitment

Long-term commitment to the partnership provides the needed environment for both parties to work towards continuous satisfaction
of end user’s needs. Each party contributes its unique strengths to the process hence product quality improvement.

10. Compliance with mandatory standards

Any products subject to mandatory product safety regulations must comply before you can sell them. Mandatory
standards and bans are law. For instance, In Kenya the products should bear the Diamond Standardization mark of Quality from
Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS).

11. Communication

Any arising needs in product by the management should be communicated to the supplier on time. This will ensure that no delays are
experienced on both parties which could lead to inefficiencies and delays in production therefore compromising quality. Suppliers that
do not maintain a policy of open communication- or even worse, actively practice deception- should be avoided at all costs.

12. Plan ahead for recalls

A company that has a set of recall roles and procedures in place will save time and money, and will help protect their reputation, in the
event that a recall is necessary. It is in everybody’s interests to act quickly and surely to remove unsafe products as soon as they have
been found.
Benefits of CII-Supplier partnership

Strategic supplier partnership in SCM has been reported to yield organization-specific benefits in term of financial performance (Tsai,
2007). Vereecke and Muylee (2006) highlighted that strategic partnerships between suppliers and manufacturers have a significant
impact on supply chain performance and various aspects of competitive advantage.

The thought of a supplier as partners may sound like a dream advanced by academics who have never encountered the severe states of
real business. Be that as it may, there are benefits of collaborative rather than adversarial working relationships within and outside the
borders of the organization. This include evaluating inventories, systems, processes, training, work methodologies, equipment
utilization, and a host of other opportunities to reduce the cost of operations, enhancing management and quality of operations and
explore opportunities for the partnerships.

Cruise line international would also benefit in areas such as access to new markets and customers, enabling its success and growth
more rapidly. Other benefits include accessibility to resources and Tools; such as modern technologies which might not be prudent for
Cruise Line International to acquire such resources by itself. The company will benefit from training that would enable it become a
smarter, more effective and productive business through the systems and expertise of other business in the supply chain. There will be
the advantageous payment terms, allowing Cruise line to place larger orders and fuel growth, without investing extra cas

Potential conflicts of interest or ethical issues facing the purchasing function.

In a supply chain, there is the likelihood for a conflict of interest to arise. A player in the Cruise Company’s supply chain might also
be part of another Company’s supply chain which can cause effectiveness problems throughout the supply chain ( Hakkansson and
Persson, 2004). Situation where conflict of interest could arise include but not limited to:
 External contracts in areas similar to those of Cruise Line international
 Affiliations with non-profit organizations that receive funding or other means of support from Cruise line international
 The acceptance and or extending of any business courtesies
 Being actively involved in private, professional, political, academic or other interest that may conflict with Cruise line
international interests
 Private business interests in the form of partnerships, shareholdings, board membership
 or investment in entities that might do business or compete with Cruise Line international
It is unethical for Supply chain partners to utilize their positions to impel someone else to give undue advantages to themselves or
others. Potential conflicts emerge from family, business, individual or budgetary connections. Despite the fact that a conflict may not
in fact exist, supply chain management experts must maintain a strategic distance from the presence of such a
conflict.

To avoid these, partners must ensure that any personal, business and other activities do not conflict with the lawful interests of Cruise
line international. Specific area which can bring conflict of interest include, other employer policies, gifts, gratuities or entertainment,
business meals, Relationships, Product samples, Political matters, Advertising, Market power and specifications and standards.
Members of the supply chain must avoid behaviors or actions that may negatively influence, or appear to influence, supply decisions
before the beginning of supply chain services. Annually, it must be required from all partners in the Supply Chain Management to
complete and sign a Conflict of Interest and/or Commitment Disclosure Form. Members should notify the appropriate person for
guidance or resolution when a potential conflict of interest arises. When necessary
such members must be reassigned to other responsibilities which are appropriate would not pose
a threat of another conflict of interest.

II. CONCLUSION

Cruise Line international seeks to satisfy its clientele which comprises different age groups and different consumer characteristics with
a variety of on-the-ship and on-land services. The company’s supply chain partnership will increase benefits for all partners by
reducing total cost of operation and improving the quality of services. There is a potential for conflict of interest in
supply chain management, but a policy and continuous monitoring will help to minimize its effect.
Supply chain management is a significant aspect of Cruise operations and is needed in the preembarkation, onboard and the post
disembarkation parts of the business. The Cruise supply chain must be efficient and cost effective with a specific goal of delivering the
needed quality services on time to create a memorable experience for the customer.
 “Drivers of supply chain performance (Jayant RajGopal, 2016)”
“Driver” “Efficiency(Cost)” “Responsiveness”
“Inventory:” “Cost of holding” “Availability”
 “Raw materials, WIP. finished goods”
“Transportation:” “Consolidation” “Speed”
 “Many combinations of modes and routes”
“Facilities:” “Consolidation/dedicated” “Proximity/Flexibility”
 “Production & storage”
 “Performance Impacted by location, capacity and flexibility”
“Information:” “Low cost/slow” “High
cost/Streamlined/reliable”
 “Data on facilities, inventory, transportation & customers”

1. Production—What products does the market want? How much of which products should be produced and by when? This activity
includes the creation of master production schedules that take into account plant capacities, workload balancing, quality control, and
equipment maintenance.

2. Inventory—What inventory should be stocked at each stage in a supply chain? How much inventory should be held as raw
materials, semi finished, or finished goods? The primary purpose of inventory is to act as a buffer against uncertainty in the supply
chain. However, holding inventory can be expensive, so what are the optimal inventory levels and reorder points? 3. Location—
Where should facilities for production and inventory storage be located? Where are the most cost efficient locations for production
and for storage of inventory? Should existing facilities be used or new ones built? Once these decisions are made they determine the
possible paths available for product to flow through for delivery to the final consumer.
4. Transportation—How should inventory be moved from one supply chain location to another? Air freight and truck delivery are
generally fast and reliable but they are expensive. Shipping by sea or rail is much less expensive but usually involves longer transit
times and more uncertainty. This uncertainty must be compensated for by stocking higher levels of inventory. When is it better to use
which mode of transportation?

5. Information—How much data should be collected and how much information should be shared? Timely and accurate information
holds the promise of better coordination and better decision making. With good information, people can make effective decisions
about what to produce and how much, about where to locate inventory and how best to transport it. The sum of these decisions will
define the capabilities and effectiveness of a company’s supply chain. The things a company can do and the ways that it can compete
in its markets are all very much dependent on the effectiveness of its supply chain.

If a company’s strategy is to serve a mass market and compete on the basis of price, it had better have a supply chain that is optimized
for low cost. If a company’s strategy is to serve a market segment and compete on the basis of customer service and convenience, it
had better have a supply chain optimized for responsiveness. Who a company is and what it can do is shaped by its supply chain and
by the markets it serves.

The term “supply chain management” arose in the late 1980s and came into widespread use in the 1990s.Prior to that time,businesses
used terms such as “logistics” and “operations management” instead. Here are some definitions of a supply chain:

 “A supply chain is the alignment of firms that bring products or services to market.”—from Lambert, Stock, and Ellram
(Lambert, Douglas M., James R. Stock, and Lisa M. Ellram, 1998, Fundamentals of Logistics Management, Boston, MA:
Irwin/McGraw-Hill, Chapter 14).
 “A supply chain consists of all stages involved, directly or indirectly, in fulfilling a customer request. The supply chain not
only includes the manufacturer and suppliers, but also transporters, warehouses, retailers, and customers themselves . . .
” —from Chopra and Meindl (Chopra, Sunil, and Peter Meindl, 2003, Supply Chain, Second Edition, Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Prentice-Hall, Inc., Chapter 1).
  “A supply chain is a network of facilities and distribution options that performs the functions of procurement of materials,
transformation of these materials into intermediate and finished products, and the distribution of these finished products to
customers.”
—from Ganeshan and Harrison (Ganeshan, Ram, and Terry P. Harrison, 1995,“An Introduction to Supply Chain
Management,” Department of Management Sciences and Information Systems, 303 Beam Business Building, Penn State
University, University Park, PA)

 “The systemic, strategic coordination of the traditional business functions and the tactics across these business functions within
a particular company and across businesses within the supply chain, for the purposes of improving the long-term per3 Key
Concepts of Supply Chain Management ccc_hugos_ch01_1-42.qxd 1/9/06 1:10 PM Page 3 formance of the individual
companies and the supply chain as a whole.”—from Mentzer, DeWitt, Keebler, Min, Nix, Smith, and Zacharia (Mentzer, John
T.,William DeWitt, James S. Keebler, Soonhong Min, Nancy W. Nix, Carlo D. Smith, and Zach G. Zacharia, 2001,“Defining
Supply Chain Management,” Journal of Business Logistics,Vol. 22, No. 2, p. 18).

 “Supply chain management is the coordination of production, inventory, location, and transportation among the participants in
a supply chain to achieve the best mix of responsiveness and efficiency for the market being served.”—my own words.

As we saw in the previous section, there are five areas where companies can make decisions that will define their supply chain
capabilities: Production; Inventory; Location; Transportation; and Information. Chopra and Meindl define these areas as performance
drivers that can be managed to produce the capabilities needed for a given supply chain. Effective supply chain management calls first
for an understanding of each driver and how it operates. Each driver has the ability to directly affect the supply chain and enable
certain capabilities.The next step is to develop an appreciation for the results that can be obtained by mixing different combinations of
these drivers. Let’s start by looking at the drivers individually