Carnival Cruise

2. Carnival Cruise Lines: Social and Ethical issues of cruise companies registered outside of United States but doing business in the United States can be analyzed thru the stakeholder analysis.

a. Employees: Companies registered outside of United States are not bound by the laws and regulations of EEO, FLSA and OSHA. This will imply that there are no minimum wage standards, work hour limits or overtime provisions. There is no oversight of safe work environment or fair treatment of employees. It is possible that employees can be exploited by the cruise lines. Since most of the workers come from the third world countries, they may not try to fight any of the substandard employment conditions for the fear of retaliation. In addition, the legal system in countries such as Bahamas or Panama may not be as robust as United States which can be manipulated by the cruise lines. The cruise lines may be able to argue that they are abiding by the labor standards of the countries where they are incorporated.

b. Customers: The American Marketing Association’s code of conduct has established three main objectives to follow when marketing products. These objectives are to do no harm, foster trust in the marketing system, and embrace ethical values (http://www.marketingpower.com/AboutAMA/Documents/Ethics%20Code%20Update%20-%202%2017%2009%20-%20Final.pdf ). Since the cruise line competition can be intense, they try to provide the best possible experience to their customers. Since the cruise lines are not subject to US laws, the customer safety, hygiene and customer service are governed by laws of other nation. Even though Carnival is headquartered in Miami, it is incorporated overseas. Therefore, there are limited legal actions that can take place in United States. This puts customers at a severe disadvantage in the event of an emergency such as Carnival Triumph (that flies the Bahamian flag and has to be investigated by the Bahamian authorities)or Costa Concordia. In a...