The challenges of global operations are clear. For a large com- pany to change drastically most of its service delivery locations or move suddenly all of the retail or production capacity, these aspects take a toll on the supply chain. A senior manager recalls the firstyear a large European deployment took place, ‘‘That summer we had 110 containers that did not arrive on time for the ships. This past year we had six’’. The cause of that was poor planning, con- tainers missing in Europe. ‘‘We can recover from these things if we know about it soon enough,’’ he says. This is achieved by having good communication with the suppliers, tracking the containers, knowing where they are, being able to recognize a developing problem, and to start building a response.’’ As discussed in Ve´ r- onneau and Cimon (2007), the key is the tactical cycle that is having a quicker reaction cycle than the problem cycle.
As for the global aspect of logistics, it is all about due diligence in visiting the foreign locations and understanding local restrictions well in advance. Since timing is of the essence, it is important that standard operating procedures as well as clear expectations be set prior to deployment to ensure smooth and continuous supply. ‘‘Getting there and staying there’’ is the hardest part according to a senior purchasing manager. ‘‘If you have one ship in Asia that requires the same amount of work from a supply standpoint than if you have five ships in Asia, when you move a ship out of a market that exists today, it requires a lot of sourcing and logistics in- frastructure to supply that ship’’. In order to deploy to a new market, scouts are sent a year prior to deployment. Their job is to find local suppliers and make contact with the local authorities. From there, suppliers are selected and contracts negotiated. For every ship redeployed to a new destination, it is the logistical equivalent of relocating an entire major resort of up to 5000 people in the case of the largest ships, and this is done on a seasonal basis.
Planning for these varying demographics is not always easy in this global context. As a senior manager describes it, ‘‘Americans are always criticized for traveling all the way to Europe to go eat at McDonald’s. You know what? Italians travel all the way from Italy and they want to eat pasta’’. Group bookings and complete ship charters are the biggest unknown for consumption. The two ex- tremes can be a gay charter for one week followed by a church group charter. Although such an extreme diametrically different consumption pattern back to back is rare, it is easy to understand the impact, as typically gay charters will consume more alcohol and have more disposable income than an average passenger mix, and certain church groups will have no alcohol served and the casino closed. Hence, when groups do large bookings or complete char- ters, there is a substantial amount of work to accomplish with the planning team to see what special needs are.