THE QUALITY OF CRUISE COMPANIES' MISSION STATEMENTS: A CONTENT ANALYSIS

Consistently with extant management literature, a high quality mission statement is crucial for formulating, implementing and evaluating business strategy. Despite the considerable attention awarded to this theme, the role and quality of mission statements in the strategic management of tourism firms has not been sufficiently highlighted. The present paper aims therefore at bridging this literature gap, by assessing the quality of cruise line mission statements, considering that, to the best of our knowledge, a relevant systematic study does not exist yet. We employ three measures of "quality" derived from previous literature: (1) inclusion of stakeholder groups; (2) mention of specific "mission" components (Target/Customers/Segments; Products; Location; Technology; Concern For Survival; Philosophy; Self Concept; Concern For Public Image; Concern For Employees); (3) reference to the four goals assigned to mission statements: disclosure of the sense of future direction, definition of control mechanism, decision making guide, and a motivation tool for employees. We apply the content analysis methods to analyze the mission statements of 44 cruise lines operating in the Standard/Ocean and Luxury/Niche market segments. The results suggest that the statements fall short of meeting the quality criteria suggested by the academic literature. Variations from the "ideal" and high quality missions are discussed. Limited differences also emerge between firms belonging to the two cruise market segments. This contribution presents some valuable research implications, useful for researchers and academics, but also professionals and investors may benefit from this knowledge.