Management Control Systems in Inter-organizational Relationships for Environmental Sustainability and Energy Efficiency: Evidence from the Cruise Port Destinations

Abstract

This paper aims to analyse the role of Management Control Systems (MCS) for supporting the decision making process of Port Authorities (PAs), shipping agents and cruise companies, in preventing and reducing negative environmental effects from the seaports. The paper focuses on information management (data collecting, processing and reporting) in the relationships system established among the players involved in the arrival, mooring, and departure of ships in the port destinations. This work investigates the content of control function by PAs, in the landlord port model, evidencing if it pays attention only to verify the compliance of the declarations according to MARPOL convention and port regulations. Starting from a deep review of the literature on environmental issues in the seaports and MCS and information systems for environmental sustainability and energy efficiency applied in port sector, and specifically in the cruise industry, we conducted two semi-structured interviews to port users as shipping agents and service providers in one Italian seaport. The first results of the research outline the need to get more detailed information and reporting on environmental sustainability and energy efficiency, above all when the ships are morning on the quays, and, also, it has been evidenced how MCS, supported by information system, could help to improve the information basis for PAs, shipping agents and cruise companies in the future developmental decisions of seaports. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.