Walt Disney Company is world renowned for its animated characters, feel-good films and theme parks. Disney's mascot, Mickey Mouse, has become more than just a symbol of American culture, in the hearts of children (ages 0 to 90, as Disney Co. would put it). As if gifted with the Midas' touch, Michael Eisner was able to turn the company around in the 1980s when the company experienced financial difficulties, through his decisive venture to export Disneyland to Tokyo. This venture turned out to be a smashing success. Eisner wanted to recreate the success of Tokyo Disneyland in Europe. However, with the launch of Euro Disney, it had seemed that Eisner's luck had run out, and Euro Disney may very well be the first major disaster of Disney.
Case Problem .
Given the numerous issues confronting Euro Disney, what can Michael Eisner, CEO of Disney Co. do to solve these problems and turn this latest venture around? .
Case Analysis.
A. Walt Disney's Strategic Entry.
The theme park has several historical antecedents, including the ride-based amusement parks of the early 20th century America and the garden parks of Europe. The birth of the modern theme park, however, is commonly recognized as occurring with the opening of Disneyland about 30 years ago. The theme park industry has witnessed a fairly rapid international expansion in recent years. Growth has been focused mostly in Europe and Japan. It is instructive to compare industry development in the US with where other world markets stand.
Disney in Japan.
The Japanese theme park industry at present has about 29 large parks with annual attendance over 1 million persons and 30 moderate-scale parks with attendance between 500,000 persons and 1 million persons. The watchwords for Disney's entry to Japan are selective growth and short term retrenchment.
Since the recovery from the post-war period, a substantial amusement park industry has been established in Japan.
Question 1: What issues are at the heart of euro Disney's problems? ... Disney had to re-brand its destination by changing its name from "Euro Disney" to "Disneyland Paris". ... Disney had to modify the Euro Disneyland to fit the local market. ... Do you predict Euro Disney will continue to be profitable? ... Walt Disney Studios is a clear demonstration that Euro Disney is a success. ...
During the first year of operation, Euro Disney became the most popular tourist attraction in Europe with 11 million visitors (Giltin, 1994). ... During the initial years of Euro Disney, Euro-Disneyland and Disneyland, Paris (all one in the same), European skepticism was prevalent, resulting in a significant loss of both money and reputation (Williams, 1994). ... Euro Disney's human resources manager made it a point to say, The Americans took what was done in the past and implemented it here. ... There was a sense of fear and disgust expressed by French intellectuals about Euro Disn...
Euro Disney" marketer's before entering a market as in this case has been the European market should have scanned the environment. ... Socio-cultural environment: Euro Disney marketers have recognized a trend. ... Competitors: Major overlooked problem are the competitors of Euro Disney. ... Indeed, this imposes a major threat to Euro Disney to sustain in the market. ... In addition, one weakness that can be concluded from the case study is Euro Disney's ineffective marketing team when entering the European market. ...
Euro Disney is named "Cultural Vietnam of U.S.A." by a newspaper. ... As a result, Most Euro Disney employees feel that they are working in a labor camp & are insulted. ... Therefore, Euro Disney does not have special mystique in the Europeans" view. ... As a result, Euro Disney was named "cultural Chernobyl". 4. ... Euro Disney borrows heavily to finance the construction & further development. ...
Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, WDC, has evolved quickly over time into a dominating force in almost every aspect of the entertainment industry and continues to excel. ... So, to completely understand the ups and downs of Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida one must understand the primary ideology and methodology of the Walt Disney Company as a whole. ... Hence, the focus on one of the most successful ventures, Walt Disney World. ... An example of there marketing genius and business dominance is how they managed to turn the old Euro Disney, which was losing millions of ...
Therefore there is consistency because all the bills and invoices will be done using the Euro. ... The introduction of the euro has made it easier to conduct business via the internet. American business can now give prices in the euro as can be seen on sites such as EBAY. ... With the introduction there have been many advantages to the usage of the euro such as ? ... The American dollar has a lead over the euro in many ways. ...
Therefore there is consistency because all the bills and invoices will be done using the Euro. ... The introduction of the euro has made it easier to conduct business via the internet. American business can now give prices in the euro as can be seen on sites such as EBAY. ... With the introduction there have been many advantages to the usage of the euro such as ? ... The American dollar has a lead over the euro in many ways. ...
In general, the US dollar is proved to be stronger both in case of unexpected turbulences and in case of long term economic downturns. 2. US Dollar v Euro – Comparative analysis 2.1 Value of the US Dollar compared to the Euro The value of the US dollar toward the Euro has faced important fluctuations. ... The year that followed, 2010, the value of the Euro was further decreased; by the end of 2010 the value of the Euro was fell to $1.32 (Index Mundi 2012). ... In other words, the US dollar had faced a strong crisis that lasted about a year, from late 2007 to the beginning of 2009; b) on...
Disney. ... Michael Eisner, president of Disney, was quoted as saying that as many as 40% of Disney employees are gay. ... In another case, Disney was going to sue a town where the real Winnie the Pooh bear was "born" for erecting a Winnie the Pooh statue. Disney finally backed down after much bad publicity. Disney has gone so far as to threaten legal action against children for using Disney characters on their webpages. ...