When Six Flags’ shareholders became unhappy with the overall performance of their company, they demanded a drastic change. Shareholders insisted that the management and board of directors were replaced immediately (Ryan, 2006). The fight for control of the company was led by Daniel Snyder, owner of the Washington Redskins and Red Zone LLC. Snyder began a proxy battle with the company and finally won the battle and took over as chairman of the board (Donnelly, 2005). However, there were serious problems facing the company including dilapidated parks, inability to attract the right audience, an excessive amount of debt, and a falling stock price. Snyder immediately restructured the organization to begin improving their weak performance. Eventually Six Flags regained its place within the industry, but there were several key factors that were overlooked when implementing the turnaround strategy.
When Snyder took over Six Flags in 2005, he inherited the “largest theme park company in the world” as well as the declining performance of this company (Ryan, 2006). One of Six Flags’ primary problems was that their main assets had been severely neglected. Though the company operated over 25 theme parks, not all of these parks were valued added to the company. For instance, one park in New York was described as nothing more than “a souped-up county fair” (Ryan, 2006). Six Flags parks were in general disrepair. Chipping paint and filthy restrooms detracted from the customer experience. Additionally, Six Flags did not have a strong competitive strategy. Their business was seasonal and they did not attract a lucrative audience to their parks. “Deeply discounted” season passes attracted more teenagers than families (Ryan, 2006). Six Flags’ p...
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..., July 31). Investors beware of Six Flags' roller-coaster stock ride. USA Today. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/money/perfi/columnist/krantz/2006-07-28-six- flags_x.htm
Ryan, P. A. (2006). Six Flags, Inc.: The 2006 business turnaround. In T.L. Wheelen & J. D. Hunger (12th ed.), Strategic management and business policy (pp. 10-1 – 10-22). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Seetharaman, D. (2010, May 12). Six Flags abruptly names interim CEO; Shapiro out. Reuters. Retrieved from http://www.reuters.com/article/2010/05/12/sixflags-ceo- idUSN1219047320100512
Six Flags financials. (n.d.). Morningstar. Retrieved from http://financials.morningstar.com/ratios/r.html?t=SIX®ion=USA&culture=en-us
Wheelen, T. L., & Hunger, J. D. (2012). Strategic management and business policy: Toward global sustainability (13th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
The Walt Disney Company is a highly diversified media and entertainment company that has been growing by leaps and bounds since its inception in the late 1920’s. In the past few decades, The Walt Disney Company has expanded into numerous markets and diversified its business greatly. The company states that their corporate strategy is targeted at creating high-quality family content, exploiting technological innovations to make entertainment experiences more memorable, and expanding internationally. Upon studying the happenings of the company throughout the years, it is easy to see that the company is executing this strategy well through numerous strategic moves in the industry.
The three contemporary problems I have found with Six Flags is, stealing time from the company by being on the Internet instead of working. The second contemporary problem I found was treating customers differently because of their race, disabilities or sexual preference. The third problem I found was the behavior/language of the employees and customers at Six Flags. These three problems are an ethical problem as well, as goes against the moral conduct, do not steal, be honest and be fair.
The Business Lessons behind Disneys Magicalexperiences Comments. N.p., 06 July 2013. Web. 01 Dec. 2013. .
that if an amusement park that was centered around a specific time frame such as the
Disneyland has inspired hundreds of books, articles in academic journals, and college classes dissecting its magic and evaluating its impact. Since Disneyland’s opening there has been evidence to suggest that the Disney Company is owed credit for creating not only the first, but the most successful theme park in history. Walt Disney created a niche in what was a dying industry leading to Disneyland’s success that is still observed today as the most popular and most recognizable park in the park entertainment industry. Although Disneyland was not the first amusement park, Walt Disney did perfect the idea of an amusement park and give birth to the first ever theme park which blossomed into the theme park industry. The influence Disneyland commands as the first theme park has impacted American pop culture, society, economics, marketing, entertainment and tourism by creating what has been called the “Disney effect” by author Margaret King, Director of the Center for Cultural Studies & Analysis. The impact the “Disney effect” has had on America has been argued between historians, economist, and
The Walt Disney Company has evolved from a wholesome family-oriented entertainment company into a massive multimedia conglomerate. Not only is Disney a producer of media but it also distributes its and others’ media products through a variety of channels, operates theme parks and resorts, and produces, sells, and licenses consumer products based on Disney characters and other intellectual property. CEO Michael Eisner has been instrumental in many of these changes. How can such extensive changes occur while trying to maintain the Disney brand?
Disney’s long-run success is mainly due to creating value through diversification. Their corporate strategies (primarily under CEO Eisner) include three dimensions: horizontal and geographic expansion as well as vertical integration. Disney is a prime example of how to achieve long-run success through the choices of business, the choice of how many activities to undertake, the choice of how many businesses to be in, the choice of how to manage a portfolio of businesses and the choice of how to create synergies between those businesses (3, p.191-221). All these choices and decisions are made through Disney’s corporate strategies and enabled them to reach long-term success. One will discuss Disney’s long-run success through a general approach. Eisner’s turnaround of the company and his specific implications/strategies will be examined in detail in part II. Disney could reach long-run success mainly through the creation of value due to diversification and the management and fostering of creativity, brand image and synergies between businesses (1, p.11-14).
The Walt Disney Company’s mission statement is: “To make people happy.” Although the statement is only a one-liner it is supported by a set of values setting the performance standards and directs the implementation of the mission. Those values are: no cynicism; nurturing and promulgati...
A basic of Disney theme parks is the Main Street USA zone. This section features highly in all of the parks, usually coming right after the entrance. Key services like Guest Relations are located in this section, inside the "City Hall" (HK Disney Source, 2014). There are a number of elements to the Main Street, USA exhibit, and these will be discussed along with the history of Main Street USA in this paper. In particular, how the different elements of Main Street USA work together are covered. The concept has proven to be long-lasting, even across cultures, because of its magical portrayal of idealized American life, which draws heavily on Walt Disney's own childhood experiences.
The corporations that I looked up where Universal Studios, Walt Disney, and Six Flags. First I looked at the Six Flags website. Some of the news that I saw first was that some of the locations had messages that said “see you next summer”. This was in locations that it would become very cold at such as Six Flags Great America near Chicago. There were still options for passes and tickets however. There were also new articles about different rides and ways to make getting into the park easier. This is to keep the consumer connected even when it is the offseason for some parks. There was also a section for new stuff happening in 2015 for Six Flags throughout their locations. The main thing was that there was a video announcement from the CEO
This case provides a brief history of management conflict and change at Walt Disney Company. Former CEO Michael Eisner was considered to be controversial because of his abrasive style and tendencies toward micromanagement. It was this style that strained several important relationships to the Disney Company. Though his reign as CEO during the 80’s and 90’s helped advance Disney Company, it was his conflicting management style that led to his demise and the beginning of Robert Iger’s epoch at Disney. Since Iger has taken the helm as CEO Disney was ranked 67th in the Fortune 500 list for largest companies, it has become the largest media conglomerate in the world, and relationships and disputes stemming from Eisner have been reconciled.
One of the key factors of the successful diversification is the very strong branding of the name Disney. That the name was famous after the success in the early years made it among other things possible to go into the theme park industry. Evaluated isolated, the theme parks was a success. But when also accounting for the synergies created, the decision to go into this industry was a huge success. It has created a spiral of synergies, where the characters in the movies get more popular due to the parks, as well as the fact that when people are visiting the parks they get stimulated to buy the merchandise. This is just one example of the synergies that exist in Disney. When Michael Eisner took over control in Disney, he kept focusing on same corporate values as earlier, which are quality, creativity, entrepreneurialism and teamwork. These values have been preserved despite of the size of Disney, and are an important factor in sustaining and building the Disney brand.
The entertainment industry holds the immense potential for growth and development. The industry is constantly evolving and Walt Disney emerge as a global leader and recognized as the world’s second largest media conglomerate in the terms of revenue after Comcast. The Walt Disney Company is a multinational entertainment conglomerate headquartered at California, United States. The company integrated its products into five target segments are as follows: (1) Media Networks (2) Parks and Resorts (3) Walt Disney Studios (4) Disney Consumer Products (5) Disney Interactive. The company has strong diversified product portfolios and generate high returns and revenues from all the target segments but the media networks contributes
Connellan, Thomas K. Inside the Magic Kingdom: Seven Keys to Disney's Success. Austin, TX: Bard, 1997. Print.
Outdoor Adventure Paintball Park is experiencing a variety of problems related to its management. The primary issue with the company is that it was designed without a critical consideration for growth and this has led to internal issues such as lack of direction and inappropriate staffing. The following management plan provides a blueprint for directing the company and better utilizing its resources.