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.
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 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.
Galley, Catherine C., and Briavel Holcomb. "Amusement Parks." St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. Ed. Thomas Riggs. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. Detroit: St. James Press, 2013. 91-93. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 27 Mar. 2014.
Disney is an iconic brand that is recognized internationally. The company is not only loved by children, but by people of all ages, races, and backgrounds. What makes Disney such a beloved brand? Although it is nearly impossible to pinpoint just one reason for their success, Disney’s core values is what makes this company stand apart from the rest. The founder and creator of Disney, Walt Disney, had a vision for the future that integrated imagination, creativity, freedom of expression, and a touch of magic. With all these values melted into one company, the possibilities for success became a reality to the Disney family. When Disney began to expand, so did the company’s philosophies. Keeping these core values rooted within the brand,
Walt Disney created Disneyland on July 17, 1955, and from this date it was deemed, “The Happiest Place on Earth.” Nearly every child today knows what Disney is and what it represents: imagination. Not all children have the privilege to go to Disneyland, but with the different movies and TV shows now circulating the world, Disney has made an impression on our youth, in the best possible way. Disney represents our children's imagination, creativity, hope, dreams, and debatably the most important one: family bonding time. Walt Disney’s Snow White was one of the first movies to produce retail products, that were distributed before the film release in order to maximize profit, giving Walt Disney the appearance of creating the marketing strategy. One of the most prominent methods of advertising that Disney used, was advertisements directed towards the children alone. For example, when a child would watch Disney’s television show, they would become enveloped and fascinated by what they saw. This would lead to the children asking for their own “little piece of Disney” at home. Disney was able to perfect this method by understanding that in 1955, the majority of the adults were working hard and had no time to spend with their children. Many parents of the working force felt bad for not spending more time with their children which lead to an increase in spending money on their children. Advertisers believed that by “planting the seed” at a young age, the children would not only bring sales now, but as well as in the future. “They have come to believe what RayKroc and Walt Disney realized long ago — a person’s “brand loyalty” may begin as early as the age of two.” (Schlosser 42). For example, our parents grew up going to Disneyland, and now take their own children back to Disneyland, as a tradition from past positive experiences. Walt Disney was able to
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 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
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?
Six Flags built two other parks in the late sixties and early seventies. These three parks would be the only theme parks opened and constructed under the Six Flags name. When deciding on a strategy, the organization chose a strategy of growth. The plan was to purchase smaller, existing amusement parks across the globe. At one time, Six Flags acquired and operated 46 parks, with the majority of the acquisitions occurring in the late 1990s. The new parks carried the Six Flags name, but the theme of the original park was not carried over. Each new park was individualized, including one that operated an attached Sea World, and another an aquarium. The organization did, however, add waterparks to most of the facilities that did not already have one available.
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 first theme park opening in 1955 was Disneyland in California. After one full year of construction demands and a total investment of $17 million the Six thousands invitations to the grand opening had been mailed inviting people to experience the magic Disney had created but when the gates opened the Disneyland was far from magical. Workmen were still planting trees, the paint was still wet and the asphalt wasn’t set. The food stalls and restaurants ran out of food due to the high number of people because of counterfeit tickets being sold. Walt Disney didn’t know didn’t know what was going on because his attention was on the live broadcast. The rides broke down shortly after use. When Walt Disney World opened in 1971 the
Michael Eisner, former CEO of Walt Disney Company strained several important relationships to the company because of his abrasive style and tendency toward micromanagement. During his 22-year tenure at Walt Disney, ex-CEO Eisner fought with the Miramax founders Harvey and Bob Weinstein over financial details relating to the purchase of Miramax. Eisner bumped heads several times with Steve Jobs who was then CEO of both Pixar and Apple Computer. The negative remarks Eisner made in front of Congress about Jobs Apple Computer was taken so personally that Jobs threatened to not renew the Disney-Pixar partnership if Eisner was still CEO of Disney. As well Eisner’s continuing disputes with Board of Director members Disney and Gold was that of disruptive behavior. For several years the long-standing board members repeatedly called for Eisner’s resignation.
The brand image that is created by the park goes with what they portray as they have set up sections that are comprising of the featured movie or show. The cleanliness aspect and the environment creates and delivers a symbolic difference to the whole theme park (Richard, 1993). The management have made their efforts in maintaining the same feeling, as they employees and the staff is dressed and the procedure so the park is carried out in pure joyous manner. They have the shows that have the characters from the movie, especially the stage shows and they are dressed up in the form of the characters giving a jubilant feel to the travellers and the tourists. As there is advancement seen in all market, people and tourists are getting more informed about the entertainment industry they prefer more to their entertainment package (Golob, 2003). With this advancement, people tend to be wise and more informed, raising the bar of standard and requirement that are offered by the entertainment theme park. As the management staff knows that now people are more vibrant and have gathered data about what they will be offered, they are no more interested in listening to the stories and the fairy tales that are described to them (Ashwell, 2015). They have a tendency to adapt to the environment and want to be the part of the whole story. As this requirement has grown in the market, management has successfully made the changes to the strategies they have been implementing and they have been working on. These favourable changes have resulted in displaying the enjoyable changes to the theme park and helps them to changing market requirement and demand (Vogt & Andereck,
The second I stepped foot onto the amusement park’s property, I could feel the magic swirling all around me. As I walked through the crowds of people young and old wearing Disney apparel and Mickey Mouse ears, everything seemed so enchanting: the cheerful music, the twinkly lights on all of the buildings, and the stores that could have been from my favorite Disney movies. Walking along the streets, I took pictures of everything around me because I did not want to forget a single detail; I took pictures of the vibrant yellow, red, and pink flowers that lined the streets, the buildings with intricate details and designs, and the massive roller coasters that glided so swiftly on their tracks. The air was filled with heavenly scents of sweet churros, and I had to get one; it was delectable. Everything at Disneyland seemed perfect and like it was out of a movie. Even as I was about to leave, I got drawn back in; spectacular, bright, colorful fireworks started bursting right over my head, and I could not bring myself to go. My first visit to Disneyland was truly enchanting and magical. At the time I thought no other vacation could
In this case there has been a recognition of a trend, which is the trend of people going to theme parks during the weekends for entertainment of them as well as their children. Also here is an existing need for entertainment of this kind. Therefore, an opportunity exists in the European market that Euro Disney could have taken advantage of. However, their failure to pick up signals from the macro environment and microenvironment as well as to position their product accordingly, had negative effects on their operations. A further analysis of their macro and micro environment highlights their malfunction.