Strategic Management The Walt Disney Company: The Entertainment King[1] I. Why has Disney been successful for so long? 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 most important part of Disney’s long-term success is due to its key strategic choices and incorporation of various diversification strategies. Disney created value mainly through “vertical integration” of its business lines, especially through the concept of forward integration. For example, Disney integrated production of movies and the final distribution in cinema’s or on television, especially through its acquisition of ABC in 1995 (1, p.6/7). Through this acquisition, Disney was able to extent its boundaries quickly and gain access to a wider lev... ... middle of paper ... ...ative aspects of diversification, for example through better corporate planning, human recourse management and reaching further synergies between its various business lines. What’s more, Disney also needs to recognize which businesses have long-term growth potential and which have not. Hence, Disney also has to divest in businesses which are unprofitable or have no long-term growth potential. Citations: (1) Michel G. Rukstad, David Collis; The Walt Disney Company: The Entertainment King; Harvard Business School; 9-701-035; Rev. January 5, 2009 (2) Robert La Franco, “Eisner’s Bumpy Ride”, Forbes, July 5, 1999, p.50 (3) Dess, Lumpkin, Eisner; Strategic Management: creating competitive advantages; 4ed; McGraw-Hill ----------------------- [1] Information was mainly taken from the Harvard Business Case Study “The Walt Disney Company: The Entertainment King”
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,
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.
This report attempts to examine the Walt Disney Company as an organization whose international operations play a vital role in the company’s continuing existence. This report seeks to present a review and analysis of the company’s global strategy by analyzing the key internal and external factors that impact on the company and how it has used alliances and acquisitions as part of its global strategy. As a human technology-intensive company, this paper seeks to understand how Disney was able to leverage its resources to create a competitive advantage. As an important aspect of its operations, relevant management issues are reviewed to see how it has affected the company’s global expansion strategy.
Disney started as a small animation studio and now it has grown to be so much more. Disney doesn’t just make animations anymore. They make books, toys, apparel, etc. The business has diversified and that has created enough financial strength to do a lot more than it could years ago. The company’s financial strength has allowed the company to expand around the globe throughout the years.
Walt Disney stated “it all started with a mouse.” Little did Mr. Disney know what an empire his name and his mouse would create all while having such a large impact on American culture and society. Disney has proven a brand with iconic characters and images that he was able to create a connection with not only the average American family, but also allowed other cultures to have the same connection and experience. Disney’s characters had the ability to be recognize by a large number of people, allowing Disney to have a broad market to serve making the park a safe and comfortable place for large audience of American families, while other parks limited their target audience to young adults 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?
The Walt Disney Pictures in partnership with Buena Vista pictures has become one of the largest providers of family entertainment around the world. With the merger of the two companies over twenty years ago Walt Disney Pictures has grown through the development of new movies and opening their horizon to new marketing age groups (Corporate Disney 2008). The Walt Disney Pictures focuses all of their energy and resources into providing excellent products, services and technology in a way that embraces the loyalty of its customers. Walt Disney pictures mission in Kava would be to create an economic environment that would be viable to the people. This can be done by providing them with the resources that would bring prosperity to the people who live in Kava. Walt Disney pictures would encourage a responsible growth in the economic environment while strengthen the social services of the community.
In reviewing the vast corporation of the Walt Disney Company and all that it has to offer, one profound statement made by Walt Disney himself comes to the forefront, “I only hope that we don’t lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse” (Walt, n.d.). This statement suggests that the company has a strong focus to continually guide them in the way of the original idea of the company. Even as it watches the changes taking place in society and adapts to the new technologies and innovations, the Walt Disney Company has been able to implement diverse strategies for its growth and prosperity.
amounts of equity (Disney and Government) as well as with subordinated debt (Government), Disney had
If Michael Eisner were to remain in his role as CEO, it’s likely he would face heavy opposition. Currently, three major stakeholders of the company have publicly disapproved of Eisner and called for his resignation. During an official vote, 45% of shareholders and 72.5% of 401(k) pensioners, who are essentially employees of Disney, voted that they were not confident in Eisner’s leadership. In response, Eisner resigned as the chairman of the board of directors. Additional to the shareholders and pensioners, two members of the board of directors resigned due to Eisner's leadership practices, and launched the “Save Disney” campaign. In order to regain the confidence of the board, shareholders, and pensioners, Eisner will not only need to address and remedy their complaints, but also alter his leadership style and take significant steps toward improving the economic condition of Disney.
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.
The Walt Disney Company, originally divided into Walt Disney Productions, ltd; Walt Disney Enterprises; Liled Realty and Investment Company; and the Disney Film Recording Company (before official consolidation and name change to the current title of the Walt Disney Company in 1986) (Walt Disney Archives) has consolidated since the beginning of the company’s success, and now owns over 100 radio stations, news and television networks, print publishing companies, and several other forms of media and services. In 1998, ABC investigative reporter Brian Ross followed a story revolving around inadequate security checks and child abuse issues in Disney theme parks (Mifflin, 1998). When Ross was ordered to drop the story by Disney, they stated that it had nothing to do with the fact that Disney owns the ABC network (Turow, 2013). While it was insisted that the ownership was not the reason the story never aired, it is a major conflict of interest, and any other reason for shelving the story was never offered. It’s situations like this that bring a major safety concern and suggest that media consolidation (and companies that have mass ownership over our information sources) are not likely to act in the best interest of their primary consumers, the general
From a small community area within the suburbs of Chicago to the hills of California, Walter Elias Disney’s journey through life is considered to be, at least by myself, an incredibly inspirational story. Walt Disney was the epitome of an innovator during the era that he was alive for. His determination and resiliency to follow his dreams were never stopped as he created one of the most successful corporations in the world today. His lasting legacy has shaped The Walt Disney Company’s business strategies for the present and ongoing future. In terms of revenue The Walt Disney Company, otherwise known as Disney, is currently considered the second largest media firm in the world, only to be behind Comcast (“Global 2000”). It is my goal to break down Walt Disney’s story towards becoming the influential leader that he will always be remembered as. After touching up on his background story, I want to walk you through the very beginnings of the Disney Company all the way to the end of Walt’s life. The story will begin where all he had was a small cartoon named Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and finish with Walt’s latest and greatest accomplishment, Mary Poppins. I will illustrate the difficult times and successful times throughout his almost 50 year reign within the media business. Notice how I only relate to Walt Disney’s life as a story; I do this because I firmly believe that his life was the greatest story of them all. He has brought so much joy to families with his revolutionary ideas and willingness to take risks because he wanted to share his imagination with the world. The story of Walt Disney’s life truly was a dream come true.
[Online]. http://www.m-w.com/cgibin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=opportunities Retrieved Oct. 18, 2005, from http://corporate.disney.go.com/ The Walt Disney Company, Disney Online. Retrieved October 19, 2005. Available: [Online] http://corporate.disney.go.com/corporate/business.html Thomas S. Bateman, Scott, (2004).
The company that I choose to explore is The Walt Disney Company. Walt Disney started the Disney Brothers studio in 1926, after years of working as a cartoonist. I selected this company due to the fact I am a fan of their products and services. Disney produced some of my favorite films like Aladdin, Hook and The Lion King. After I visited their website, I discovered that Disney owns multiple media outlets, in such areas as film, Internet, music, broadcasting, publishing and recreation. According to Disney’s “The mission of The Walt Disney Company is to be the one of the world’s leading producers and providers of entertainment and information. Using our portfolio of brands to differentiate our content, service and consumer products, we seek to develop the most creative, innovative and profitable entertainment experiences and related products in the world”. The Disney brand is doing exactly what their mission states.