Non-disclosure, Non-circumvention and Non-competition Agreement at Disney
Nowadays, trade secrets, sensitive and confidential data has been leaked to competitors and the public has increased in the last 15 years. Under those circumstances, enterprises are kicking it up into high gear to maintain confidentiality and secure intellectual property. All in all, Disney’s confidential/non-compete agreement tackles the pros and cons for signers, view the benefits and hindrances of former employer’s confidential accords, and outlines two important items high-level employees have to adhere to safeguard the company.
Signing Confidential/Noncompete Agreement with Disney
Since Disney is a universal name in television (TV), movies, and live attractions,
…show more content…
If upper management cannot promote the roll out of new movies or TV shows on their own time, then he or she might decide to decline the position for another firm that does not limit the venues to advertise feature productions. Another hindrance Disney can face when, onboarding senior executives, are not allowed to create partnerships or agency between parties under this agreement outlined in the miscellaneous section (“Non-Disclosure, Non-Circumvention And Non-Competition Agreement,” n.d.). If top level employees are not permitted to forge relationships outside of the Disney family, then the candidate can change their mind and seek employment elsewhere that does not put constraints on them because of the employer’s name and reputation. Even though Disney take liberties to ensure sensitive data is protected, there are benefits and consequences for the high-potentials signing confidential …show more content…
Granted that Disney is a highly-publicized company, trade secrets, intellectual property, and sensitive information needs to be safeguarded; confidential agreements should be incorporated in succession planning to secure the business. The items to include in the confidential/noncompete agreement are an extensive screening of high-level employees, and they participate in a trade secret program. High-level employees must complete a thorough background clearance before beginning the new hire onboarding process (Swartz, 2006). Throughout the duration and the end of employment, high-level subordinates must sign a confidential agreement about his or her conduct in handling sensitive data, have an escort while visiting other locations, and remind ex-employees during exit interviews of confidential policies and agreements (Teska,
Confidentiality has several different levels that include employee, management, and business information. Employee data includes personal identifying information, disability and medical information, etc. Keeping this material confidential is important because the information could lead to criminal activity to include fraud or discrimination; this can result in decreased productivity and affect employee morale. Management information covers impending layoffs, terminations, workplace investigation of employee misconduct, etc. It should go without saying that sensitive data should only be available to management. Lastly, the business portion includes business plans, company forecasts, and special ingredients/recipes, information that would not be readily available to competitors. Employees and managers should receive training on how to properly handle confidential information (Jules Halpern Associates, LLC,
It allows opportunities to combine the performance of certain activities, thereby reducing costs and capturing economies of scope. This is done by acquiring IP that is underexploited or unused by the owner. They have opportunities to transfer their skills, technology, or intellectual capital from on business to another. This is yet again done through media networks, parks and resorts, and also their studio entertainment. All of which allow them to go globally. Along with the opportunity to transfer skills and technology, they can use their brand name across multiple product or service categories. This is seen in the multiple IP networks, studio entertainment, multiple resorts and parks that are all around the world, and lastly, in their consumer products that were ranked number one in 2011 for being the largest licensor of character-based merchandise in the world. Value chain match-ups seen in primary activities are inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, the marketing/sales, and service. All lead to support activities such as technology, human resources, and general administration. Opportunities for skills transfer is seen in the media networks, parks and resorts,studio entertainment, and consumer products. Disney Company can share iconic Marvel characters in their parks/resorts, movies, and consumer products, due to buying the IP to Marvel and it does not stop at just Marvel ABC and ESPN are also involved.
In an age where instant access to information has influenced the privacy workplace model, which once prevails over what were inalienable assumptions of privacy is no longer a certainty in the workplace. Some companies require employees to sign confidentiality agreement to protect their patents, formulas, and processes. There are instances where companies dictate a “no compete” clause in their hiring practices, to prevent an employee from working for competitors for typically two years without legal implications. While these examples represent extents, employers go to protect their company’s privacy; companies do not go to that extent to protect the privacy of their employees.
... write write and we can talk talk talk but who REALLY knows how our industry functions until we have hard data. Besides, filmmakers are so reluctant to talk so as not to disclose their own tightly held, valuable relationships/connections, or out of fear of being labeled trouble-makers/whiners and thus running the risk of being discredited. All the while, non-filmmaker industry colleagues and stakeholders have much to loose if they ruffle feathers. Why put business relationships and friendships at risk? Why should anyone stick her/his head out of the foxhole if it is going to get shot?
(1) Michel G. Rukstad, David Collis; The Walt Disney Company: The Entertainment King; Harvard Business School; 9-701-035; Rev. January 5, 2009
In this case, a large health services organization (HSO) in Florida, that has a world-renowned AIDS treatment center had information breach of 4,000 HIV+ patient records, and the list was sent to newspapers, magazines, and the internet. Consequently, this issue was featured in every media vehicle in the world and as CEO, you are requested by the board of trustees to come up a better management information system (MIS) to resolve all information security issues or you will face termination. After hiring an undercover computer security consultant to help determine where the security leak came from, she quickly identifies numerous breaches in computer security and provides a report with the issues identified. The report furnished by the consultant revealed that facility had major problems with the MIS and the staff. In order to determine how to address the issues, the CEO must first answer the following questions: what law is being violated by the employees, why was this law enacted, what are the penalties for such violations, what are the penalties for sharing celebrity information, and should he be updating his resume and looking for another job (Buchbinder, 378).
I wanted to follow-up on our discussion about union decertification and antitrust suits. Please forgive me if you already are aware of this.
Competition law in the European Union has developed from being an uncertain preoccupation of a few economists, lawyers and officials to one of the leading competition law system in the globe. Nonetheless, in agreement with most commentators, there are inherent flaws within the EU Commission’s procedures. This paper aims to provide an account of concerns in the current system, drawing comments from scholars and EU officials in order to demonstrate both benefits and shortcomings of the system. An overview of the legal and policy debate of the current EU Competition enforcement will be presented as the introduction. Policy concerns such as prosecutorial bias and self-incrimination in enforcement powers will be the main subjects for the purpose of this paper, followed by analysis of the EU commission structure, in particular checks and balances and the hearing process, both of which have been claimed being incompatible with the ECHR. A comparison with the US Antitrust system will also be paralleled through out this essay in order to demonstrate a clearer examination. This essay will conclude with the Commission’s flaws that have effected on the upcoming UK competition law reforms.
Instead, protection only takes place if measures are taken to control the dissemination and use of information. Businesses use confidentiality agreements, limited access to confidential information, restrictive post-employment agreements, and other security practices to maintain trade secrets. Employees current and old sign non-disclosures to insure these are kept safe. By protecting your intellectual property, the ABC Company must have watched competitors and others in the industry as if they were competing for their ideas. Sam as an employee had to keep these secrets to the public and then expose ABC competition to undue competition.
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.
While in the chairman role, Eisner always promoted his own decisions and actions. Also, the rest of the directors had sizable conflicts of interests, which may have stopped board members from asserting themselves against Eisner, despite their duty to act in the foremost interest of all shareholders. Quite a few of the directors had their children employed by the company. They may have feared for their jobs, back pay, severance, or any other compensation due to them in ending employment at Disney. Other board members relied on Eisner because Eisner’s sons went to their schools and could have feared retribution regarding the circumstances regarding Eisner donations to their schools or damage to the school’s reputation, if the board members were
[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).
Through the ratio analysis, we can conclude that Disney is a stable company, keeping up with industry trends and up to par with industry averages. Although at times it can seem that Disney is a risky and unstable company, those conclusions are false since the unstableness has come through decisions which will better establish Disney’s position on the market. Although Disney’s competition, namely CBS, is on a similar standing as Disney when comparing ratios, Disney will manage to remain the largest media conglomerate in the USA and one of the best corporations in the world.
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.
They include: excellence in leadership, excellence in casting, guest satisfaction, financial results, and repeat business (Coverly, 2013). As it pertains to leadership excellence, Walt Disney is cognizant of the fact that communication is indeed the key driver and foundation for a collaborative culture within the company. Therefore, in this regard, the company encourages the cultivation of collaboration by essentially creating an enabling environment where ideas are spoken without fear of favoritism. Hence, Walt Disney promotes the use of positive language as part of its strategy of fostering leadership and collaboration. The use of positive language lays a basis for the realization of excellence in casting as one of the company’s policies. It is necessary to note that according to Coverly (2013), Walt Disney does not refer to its staff as employees; rather, the company classifies them as casts within the whole business arena. This concept, as Coverly (2013) continues to elaborate, emanates from the cognizance by the company that each employee has an intrinsic and unique role to pay within the company. As such, it is more natural to refer to them as casts, rather than the traditional “employee” notation. This strategy is very influential in generating and sustaining employee motivation which stems