1 – Chapter One
1.1 – Case Study Background:
The Walt Disney Company was founded on October 16, 1923 when Mr. Walt Disney signed a contract with Mr. Winkler for producing a series of Alice Comedy. Then the company never stop. Its first cartoon "Trolley Troubles" was released in 1927 whereas, very first “Mickey Mouse” cartoon was released in 1928 and it was also the first appearance of “Minnie Mouse” on screen. Moreover, the first full-colour cartoon "Flowers and Trees" was released in 1932 which won Academy Award. Donald Duck was appeared for first time in 1934 and “Mickey Mouse” colour cartoon was released in 1935. Furthermore, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" was released in 1937 which was The Walt Disney Company’s very first feature-length animated movie. These releases influenced the company to expand.
Thus, Walt Disney Music Company was formed in 1949 after the release of "Fantasia" in 1940. The company continued to move forward and in 1950 The Walt Disney Company 's very first live-action feature movie was released. The first Disney Park "Disneyland" was opened in California in 1955. It attracted children and the elders too. Mr. Walt Disney had advanced vision, revolutionary spirit and incomparable creativity. His capabilities and skills made the impossible possible and turned the dreams into reality. These capabilities and creativity built the foundation of the company (Walt Disney) and is still a vital root of the company. Sadly, Mr. Walt Disney died on December 15,
The name was eventually changed to The Walt Disney Studios. By the end of 1927, the Disney brothers created a total of 56 Alice comedies, which proved Walt as a producer and built up his animation studio that rivaled others in the business. In 1928, their company took a hit when almost all of their animators jumped ship and went to work for Universal Pictures. It was projected that Walt Disney’s animation career was over, but he kept fighting and it taught him to never give up control of his creations. Though the tale of how he came about isn’t clear, Mickey Mouse debuted on November 18, 1928. From that day, the Walt Disney Studios took off with the creation of Snow White in 1937 and Pinocchio and Fantasia in 1940. However, the studio took a break from movies after Pearl Harbor in order to aid in the war effort by converting the studio into a wartime industrial plant. After the war, Disney reconquered the title of leader of animation and rest is history. With the opening of Disneyland and the premiere of The Mickey Mouse Club in 1955, the company has only flourished. In 1963, there was the first use of audio-animatronics at Disneyland and Walt began the foundation of a project that would lead to Disneyworld. However, he was diagnosed with lung cancer in November 1966 and passed in December; therefore, unable to see his plan play out. Walter Elias Disney was a small-town boy who turned into a
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
The Walt Disney Company, more commonly known as Disney, is a company that was founded in October 16, 1923 by brothers Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney under the name of Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio. The company eventually changed its name to the current Walt Disney Company in 1986. The company was headquartered in Burbank, California. The company is a public company that has diversified to live-action film, television, and even theme parks.
Walt Disney started out by producing short animated films in 1922 and in 1928 introduced Mickey Mouse, the world most famous cartoon character shown in Figure 4 below (Olsson 1996; Kramer 2002). Following this breakthrough, Kramer (2002) found that Disney proceeded innovatively with new film technologies of sound and colour that resulted in the first successful animated feature Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937.
Introduction: The Walt Disney Company is on the threshold of a new era. Michael Eisner has stepped down from his position as CEO and turned over the reigns to Robert Iger. A lot of turmoil has been brewing through the company over the last four years; many people are hoping that this change in leadership will put Disney back on the road to success. Issues began around mid-2002; when declining earnings, fleeing shareholders, and
Walt Disney is extremely known for being a film producer and popular showman. He was very recognizing for being an innovator in animation and theme park design. Disney was a visionary in terms of cartoons. Disney views and visions came from his persistence for the future. Walt Disney strives upon building Disney’s to have core strengths in three areas of entertainment and recreation, motion pictures and videos. Walt created his first animated character, Mickey Mouse.
According to Robert Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company, Disney’s corporate strategy for diversification is a combination of three objectives that are to be achieved through the fundamental alignment of the Company’s core business units. The three objectives to be achieved by The Walt Disney Company are (1) creating high-quality family content, (2) exploiting technological innovations to make entertainment experiences more memorable, and (3) expanding internationally. The Walt Disney Company’s three objectives that make up the Company’s corporate strategy are to be achieved through each of the Company’s core business units that are split up in to five divisions (1) media networks, (2) parks and resorts, (3) studio entertainment, (4) consumer product, and (5) interactive media.
1. What is Walt Disney Company’s corporate generic strategy? Explain the reason for your answer.
The Walt Disney Company is an outstanding renowned entertainment and media corporation with business ventures in Media Networks, Parks and Resorts, The Walt Disney Studios, Disney Consumer Products, and Disney Interactive. Walt Disney Company is a diversified corporation with products all around the world. (The Walt Disney Company, n.d.)
The Walt Disney Company was first founded in 1923 by Walt and Roy Disney (Wasko, 2011). It was first known under the name of the Disney Brothers Studio, before changing its name in 1986 (Disney’s history of magic: Timeline, 2013) (Timeline, 2013). In 1927, Mickey Mouse was created and soon became the symbol of the Company (Wasko, 2011). Internationally recognized for its animation, the Studio was the first to present a ‘’full-color cartoon’’, Flowers and Trees, which later went on to win ‘’ […] the first Academy Award for Best Cartoon’’ in 1932 (Wasko, 2011). Five years later, Disney released Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, its first ‘’full length animated film’’(Timeline, 2013). It wasn’t until 1940 that the Company became public and, therefore, available to be traded on the stock market (Timeline, 2013). Fifteen years later, Disney was opening its first theme park in California under the name of Disneyland (Disney’s history of magic: Timeline, 2013). Incidentally, the
A business unit can be defined by a set of operating divisions that are organized by market, customer, product, or other means, which essentially act as self-sufficient businesses with separate profits. (Thompson et al 2015).
The Walt Disney Company, a diversified international company operated entertainment and recreational complexes, produced motion picture and television features, developed community real estate projects, and sold consumer products. The company was founded in 1938 as a successor to the animated motion picture business established by Walt and Roy Disney in 1923.
Founded on October 16, 1923, Disney was known to be one of the largest media and entertainment conglomerates. It had specialized in television, radio, and theme parks & attractions. Walt Disney and his brother Roy produced many short animated films starting with their series of collective films called Alice Comedies and quickly gained their success from there. Within months, the Disney brothers created their own studio and thus the creation of Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Goofy, and the rest of the Disney characters was born.
The Walt Disney Company is one of the largest media and entertainment corporations in the world. Disney is able to create sustainable profits due to its heterogeneity, inimitability, co-specialization and immense foresight. During the late twentieth century, Michael Eisner founded and gave a rebirth to Walt Disney Company. Eisner revitalize TV and movies, Themes Park and new businesses. Eisner's takeover for fifteen years had climbed the revenues and net earnings of the company. It also successfully uses synergy to create value across its many business units. After its founder Walter Disney's death, the company started to lose its ground and performance declined. Michael Eisner became CEO
Walt believed the true revenue lay with full-length feature films. In 1937 Walt Disney and his studio created the world’s first full-length, full-color animated feature, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. This was the highest-grossing animated movie of all time, even out grossing animated films until the year 2000 (Exhibit 7). Disney Brothers Studio attempted to increase its market share so cleverly in the fact that they began a signature trend of stocking shelves with products the day of the film’s release in huge retail stores such as Sears and Woolworth’s.