Case Analysis of The Walt Disney Company: The Magic of Disney Fall 2003 Sean Housley Haas School of Business University of California, Berkeley MBA Candidate, Spring 2004 housley@mba.berkeley.edu Abstract Disney has led the entertainment industry for much of its storied 80-year history. What exactly is the ‘Magic of Disney’? And how has Disney sustained the magic for so long? This paper analyzes Disney’s historical competitive advantage, drawing emphasis on the remarkable synergies Disney created across its various businesses. This paper then addresses the contributions of CEO Michael Eisner, credited with restoring Disney to greatness in the mideighties. Finally, this paper evaluates Disney’s growth strategy over the last decade. …show more content…
He also correctly predicted that television would be an important medium, and introduced the highly popular “Mickey Mouse Club” in 1955. Finally, Disney correctly bet big on entering theme parks with Disneyland in 1955. Imperfect Mobility and Co-specialization Disney’s strong legal protection makes it nearly impossible for competitors to copy or imitate Disney’s characters. In addition, the parts comprising the Disney whole would be of less valuable to a poacher than they are to Disney. This is because, for Disney, the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. In a word, synergy. Even if a competitor succeeded in hiring away key talent, for example, the competitor would still lack the tradition, culture, and complementary assets that make up Disney. Synergy Disney has mastered the art of the cross-sell. It has done so by leveraging its characters and carefully controlling its image, driving toward a unified, highly valued customer experience. An example best illustrates this. Consider a typical multi-day family trip to Disney World. A family books lodging months in advance at a hotel inside the park. It does so because it knows that the hotel has the best location, is highly demanded, and will provide good hospitality. Being lodged inside the park, the family eats at Disney-owned restaurants and perhaps buys Disney merchandise. All the while the family willing
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
One of these media giants is the Walt Disney Company (Disney). Its dramatic growth from a small company to become an oligopolist in the media industry offers an interesting
The Disney Corporation is a leading diversified international family entertainment and media enterprise with five business segments: media networks, parks and resorts, studio entertainment, consumer products and interactive media. (Disney Corporate, 2009). This company did not become one of the leading corporations in the world without hard work, an extreme dedication to the mission and core values of the organization, and the successful application of the four functions of management: planning, organizing, leading, and controlling. Many internal and external factors may have a direct impact on the four functions of management like: globalization, ethics, and innovation.
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
Globalization is forcing all companies, large and small, to focus on a larger competitive landscape. For many companies hypercompetition arises and they are left with stunted growth while competing with other businesses across the globe. Fortunately, Disney has constructed one of the world’s most recognizable and beloved brands in the entire world. To understand the external environment in which Disney competes, we must first discern which market we wish to analyze. Disney owns a plethora of companies across an extensive list of industries including publishing, game production, retail, theme parks, and software. By far the two largest segments of Disney’s business are its parks/resorts and media networks; those will be
The success of movies and television programs were due to diversity and distribution. It does its own distribution and targets several markets from children to adults. Finally, the Disney character consumer product sector, which includes clothing, home goods, and toys, has been an extremely important asset to the company. For example, by establishing deals such as an agreement with Mattel, Disney was able to manufacture more than 14,000 Disney licensed products. Furthermore, Disney expanded it’s retailing by opening up Disney stores.
Disney operates in very competitive industries such as media, tourism, parks and resorts, interactive entertainment and others. The competitive landscape changes quite drastically in the media industry, where news and TV go online and new competitors with new business models compete more successfully than incumbent media companies. Disney’s parks and resorts business segment also receives strong competition from local competitors who can offer better-adapted product. This results in growing competitive pressure for Walt Disney Company (Ovidijus Jurevicius).
Introduction The next big takeover fight – and it would be a beauty – may involve Walt Disney Productions. By the time you get this issue, Disney’s defense strategy may already be unfolding. But it will produce no quick victory for Disney even if a white knight comes along, and even if the principle attacker, Saul Steinberg, can be bought off. One by one, Hollywood’s great studios have been plucked by the smart out-of-town moneymen. Paramount by the late Charles Bluhdorn. Twentieth Century-Fox by Marvin Davis and Marc Rich. MGMUnited Artists by Kirk Kerkorian. Columbia by
Walt Disney once said, “All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them.” Walt Disney was one of the most successful entrepreneurs of all time, a man who took a dream and pursued it, making a worldwide famous company, Walt Disney World. This paper will look at the history, financial situations, and marketing strategy of Walt Disney World. As Walt would say, “Sit back and enjoy!”
Walt Disney’s main is to become the world 's leading manufacturer and providers of information-entertainment thanks to its own crafted portfolio of brands to distinguish itself from other companies in the industry (Himmelberg, 2005). In so doing, the company attempts to swell its cash flow in allocating capital toward long-term growth and shareholder value (Himmelberg, 2005).
The Walt Disney Company’s rebirth under Michael Eisner was widely considered to be one of the th great turnaround stories of the late 20 century. When Eisner arrived in 1984, Disney was languishing and had narrowly avoided takeover and dismemberment. By the end of 2000, however, revenues had climbed from $1.65 billion to $25 billion under Eisner, while net earnings had risen from $0.1 billion to $1.2 billion (see Exhibit 1). During Eisner’s first 15 years, Disney generated a 27% annual total 1 return to
This paper will analyse a recent period of strategic change at The Walt Disney Company which began in 2005 with the appointment of current CEO Robert Iger. The company began to experience halted growth during the late 1990s. The former CEO Michael Eisner had been successful himself in the late 1980s in changing the company during what is known as the Disney
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
The purpose of this paper is to analyze the Walt Disney Company and their expansion into Hong Kong with the theme park Hong Kong Disneyland (HKD). The Walt Disney Company was founded in 1923 by Walt Disney. It was a company founded upon as an entertainment experience for people of all ages starting out with short films and then moving into full length motion pictures. Since its inception the Disney Company has grown into a worldwide organization and is made up of four major areas. Those areas are studio entertainment, consumer products, media networks, and parks and resorts.
Starting as a young boy from Missouri, farmer Walter Elias Disney set out to make a mark on society. After first joining the Red Cross in World War I, he came back determined to be an artist. After moving to Hollywood in 1923 with his older brother Roy, they founded Disney Brothers Studio. After diversifying as much as possible, Disney had a firm grasp on the global market share until the 1980’s where the company’s revenues began to slump in the film industry. Luckily Sid Bass invested $365 million in order to rescue the company and bring an end to all hostile takeover attempts. Disney’s billion dollar powerhouse status in the entertainment industry can be broken down and analyzed using the