Disney Business : The Diversification Of Their Business Portfolio

The Walt Disney Company is considered to be one of the most active family entertainment companies in the world. Primarily Disney became known as an animated film company and a cartoon creator. Later, the company expanded its range of activities into other markets through the Disney stores and theme parks around the world. The Walt Disney Company’s key objective is to be the world’s premier family entertainment company through the ongoing development of its powerful brand and character franchises.

Introduction The Walt Disney Company is an American diversified multinational mass media corporation. It is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. It generated US$ 42.278 billion in 2012. Disney was founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, and established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into live-action film production, television, and travel. The Walt Disney Company operates as five primary units and segments: The Walt Disney Studios or Studio Entertainment, which includes the company's film, recording label, and theatrical divisions; Parks and Resorts, featuring the company's theme

By conducting a value chain analysis for Walt Disney Company, I will be able to accurately show the “parts of its operations that create value, and those that don’t” (Hitt, Ireland, and Hoskisson, 87). The value chain is segmented into two categories: support functions and value chain activities. Support functions include finance, human resources, and management information systems which “support the work being done to produce, sell, distribute, and service the products [Walt Disney] is creating” (Hitt, Ireland, and Hoskisson, 87). Value chain activities include supply chain management, operations, distribution, marketing, and follow-up services, which Walt Disney

Today, the Walt Disney Company is highly diversified - it is divided into 5 major business segments: Studio Entertainment, Parks and Resorts, Media Networks, Consumer Products, and Internet & Direct Marketing. Since this paper stresses on only one strategic business unit of Walt Disney, Parks and Resorts, the following discussion of the elements of marketing mix will be with respect to this SBU only.

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.

The Walt Disney Company has seen their share of success in taking their parks and resorts into global markets. “60 years ago, the first Disney theme park opened, in California and was the brainchild of Walt Disney himself, who was motivated by the lack of entertainment options available to him and his two young daughters.” (Forbes, 2016). Disneyland California penetrated the market rapidly, and its popularity led to the opening of Disney World in Florida, followed by global expansion in Tokyo, Paris, and Hong Kong. Their latest expansion came in June 2016, on a 963 acres’ site in Shanghai, China (Xu, 2012). After one year in operation, Shanghai Disneyland is outpacing their most optimistic projections, and the park’s

In order for Disney to remain a dominate player within all of its markets, the company must focus on key aspects of its internal environment. Disney must concentrate on aspects such as core competencies, corporate governance, and synergies to assist in forming a sustainable competitive advantage.

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

Of the four business units that make up The Walt Disney Company (Disney), the Media Networks unit is by far the largest with revenues accounting for about 43% of total company revenues in 2016 (Appendix C) (MERGENT Online). This segment is made up of cable networks like ESPN and Freeform, broadcasting networks, and all the technology and assets that go into producing content for these networks (MERGENT Online). Through it’s media networks division, Disney aims to provide family-friendly entertainment options to households across the world through television and radio networks. Because the cost to watch Disney’s channels is essentially the same as the cost to watch a competitor’s channel, competitors in this industry must compete on differentiation to attract viewers. This value proposition and strategy helps to focus the segment’s value chain and its efforts to capture value. The value chain (Appendix A), seems to suggest Disney’s brand, technologies, and recruitment capabilities are driving the segment towards its 24.86% margin (MERGENT Online).

Strategic Planning is the process of developing and maintaining a strategic fit between the organizations goals and capabilities as well as emerging market conditions and opportunities. Disney's primary strategic objective is to product high-quality content through their entire product mix. The company also had a record financial performance in 2010 led by the Disney movie studio last year was the first in history to make two film that crossed the billion-dollar mark at the global box office Toy Story 3 and Disney's Alice in Wonderland. Another strategic objective that Disney has set is the goal to make experiences more memorable and accessible through innovative technology. The final strategic objective that Disney has focused on is international expansion.

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.

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.

Walt Disney Company for eighty years has captured the attentions of millions of people around the world, offering family entertainment at theme parks, resorts, recreations, movies, TV shows, radio programming, and memorabilia (David, 2009). Today, Walt Disney possesses four main business segments: Disney Consumer products, Studio Entertainment, Parks and Resorts, and Media Networks. Each of Disney's business units increased profits apart from its interactive division, which was recently restructured (Garrahan, 2011). By combining Disney's long history with the commitment to quality, Disney Consumer Products has had a large and steady presence in the toy marketplace (Anonymous, 2010). Studio entertainment has been somewhat of

The Walt Disney Studio’s Diversity Mission Statement is “To create an inclusive environment that is open to all perspectives, allowing us to tell compelling stories in film, animation and music that visually and emotionally reflect our audience worldwide.” “The Walt Disney Studios maintains that the only existing boundaries are those of talent, ambition, imagination and innovation.” (Moore, 2007)

Disney has become a marketing goliath and the #1 entertainment company in the US. They have been able to develop a creativity-driven philosophy that over time was tempered by financial responsibility and that benefitted from powerful synergies between its divisions. From the very beginning, Disney has been synonymous with innovation within the children’s entertainment industry, from their introduction of animations with synchronized audio, full-length animated feature films and then later into theme parks and on-ice and Broadway shows. One important element of Disney’s success was the extent to which they integrated and expanded into different