Isomorphism In America

Similar problems occurred in Disneyland Tokyo, where management didn’t even think about the height difference of Asians and Americans, resulting in too high public phones for Japanese guests. Concluding it is clear that the American company originally tried to implement a standardization strategy, when launching theme parks in other countries, without taking the local culture into consideration. Country specific procedures and regulations, and different local customer preferences forced Disney to adapt features of the US theme park business model to the local markets.

The case “Euro Disney: First 100 days” talks about the issues faced by the Walt Disney Company when expanding to international borders. The case begins with the history of Disneyland and then describes the reasons behind its success and expansion to various states across the country. It then describes the success of Tokyo Disneyland, first Disney theme park outside America and the factors affecting it.

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.

Other than that, each park is designed and structured towards the country’s culture. As operations exist outside the United States, Disney had to consider and accept the cultural differences between their home market of the United States and different international markets. A key theory that assisted Disney in global expansion to Shanghai, China is the understanding of Hofstede’s cultural factors which focuses on six cultural dimensions; power distance, individualism/collectivism, masculinity/femininity, uncertainty avoidance, long-term/short-term orientation, and indulgence/restraint (Steers, 2016). “Hofstede compares culture to the “software of the mind” that differentiates one group or society from another.” (Steers, 2016). Figure 1 illustrates the cultural differences between China and the United States through Hofstede’s six cultural dimensions.

In a world with numerous countries and adversities, every country has its different appeal. Sometimes we find ourselves comparing their similarities and differences, like there topography, culture, language, and so on. In this essay, based on my experiences and research, I am going to compare Jamaica and U.S. Although both countries are compelling in different ways, they hold more similarities than we even imagine. Jamaica and U.S are located in two different geographical settings. The U.S is a country which consists of 50 states covering North America, and surrounded by oceans on all sides. It’s the fourth-largest country in the world with a population of approximately 318.9 million people.

Comparison and contrast of evident similarities and bright contrasts between United States of America and one of the European country – Poland. Both of the countries have similar environment, geographic shapes: mountains, seas, lakes and forests, but different climates. There also differences between politic, religion, nation, history, and culture.

As humans, we often find comfort in the ability to separate and sort objects, ideas, and even people into innumerable categories that we may refer to with ease. Even if there exists no scientific support for such classification, we find that our innate nature allows us to socially construct certain divisions. Merriam-Webster Dictionary possesses numerous definitions for the word race; one that appears commonly describes this abstract idea as, “Any one of the groups that human beings can be divided into based on shared distinctive physical traits” (Merriam-Webster.com). This definition remains intangible as American history in particular paints an ever-changing picture of racial categorization

The Walt Disney Company has created theme parks throughout the world for guests to undergo a specific experiences that recalls the guests’ inner child through rides, visuals, and music. Disney has proved to be more than just a theme park; it is portrayed as a “world” or “land” of acceptance and integration of all cultures into one place. The universality aspect is what draws people in from different countries to visit the parks. Ultimately, the Disney parks are based off of two key concepts: commoditization and Americanization. Since Disney is an imagined utopia, guests buy into, literally and figuratively, the commodities and experiences it offers. Through music and visuals, Disney intertwines a message of Americanization through a single world culture that the guests accept. Disney’s limited understanding of cultures became much more apparent as theme parks were erected in different countries with cultural values that differ from American norms. Disney is a utopian society that exposes a narrow interpretation of the different cultures throughout the world.

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

When a company enters a foreign market, the company’s management team should work hand in hand with managers from the home country to have a better understanding of what the culture is like. In this case, I feel that Disney did not do that. One telling point is that Disney changed its leadership from American to French some fifteen times. The second point about the leadership of Disney was that the American and French leadership styles were often confronted. Another point is that the company did not have the support of Francois Mitterrand, the French president.

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).

In America, when someone points out all of the flaws of the great nation it is common for an American who no longer wants to argue to say “Well we went to the moon, what exactly did your country do?” with an extreme sense of condensation. And, while it is true that America valiantly went to the moon, most countries now have a considerable presence in the space community and while America is still a leader, it’s mostly just because they were a lot richer than the rest of the world, for example let’s say the USSR or the other extremely morbidly crazy semi world power of the time, China. It’s really funny that while those countries can say things like “We didn’t elect Putin” or “We have the great wall of China”, both very brave or interesting

"Cultures are dynamic and change occurs when resistance slowly yields to acceptance so the basis for resistance becomes unimportant or forgotten"[2]. Which means that on the part of the European community we are certain to see compromise, but over a period of time. Disney too has to reconcile with the environment it has settled in. We read in the case that Disney does ultimately mend its ways. Making room for continuous change is the best way to go about ones business.

Even in the United States, Disneyworld (Florida) and Disneyland (California) vary in there social forces. Cast Members (Disney’s term for employees) in CA are trained to be friendly and greet every guest, while in FL they are trained to only greet guests who seek them out. The political, legal, and regulatory factors again, vary from theme park to theme park. The parks in the United States have more restrictions than say those of Hong Kong, China. In the U.S, minors (age 15-17) are only allowed to work 20 hours a week. In Hong Kong, young persons (ages 15-17) are allowed to work up to 48 hours a week. Regulatory factors such as this differ in each region. The Walt Disney Company Parks and Resorts has quite an extreme variety of natural environments. The weather in Florida for example can get in the 100’s regularly whereas in California it can get as cold as the low 50’s. These weather conditions actually are a big factor in guests determining which park they want to visit. Technology seems to stay consistent between most of the theme parks. In fact, many of the theme parks have some of the same rides at their parks. The global forces actually can create threats to the company. The addition of the newest theme park to the company, Shanghai Disney, took several years to become accepted. This has been common throughout the duration of The Walt Disney Company. Many people vote against a new theme park or resort because of the crowds that it

The Disney differences are “high-quality creative content, backed up by a clear strategy for maximizing that content`s value across platforms and markets”. Not only that, it also it is the undisputed long-lasting champion of all vacation destinations in general, and theme parks in particular. That reason is that they do it all right, and no one else comes close. For sure, Disney Difference will affect the company’s corporate, competitive and functional strategies in a positive way. The corporate strategy should include some questions like “would it work?” which means suitability, “can it be made to work?” which is