Pixar Case Study Essay

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.

Pixar, being a leader in CG animations and having an exemplary track record of producing blockbuster hits, had a lot of potential suitors which include Warner Bros., AOL, Time Warner, Fox and Sony. Any media companies that strikes a deal with Pixar may instantly forefront the animation market.

In a world where technology is rapidly developing and evolving, it is sometimes hard to keep up with the changes that are made. When looking back on changes that are made it is particularly interesting to look at the development of animation over history. Today when one thinks about animation it is impossible not to think of Disney and their major motion pictures. The Shreck films, Finding Nemo, and Happy Feet, to name just some of the dozens of animated films Disney has produced, raked in million upon millions of dollars at the box office, and have been hit films with people in all age groups.

Buying energetic, young and creative Pixar, Disney intends to regain lost ground. But, they must do that in a smart way, to satisfy the needs of the Pixar owners, shareholders and employees. Back to the ownership test, the Disney ownership of Pixar will produce a greater competitive advantage for them. They will lose a powerful competitor, and will produce something

● Pixar relies heavily on intrinsic motivation to motivate and inspire its employees, which is

To conclude, Pixar has many opportunities that can be explored, in both the global and local markets. There is a lot of potential for

In 1974, Ed Catmull was hired to manage the Computer Graphic Lab (CGL) at the New York Institute of Technology. The CGL also hired a few other computer scientists who shared ambitions about creating the world’s first computer animated film. In 1979, Ed Catmull and his team moved to the computer division at Lucasfilm. In 1986, Steve Jobs bought the computer division from Lucasfilm, paid $5million to George Lucas for technology rights and founded an independent company, Pixar. Steve Jobs joined the company’s board of directors as chairman and Ed Catmull became the president of the company. In 1991, Pixar made a $26 million deal with Disney to produce three computer animated feature films. Pixar produced Toy

Pixar Animation Studios as we know today, was started as in 1984 when John Lasseter, chief creative officer of both Pixar

Pixar is a company that has ties to other major corporations in our American culture. Pixar Animation Studios started as a part of the Lucas film computer group, which is owned by George Lucas the creator of Star Wars. However, after receiving funding from Steve Jobs the division became its own corporation in 1986. After that Disney purchased Pixar, which allowed Steve Jobs to become a shareholder in Disney also. With these changes due to the ownership of the corporation an analysis of managerial economics is overdue. What follows is an evaluate how Pixar attains balance between culture, rewards, and boundaries, what is Pixar’s organizational structure and why they have the structure they have, how Pixar’s leadership helps to create an ethical organization, how Pixar’s innovation helps the organization to accomplish its goals, how emotional intelligence helps the leadership guide the company, and how Pixar has overcome barriers to change. Pixar’s history has presented the firm with challenges and the firm has managed to overcome those challenges, anyone who plans to one day own their own business should look at the company and understand how the firm accomplished their tasks despite the presented challenges. The merger with Disney resulted in some problems for Pixar, but the merger was pursued for a reason. By merging, both firm have the potential to save time and money; there is also the potential to learn from each other.

Founded on February 3, 1986, Pixar was best known for its animated films created with Photo Realistic Rendermen. It initially began as a graphics group under Lucasfilm’s Computer Division. However, it was later purchased by Steve Jobs for $10 million dollars and renamed to Pixar. It continued to grow its success with the release of many movies, including their Toy Story series, one of their highest

Pixar Animation Studios was founded in 1979, initially specializing in producing state of the art computer hardware (Carlson, 2003). In 1990, due to poor product sales the company diversified from its core business and began producing computer animated commercials for outside companies. Success came for Pixar after the production of its first computer animated film ‘Toy story’ in 1995 (Hutton and Baute, 2007). Since then, Pixar has made many innovative animated feature films, with well known ones including - A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille and WALL-E, six of which are in the top grossing animated

In the last decades, the number of major corporations that manage to control media has decreased significantly, resulting in a high concentration of ownership. In 2011, only six media companies were responsible for 90% of the things we saw and heard on a daily basis compared to fifty companies in 1983 (Lutz, 2012). The Walt Disney Company is one of them. In this report, we will take a look at how the Company has succeeded in growing into the media corporation it is today.

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

company. The technology used to film and edit programming impacts the operations and distribution of the company’s original content. Within procurement’s 33% share of revenues, technology makes up the largest share as firms in this industry must invest to compete. The linkages here are vertical; without the newest technologies, it takes longer to produce and edit new series to the standard customers expect. If Disney’s technologies fail to deliver visually high-quality content in a timely manner, consumers will watch elsewhere.

5. Does Disney’s portfolio exhibit good strategic fit? What value chain match-ups do you see? What opportunities for skills transfer, cost sharing, or brand sharing do you see? Please be specific and explain why.