Walt Disney Company Case Study

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 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.

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

I am following up with you from the last meeting regarding the Walt Disney Co.’s audit engagement. After reviewing their latest 10K form, I have come to the conclusion that both Walt Disney Management team and their auditor team from PwC agreed that the internal controls over financial reporting was effective as of October 1, 2016 based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by COSO. Although the 10K form has only few conclusions regarding the company’s dependence on technology and the potential risks, I have found that technology poses a moderate business risk related to their media and studio entertainment segments. In addition, technology is a high risk factor of material misstatement in their internal control system due to security and hackers.

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 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)

In this paper, we will explore the magical experience of Walt Disney Company through the structure and symbolic frames based on the Bolman and Deal?s individual lens. The structural frame focuses on the architecture of an organization and other features like: rules, regulations, goals, policies, roles, tasks, job designs, job descriptions, technology, chain of command, vertical and horizontal coordinating mechanisms, assessment and reward systems, and many more (Bolman, L., & Deal, T. 2013). The symbolic frame focuses on the culture, meaning, metaphor, ritual, ceremony, stories, heroes and inspiration of the organization (Bolman, L., & Deal, T. 2013). On this analysis I will also explain the organization?s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that impact the leadership, partners, employees and community internally and externally.

The financial ratio analysis of a company is a useful indicator to measure the success of a company. By comparing financial ratios between companies in the same industry (competitors) it is a useful way for investors and shareholders to determine the financial health and/or the sustainability of a company. Disney’s main competitors within the industry include Time Warner and 21st Century Fox. There are five key areas of comparison that provide excellent financial analysis of a company. They are short-term solvency, long-term solvency, asset management, profitability, and market value.

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.

Since 2005, the CEO baton was passed along for the 6th time to the company’s COO since 2000, Robert Iger. Iger has a long history within the larger framework of Disney’s enterprises, namely through ABC studio and cable network channels (Management 2009). Iger – as CEO of Disney – has focused on reconciling problematic dissension among the board of directors, especially the current Roy Disney, who, at one time, campaigned against Disney itself. Since then, the company has restructured certain key areas in management to regain investor confidence and internal affairs. Most recently, Disney announced its fiscal year and fourth quarter financial results via webcast (Corporate 2009).