Walt Disney and Toy Story

Net income increased from $93 million in 1984 to $445 million in 1987, so Disney increased its net income more than four times after Eisner’s takeover in the first four years. Much of this incredible success is due to Eisner’s tough leadership, brand management and his corporate strategies. He not only brought the company back on track, but also made sure, that Disney did not loose its sight in his own corporate values (quality, creativity, entrepreneurship and teamwork) (1, p. 4). Much of Disney’s success in the first four years under Eisner was due to the strategies of simultaneously “managing creativity” and keeping an eye on costs due to well-defined financial objectives (1, p.4). What’s more, Disney

“The cartoon was considered the debut of Mickey, and his girlfriend Minnie.” (“Walt Disney”) Production for Steamboat Willie took place between July and September of 1928, and cost approximately $5,000. The release of Steamboat Willie caused thousands of people to line up at the Universal Colong Theatre in New York. The premiere date for the film was on November 18, 1928. Disney made about $500 a week from the release. “The success of Steamboat Willie not only led to international fame for Walt Disney but for Mickey as well.” (“Walt Disney”)

The Walt Disney Company, more commonly known as Disney, is a company that was founded in October 16, 1923 by brothers Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney under the name of Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio. The company eventually changed its name to the current Walt Disney Company in 1986. The company was headquartered in Burbank, California. The company is a public company that has diversified to live-action film, television, and even theme parks.

The companies worked towards a culture that was more in line with team learning. Pixar had previously operated under the premise where people were given the full chance to be creative and use their ideas in order to learn from their success or failures. Disney allowed for creativity however was more micromanaged. This new cultural shift for Disney to let go of some of the control was a hard thing to do for them. Disney had initially lost some of the people with this shift in their culture mainly with those who failed to adapt to this new free-spirited environment. With Disney’s regimented culture they followed more of a top down approach within their work environment. This approach initially during the merger hindered the learning approach that Disney Pixar was trying to create. Some employees at Pixar initially had issues with the cultural clash of a free-spirited environment and the rigid environment Disney operated with causing problems with retaining the talent at Pixar. Despite these cultural clashes and differences Disney Pixar was able to pull their new-shared vision in a direction that allowed for cross-organizational collaboration and for a new culture that worked for both companies.

Managing conflict for organizations is very important in maintaining business relationships, especially ones that are profitable like that of Disney-Pixar. At the helm of the Walt Disney Company during the begging and end of these feuds was Michael Eisner and Bob Iger. Even though Michael Eisner is the one responsible for the conflict with Disney and Pixar, he should be equally responsible for trying to fix the damaged relationship. When trying to manage conflict there are several approaches that can be taken to resolve the conflict at hand: dominating, accommodating, problem solving, avoiding and compromising.

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

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

Disney’s acquisition of Pixar had both benefits and implications for both parties involved. By acquiring Pixar, Disney was given access to Pixar’s proprietary technology, which was an important factor, as well as access to new characters. These characters provided a new source of income for Disney, not just for movies, but also to use in theme parks, merchandise stores, etc., meaning new characters would supply immense revenue streams for Disney in several forms. Disney also gained strengthened market power, as acquiring one of their rivals would give them a competitive advantage and would simultaneously make them more powerful in the market. Additionally, Disney was never very successful with their animated movies, and acquiring Pixar would

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.

In addition, by having access to the Pixar brand and its characters, they would help to supplement Disney’s existing characters across its different businesses like theme parks, merchandise, and television, which provide more sales opportunities. Despite the dilution of Disney’s earnings per share, it is for the short-term. The acquisition fills a crucial strategic gap for Disney and can create long-term value for its shareholders. As such, Pixar is a “near perfect strategic fit” for Disney and hence should be acquired by Disney to remain competitive.

The case is related with a decision regarding The walt Disney Company’s relation with Pixar. Though, history defined their collaboration and success. Pixar’s CEO Mr. Steve Jobs has tried to negotiate the contract but with no success because The Walt Disney Company wants to stay with previous terms. This pushed Steve Jobs to find for partnership with others. This search is a big threat for The Walt Disney Company and it has to decide whether to acquire Pixar or not.

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

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 the 1937 film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the tale revolutionized and began a Golden Age of animation. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the very first full length animated motion picture as well as the first film to release a motion-picture soundtrack recording in 1944 by the Disney studio. (Backlots) Also, “it was the first to employ the use of Technicolor, and features the first large-scale use of the multiplane camera which became a signature at Disney for decades”. (Backlots)

Known to be one of the largest producers of multi-media content, Walt Disney and Pixar greatly impacted the entertainment industry with the use of three-dimensional generated content. It quickly gained popularity with the release of its animated movies and especially got the attention of children from their sequels. With the growing popularity, the competition in the media industry began to increase. Disney was then faced with a difficult decision regarding its relationship with Pixar on whether they should acquire or not acquire the company.