Examine Horizontal and Vertical (Forward) Integration as a with appropriate examples. You must discuss the example and explain the relevant outcomes achieved through the Integration. How Disney Is StructuredThe Walt Disney Company owns a vast array of companies, and is the largest media conglomerate in the world, followedby News International. Beginning as a humble cartoon studio in 1923, and then very quickly increasing in size as it wastossed between major distributors of the time such as RKO Radio Pictures and Columbia, it rose to major prominencewith the world's first animated feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Disney is a public limited company whichis run by a board of twelve directors and eleven senior executive managers, and also has a board of executives for eachof the company's divisions: Walt Disney Studios and Entertainment, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, Disney MediaNetworks and Television, Disney Interactive Media, Disney Consumer Products, and Walt Disney International.DisneyMedia Networks and Television is the division which owns ESPN (Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) whichis a global television network based around sports, and ABC (American Broadcasting Company). Disney bought bothESPN and ABC in 1996.As a conglomerate, it is able to have control over all aspects of what it produces. For instance, instead of having othercompanies licensed to sell Disney merchandise, it has complete control over this part of the business. Or if it were torelease a film, it would be able to make the film in its own studios, advertise it through its own networks, and distribute itthrough its own distribution company. It has a complete monopoly over everything Disney, and no other companies couldeven consider making anything Disney related for fear of being sued. This gives Disney a huge amount of power. As aconglomerate, it also controls companies outside of Disney, such as ESPN and ABC, which means it has control over awider audience. American television media is very much ruled by an oligopoly, with ABC, CBS, and NBC often beingreferred to as the 'Big Three' as they dominated the medium from the 1950s to the early 90s, before Fox arrived andbegan to dominate the ratings along side them. Having an oligopoly is beneficial to the companies in question as itmeans they have almost complete control over the market, as it makes it extremely difficult for any competitors to arise,unless they are backed by a particularly massive company. Disney's takeover of ESPN would be considered as horizontalintegration, as the company doesn't form a part of the production process of any Disney productions. It's takeover of ABCwould be considered as vertical integration, as the TV network forms a place where Disney can broadcast its productions.In 2005 Robert Iger became chief executive (CEO) of Disney, a year after his predecessor Michael Eisner was ralliedagainst by Roy E. Disney (Walt's nephew and the longtime chairman of Disney Features) and Stanley Gold, resulting in43% of Disney's shareholders withholding their vote to re-elect Eisner. Iger arrived with intentions for big changes in howthe company was operated. He revitalized Disney by opting to pay greater attention to core assets such as its studiosand theme parks. The changes resulted in a new kind of Disney evolving, with the hyper successful High School Musicalfilm series arising, aiming the Disney brand at a slightly older pre-adolescent audience. The ousting of Michael Eisnerhighlights a major aspect of being a massive conglomerate public limited company such as Disney. Because of thecompany's vastness it has an array of executives, each with a huge amount of power. If an executive can get the support means they have almost complete control over the market, as it makes it extremely difficult for any competitors to arise,unless they are backed by a particularly massive company. Disney's takeover of ESPN would be considered as horizontalintegration, as the company doesn't form a part of the production process of any Disney productions. It's takeover of ABCwould be considered as vertical integration, as the TV network forms a place where Disney can broadcast its productions.In 2005 Robert Iger became chief executive (CEO) of Disney, a year after his predecessor Michael Eisner was ralliedagainst by Roy E. Disney (Walt's nephew and the longtime chairman of Disney Features) and Stanley Gold, resulting in43% of Disney's shareholders withholding their vote to re-elect Eisner. Iger arrived with intentions for big changes in howthe company was operated. He revitalized Disney by opting to pay greater attention to core assets such as its studiosand theme parks. The changes resulted in a new kind of Disney evolving, with the hyper successful High School Musicalfilm series arising, aiming the Disney brand at a slightly older pre-adolescent audience. The ousting of Michael Eisnerhighlights a major aspect of being a massive conglomerate public limited company such as Disney. Because of thecompany's vastness it has an array of executives, each with a huge amount of power. If an executive can get the supportof the shareholders, then ultimately, he is more powerful than anyone else, creating what is almost like a democraticsystem more typically associated with the governing of nations. This can have major benefits to the company as it meansthat if it is being run poorly by someone, there is a good chance he will have his position taken from him by shareholders.It can also potentially cause problems though, as executives seeking power might try to rally together shareholders tooust someone of a higher profile in the company so as to take his place. The arrival of 3D cinema has been fullyembraced by Disney and every film they produce is now in 3D. The technology is very beneficial to the company as itgives people an added reason for going to the cinema, especially as very few people currently have expensive 3Dtelevision sets. The other great beneft is that 3D films cannot be pirated. As a media company of such a high stature asDisney, it is also very important that they are ahead of the competition in terms of using new technology.

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The Walt Disney Company, a stalwart in the global media and entertainment industry, has navigated…