Disney Case Study
Competitive Position
Disney is considered to be one of the pioneers in the entertainment industry, and for almost one century, the company have managed to grow successfully and to respond tremendously well to global changes such as the rapid technological evolution and the constant variations in customer trends. The reason they have accomplished that is because Disney shaped in people’s mind the assumption of permanent, combined with an outstanding delivery of their products and services, which in simple word means: ‘we are always going to be here’. This is described by Miles and Snow (2003) as the ‘Defender’ strategic approach, where large corporations fights to preserve and maintain their top position in the market.
Despite all external factors affecting Disney’s profitability, the company has built over decades a very strong brand image in the family entertainment business, which makes their brand the most important value, hence providing a differentiate position in the market that distinguish the company from their rivals. As showed in the Brand Leadership Matrix (Fill and Fill, 2005) Disney utilises their brand as the main marketing tool to position themselves as market leaders of the industry (see fig.1). The fact that Disney have been in the market for so long, generates the need to invests heavily in brand development, so as to keep the brand image fresh, innovative and relevant to the 21st century.
In addition, Disney has achieved its top competitive position by embracing the Ansoff’s Matrix approach (see fig.2) from an early stage (Gilligan and Wilson, 2009). As perceptible, Disney utilised this strategy to continuously develop new products to consumers e.g. producing new cartoons and characters regularly; which helped the company to attain competitive advantage by responding effectively to different segments within the market.
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Moreover, after building a strong brand image, Disney differentiated their business through
Disney is considered to be one of the pioneers in the entertainment industry, and for almost one century, the company have managed to grow successfully and to respond tremendously well to global changes such as the rapid technological evolution and the constant variations in customer trends. The reason they have accomplished that is because Disney shaped in people’s mind the assumption of permanent, combined with an outstanding delivery of their products and services, which in simple word means: ‘we are always going to be here’. This is described by Miles and Snow (2003) as the ‘Defender’ strategic approach, where large corporations fights to preserve and maintain their top position in the market.
Despite all external factors affecting Disney’s profitability, the company has built over decades a very strong brand image in the family entertainment business, which makes their brand the most important value, hence providing a differentiate position in the market that distinguish the company from their rivals. As showed in the Brand Leadership Matrix (Fill and Fill, 2005) Disney utilises their brand as the main marketing tool to position themselves as market leaders of the industry (see fig.1). The fact that Disney have been in the market for so long, generates the need to invests heavily in brand development, so as to keep the brand image fresh, innovative and relevant to the 21st century.
In addition, Disney has achieved its top competitive position by embracing the Ansoff’s Matrix approach (see fig.2) from an early stage (Gilligan and Wilson, 2009). As perceptible, Disney utilised this strategy to continuously develop new products to consumers e.g. producing new cartoons and characters regularly; which helped the company to attain competitive advantage by responding effectively to different segments within the market.
[pic]
Moreover, after building a strong brand image, Disney differentiated their business through
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