Walt Disney Parks and Resorts
Walt Disney Co. faced the challenge of building a theme park in Europe. Disney 's mode of entry in Japan had been licensing. However, the firm chose direct investment in its European theme park, owning 49% with the remaining 51% held publicly.
Besides the mode of entry, another important element in Disney 's decision was exactly where in Europe to locate. There are many factors in the site selection decision, and a company carefully must define and evaluate the criteria for choosing a location.
Global marketing strategist considers the geographical scale, cultural differences, language, and overall perspective needs; more particular decision criterion should focus specifically on the country, type of industry, the company and the product or services. In today’s growing diverse society it only makes since to take the global approach to marketing when determining strategies to gain market entrance.
Walt Disney used these different marketing platforms to establish contact with different market segments capturing all ages both children and adult. This is just one of the many reasons why they are so successful today. This case introduces strategies that Walt Disney took to gain entry into different markets specifically entrant to: Tokyo, Hong Kong and Paris. This case also describes the many challenges that were faced by the company and the uniqueness’s of each towards each entry area. Aside from the entry barriers or the differences between the markets “culture, economic situations” Walt Disney brought new opportunities (employment, market opportunities for local economy, new tourists) to the countries that they conducted business with. Walt Disney has a very strong product offering (branding), quality culture climate, and provided part-time and full time jobs to the local economy.
What were the lessons learned from previous entry opportunities:
1. Timing is everything – balance entrance with economic offsets
2. No risk equals low revenue returns
3. Be careful
Besides the mode of entry, another important element in Disney 's decision was exactly where in Europe to locate. There are many factors in the site selection decision, and a company carefully must define and evaluate the criteria for choosing a location.
Global marketing strategist considers the geographical scale, cultural differences, language, and overall perspective needs; more particular decision criterion should focus specifically on the country, type of industry, the company and the product or services. In today’s growing diverse society it only makes since to take the global approach to marketing when determining strategies to gain market entrance.
Walt Disney used these different marketing platforms to establish contact with different market segments capturing all ages both children and adult. This is just one of the many reasons why they are so successful today. This case introduces strategies that Walt Disney took to gain entry into different markets specifically entrant to: Tokyo, Hong Kong and Paris. This case also describes the many challenges that were faced by the company and the uniqueness’s of each towards each entry area. Aside from the entry barriers or the differences between the markets “culture, economic situations” Walt Disney brought new opportunities (employment, market opportunities for local economy, new tourists) to the countries that they conducted business with. Walt Disney has a very strong product offering (branding), quality culture climate, and provided part-time and full time jobs to the local economy.
What were the lessons learned from previous entry opportunities:
1. Timing is everything – balance entrance with economic offsets
2. No risk equals low revenue returns
3. Be careful