Disney dumbest bussines moment
MG1 Assignment 2: Chapter 6 – Decision Making
I have chosen for the dumbest moment in business number 53 of the year 2007. http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/biz2/0701/gallery.101dumbest_2007/53.html Disney did reject a request of two parents who lost their son who was dead born. They wanted to put an image of Winnie the Pooh on the gravestone of their child. Disney didn’t give permission to them for putting an image of Winnie on the gravestone. Stonemason Aaron Clarke went to the media with this story and told reporters that Disney warned him because carving an image of Winnie the Pooh would infringe the copyright. After that Disney regretted their action and gave permission to the parents to use Winnie for the gravestone.
So, Disney made a stupid decision in my opinion, which led to a lot of negative media attention. But why did Disney make this decision? For the company it was an un-structured problem, this includes that the ‘problem’ was new or unusual. The decision that the company made was, I think, a bounded rationally decision because the company has it’s own copyright were they have to stay by. Copyright includes that someone cannot just use an image or picture, which don’t belong to him or her. Disney owns the concept Winnie de Pooh. The easiest way to solve this ‘problem’ was saying no to the parents because of copyright. Off course could Disney make an exception, this situation was a very extraordinary situation and in my opinion it was a very nice action of Disney if they gave permission in the first instance.
Decision-making errors and biases play a role in this dumb management moment. The managers of Disney are guilty of Anchoring bias. Anchoring bias includes that managers rely too much on one rule or piece of information. In this case the managers were looking too much at the copyright and not at what would be the right thing to do. Another one is framing bias. This includes that the managers or decision makers highlight certain aspect of a
I have chosen for the dumbest moment in business number 53 of the year 2007. http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/biz2/0701/gallery.101dumbest_2007/53.html Disney did reject a request of two parents who lost their son who was dead born. They wanted to put an image of Winnie the Pooh on the gravestone of their child. Disney didn’t give permission to them for putting an image of Winnie on the gravestone. Stonemason Aaron Clarke went to the media with this story and told reporters that Disney warned him because carving an image of Winnie the Pooh would infringe the copyright. After that Disney regretted their action and gave permission to the parents to use Winnie for the gravestone.
So, Disney made a stupid decision in my opinion, which led to a lot of negative media attention. But why did Disney make this decision? For the company it was an un-structured problem, this includes that the ‘problem’ was new or unusual. The decision that the company made was, I think, a bounded rationally decision because the company has it’s own copyright were they have to stay by. Copyright includes that someone cannot just use an image or picture, which don’t belong to him or her. Disney owns the concept Winnie de Pooh. The easiest way to solve this ‘problem’ was saying no to the parents because of copyright. Off course could Disney make an exception, this situation was a very extraordinary situation and in my opinion it was a very nice action of Disney if they gave permission in the first instance.
Decision-making errors and biases play a role in this dumb management moment. The managers of Disney are guilty of Anchoring bias. Anchoring bias includes that managers rely too much on one rule or piece of information. In this case the managers were looking too much at the copyright and not at what would be the right thing to do. Another one is framing bias. This includes that the managers or decision makers highlight certain aspect of a