The Walt Disney Company were faced with cultural problems in opening theme parks outside the U.S. They wanted Mickey Mouse to grow international bounds in their foreign theme parks. The other countries did not want the American icon Mickey Mouse as a representation of their culture. They had to develop new attractions, lower admission prices and a massive marketing campaign to increase attendance. Disney had to learn and understand culture in the countries so it can appear universal, events, trends, and cuisine was their expressing their message. They had to understand the culture such as the fourth floor was passed over at all hotels because of a culture belief that the number four was bad luck in Hong Kong. One of the Disneyland ballroom…
As we all know Walt Disney is an American icon, and has been since the 1930s (Ferrell, Hirt, & Ferrell). With the popularity of the company in American, that made the company want to expand to other countries. The two Walt Disney parks were started first in California and second in Florida (Ferrell, Hirt, & Ferrell). Walt Disney seen how well they were doing, and decided to spread the business to Paris and France 10 years later. There was also a Disney that opened in Hong Kong in 2005 (Ferrell, Hirt, & Ferrell).The Disney parks that were opened in the other countries were not performing well.…
Since opening in 1992, Euro Disney, or currently recognized as Disneyland Paris, has become one of the largest tourist attractions in all of Europe. Though touted as one, if not the happiest places on earth, financially it is not much but a mirage. Euro Disney has not turned a profit since 2008, and has already had to be bailed out on 3 other occasions over its 2 decade existence. To many investors, this does not surprise them that it is happening a fourth time. Euro Disney has followed the same cycle that all products go through. This is known as the International Product Life Cycle Theory. Much like the regular product life cycle, the international theory adds on three stages, new product, maturing product and standardized product. In 1992, Euro Disney would have been going through the new product stage of the cycle. A theme park of the magnitude that Disney has to offer would have been completely different than anything already existing. In this sense, it was innovative in what it had to offer. This allowed Disney to uniquely place their product within the European marketplace. Eventually over the next couple decades, demand for the Disney product slowly started to decline. This is the company entering into the mature product stage. There are many factors that can go into this transition,…
Euro Disney S.C.A is a French public company that owns the well-known Euro Disneyland Paris. I have chosen to study this company because it was the subject of many controversies .The French society considers that by encouraging the American brand ``Walt Disney`` will unfortunately lead to `cultural imperialism`. French media and labor unions mounted protests against ``Walt Disney`` because the American managers tried to enforce specific rules without taking into consideration cultural differences. A journalist in the French newspaper ``Le Figaro`` wrote, “I wish with all my heart that the rebels would set fire to Euro Disneyland."[i] It is not easy at all to import a brand especially when USA and France have different cultural and economical backgrounds, codes, regulations and laws. I find it challenging to understand how Euro Disney S.C.A succeeded to pursue its goal and what assurances they gave to its stakeholders as the environment becomes more and more volatile.…
Walt Disney is part of few different industries. In other words its competitors are other TV channels, theme parks, and hotels. The theme park and resorts industry has growth of 1.1 percent a year. The growth of the industry as a whole had lost much revenue and profits during the recession. Weather conditions can also be a significant factor within this industry, such as when it’s cold or raining people would not attend on those days. There are many economic factors that affect this…
Tokyo's overwhelming success encouraged Disney to conquer the European market. They felt that they were able to evoke international appeal of the Disney concept and it would not be a hard task to wet their feet in Europe.…
Every kid and NFL star after winning a Superbowl has said the words “I'm going to Disneyland” or “mommy can we please go to Disneyland” you get my point. Everyone around the world dreams of Disneyland at some point of their life. “Summer means happy times and good sunshine. It means going to the beach, going to Disneyland, having fun”(Wilson). Many people look at Disneyland as the happiest place on earth.Disneyland to many is comfort in every way the charicters highfives, the pictures with Mickey who could think of a better time? Walt Disney created Disneyland so he could see people smile and that's exactly what he did. “Disneyland is a work of love. We didn't go into Disneyland just with the idea of making money”(Disney). If you walk into Disneyland you won’t see a frown maybe the kid who wants and ice cream or someone who got sunburned but that frown won't last for long no one can keep a frown at Disneyland. Disneyland was created with the pursuit of…
b. Pricing strategy was not accomplished correctly. Many Europeans would not pay the prices that Euro Disney was charging. In addition, Europeans do not vacation as long as Americans do.…
The case introduces the Disney Parks that were opened outsides of the United States (Tokyo, Paris). It reveals the reasons why it is successful in Japan and failing in French. Then it focuses on the park which was opened in Hong Kong. Managers tried their best to avoid the mistakes they made in French and thought about culture differences as many as possible. However, it still produced some negative effects, such as The Lunar New Year Holiday Fiasco, during consumers because of inappropriate operation. Thus, Disney tried to get the consumers back with using some useful strategies, such as new promotion with lower price, external liaison with mainland travel agent.…
First, Euro Disney’s poor performance due to the management lacked on understanding of the cultural difference between two nations. Disney goes (very deep) into the American consciousness, its themes were chosen to appeal to a wide variety of American interests and tastes, its parks were filled with images of American culture, and its cartoon characters had become staples of the American youth experience. In conclusion, Disney is too "Americanized." Although Euro Disney did some work to adapt, it is not good enough to convince consumers. After all, since Paris is the culture capital of Europe, French think their culture being deserved more respect.…
Disney failed to realize that while its strategy in Japan worked for Japan, its Japan strategy was not going to work in Paris. Disney decided to photo copy their operation and learned that was not acceptable. In 1992, several unforeseen issues arose that Disney was not prepared to handle. There were transatlantic airfare wars and currency movements that lead people to avoid traveling to Paris. Also, Disney was expecting a flocking of French people to visit the park; yet again basing their assumptions on the performance of the Japanese park (Cateora & Graham, 2007).…
Disney began the venture of internationalizing its theme park operations with the opening of Tokyo Disneyland in 1983. This park is regarded as one of the most successful amusement parks not only in the Disney operating parks but in the world. Disney’s highly successful operation in Tokyo meant that there could be international success outside the United States. Disney attempted expansion in France which was the largest consumer of Disney products outside of the United States. In 1992, Disney opened Disneyland Resort Paris. However, the park was much less successful than its counterpart in Japan. This case explores Disney's efforts to open its third park outside the United States; Hong Kong Disneyland.…
Euro Disneyland executives and advisors failed to see the signs of the approaching European recession. The recession caused French and European disposable incomes to shrink, causing families to think twice about taking an expensive trip to Euro Disneyland.…
Financial losses became so massive at EuroDisney that the president had to structure a rescue package to put EuroDisney back on firm financial ground. Many French bankers questioned the initial financing but the Disney response was that their views reflected the cautious. Old world thinking of Europeans who didn’t understand U.S.-style free market financing. After some acrimonious dealings with French banks a two-year financial plan was negotiated. Disney management rapidly revised their marketing plan and introduced strategic and tactical changes in the hope of “doing it right” this time.…
Disneyland is a fascinating worldwide industry, and also the most successfully run theme park in the world. When it comes to theme parks, Disney will be the first thing that comes to everyone’s mind. Because of the great success of Disney, researchers want to look into the reasons why it is so important and so attractive to the entertainment industry.…