Euro Disney

Team 2 Randy Antonuccio Evan Finkelstein Jennifer Kayal Amanda Meyrick Jason Sammartino Case Study: Euro Disney – The First 100 Days Background: Walt Disney started his vision with a pen and a mouse. In 1955, Walt’s dream of an amusement park that was clean and organized came true and Disney Land emerged. Soon, Disney World opened in Florida, and Tokyo Disney became the company’s first excursion across the Atlantic. With the success of California, Florida, and Tokyo, many expected the Disney charm to continue. When Euro Disney opened in Paris in 1992, the standard model of Disney theme parks, long considered to be a recipe for guaranteed financial success, soon ran into trouble. Disney faced new problems in daily operations, and thus forced Disney to look into their standard model of gold. Euro Disney Pros: There are several pros for Disney to open a theme park in Europe. The first would be the overwhelming response of the Parisians that took a poll and responded that they wanted a Disney park, giving Disney the demand to fill. Another pro would be the employment opportunities that a park could offer, allowing for more then 30,000 jobs that would give Disney a major profit. The French government was willing to provide the necessary contractual concessions, i.e. infrastructure to reach the park from different areas of Europe. Another huge advantage of opening a park in Europe was the number of tourists that visit Europe every year, 50 million to Paris alone. Disney would have a huge competitive advantage over other theme parks making its global awareness widely available.

Euro Disney Cons: The translation of American culture into European culture was the biggest issue. A failure to modify Disney’s standard to better fit the unique needs of European customers was a problem. Restaurants were not prepared for the eating habits and times of European customers. By not selling alcoholic beverages in the park, Euro Disney forced customers to leave the park to purchase them. Until Euro Disney, every Disney theme park was locally owned and operated. Euro Disney was the first Disney Park that had a significant amount of foreign ownership. Euro Disney’s strategy was to have ownership through newly structured companies in order to have larger share of financial return, while bringing in as many local investors as possible to reduce risk, the company owned a 49% share in Euro Disney. This resulted in management by remote control where decisions were often made by managers unfamiliar with daily operations of the park, and who did not have a strong understanding of the culture and the market. This made it harder to accurately understand the European Disney market, as well as reduced their ability to respond effectively to concerns by European shareholders. Decision: We believe it was a good decision to build Euro Disney despite its initial start up problems. This decision was based on the market potential, demands for a Disney park in Paris, and also the amount of government support. Disney was no stranger to entering a foreign market with its previous success in Tokyo Disney, and it’s global branding awareness of Disney products. The demand for another Disney park was needed, and Disney saw a perfect opportunity to fill that need. When you look at the overall picture, Euro Disney has the potential to become a successful follow up to the other 3 Disney

parks. It is clear that America and Europe have very different cultures. If Disney can realize that American trained French managers would have a greater understanding of the European way, then Disney will be able to make a more profitable and successful park. Service Across Cultures: Based on the Disney case, we see that the company needs to focus on certain areas before extending outside of the US. It should develop a better understanding of the European market, and meet the needs of its visitors. European investors should be a given a bigger role in planning and the decision making to provide more of a European perspective in managing the operations of the park. Disney should also focus on customer service as a whole. A greater effort should be made to identify and retain cast members that are compatible with the corporate values of Disney. Services should be made better to fit the needs of the multi-cultural European customer base. Communication in the workplace should be created to bridge the gap between American management and European cast members. Conclusion: By entering the European market, the Walt Disney Company is proving to the world that it has the will and potential to continue to spread the Disney vision that Walt himself started in 1955. The opening year cracks of Euro Disney should be seen as a learning experience, and will help Disney in its future endeavors, if they should choose to expand onto another continent. The key to the success of Euro Disney will lie in the balance of the European market blended with the American appeal.

Euro Disney

by amandameyrick on Jun 01, 2009

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Euro Disney — Document Transcript