There is a total of 2 questions the first 500 word needs to be done by 10 pm tommorrow. They need to be submitted separately 1. Evaluate the case, and respond to each question that follows the case using both theory and practical managerial thinking. Disney, beginning on page 178 of the course textbook Your APA formatted Case Study should be a minimum of 500 words (not including the title and references pages). You are required to use a minimum of three peer-reviewed, academic sources that are no more than five years old (one of which may be your textbook). All sources used, including the textbook, must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted material must have accompanying citations. Page 178 Few companies have been able to connect with a specific audience as well as Disney has. From its founding in 1923, the Disney brand has always been synonymous with quality entertainment for the entire family. The company, originally founded by brothers Walt Disney and Roy Disney, stretched the boundaries of entertainment during the 20th century to bring classic and memorable family entertainment around the world. Beginning with simple black-and-white animated cartoons, the company grew into the worldwide phenomenon that today includes theme parks, feature films, television networks, theatre productions, consumer products, and a growing online presence. In its first two decades, Walt Disney Productions was a struggling cartoon studio that introduced the world to its most famous character ever, Mickey Mouse. Few believed in Disney’s vision at the time, but the smashing success of cartoons with sound and the first-ever full-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, in 1937 led, over the next three decades, to other animated classics including Pinocchio, Bambi, Cinderella, and Peter Pan, live action films such as Mary Poppins and The Love Bug, and television series like Davy Crockett. When Walt Disney died in 1966, he was considered the best-known person in the world. By then the company had expanded the Disney brand into film, television, consumer products, and Disneyland in southern California, its first theme park, where families could experience the magic of Disney in real life. After Walt’s death, Roy Disney took over as CEO and realized Walt’s dream of opening the 24,000 acre Walt Disney World theme park in Florida. By the time of Roy’s death in 1971, the two brothers had created a brand that stood for trust, fun, and entertainment that resonated with children, families, and adults through some of the most moving and iconic characters, stories, and memories of all time. The company stumbled for a few years without the leadership of its two founding brothers. However, by the 1980s, The Walt Disney Company was back on its feet and thinking of new ways to target its core family-oriented consumers as well as expand into new areas that would reach an older audience. It launched the Disney Channel, Touchstone Pictures, and Touchstone Televi ...

1. There is a total of 2 questions the first 500 word needs to be
done by 10 pm tommorrow. They need to be submitted
separately
1. Evaluate the case, and respond to each question that follows
the case using both theory and practical managerial thinking.
Disney, beginning on page 178 of the course textbook
Your APA formatted Case Study should be a minimum of 500
words (not including the title and references pages). You are
required to use a minimum of three peer-reviewed, academic
sources that are no more than five years old (one of which may
be your textbook). All sources used, including the textbook,
must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted material must have
accompanying citations.
Page 178
Few companies have been able to connect with a specific
audience as well as Disney has. From its founding in 1923, the
Disney brand has always been synonymous with quality
entertainment for the entire family. The company, originally
founded by brothers Walt Disney and Roy Disney, stretched the
boundaries of entertainment during the 20th century to bring
classic and memorable family entertainment around the world.
Beginning with simple black-and-white animated cartoons, the
company grew into the worldwide phenomenon that today
includes theme parks, feature films, television networks, theatre
productions, consumer products, and a growing online presence.
In its first two decades, Walt Disney Productions was a
struggling cartoon studio that introduced the world to its most
famous character ever, Mickey Mouse. Few believed in
Disney’s vision at the time, but the smashing success of
cartoons with sound and the first-ever full-length animated film,
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, in 1937 led, over the next

2. three decades, to other animated classics including Pinocchio,
Bambi, Cinderella, and Peter Pan, live action films such as
Mary Poppins and The Love Bug, and television series like
Davy Crockett.
When Walt Disney died in 1966, he was considered the best-
known person in the world. By then the company had expanded
the Disney brand into film, television, consumer products, and
Disneyland in southern California, its first theme park, where
families could experience the magic of Disney in real life. After
Walt’s death, Roy Disney took over as CEO and realized Walt’s
dream of opening the 24,000 acre Walt Disney World theme
park in Florida. By the time of Roy’s death in 1971, the two
brothers had created a brand that stood for trust, fun, and
entertainment that resonated with children, families, and adults
through some of the most moving and iconic characters, stories,
and memories of all time.
The company stumbled for a few years without the leadership of
its two founding brothers. However, by the 1980s, The Walt
Disney Company was back on its feet and thinking of new ways
to target its core family-oriented consumers as well as expand
into new areas that would reach an older audience. It launched
the Disney Channel, Touchstone Pictures, and Touchstone
Television. In addition, Disney featured classic films during
The Disney Sunday Night Movie and sold classic Disney films
on video at extremely low prices in order to reach a whole new
generation of children. The brand continued to expand in the
1990s as Disney tapped into publishing, international theme
parks, and theatrical productions that reached a variety of
audiences around the world.
Today, Disney is comprised of five business segments: The
Walt Disney Studios, which creates films, recording labels, and
theatrical performances; Parks and Resorts, which focuses on
Disney’s 11 theme parks, cruise lines, and other travel-related
assets; Disney Consumer Products, which sells all Disney-
branded products; Media Networks, which includes Disney’s
television networks such as ESPN, ABC, and the Disney

3. Channel; and Interactive Media.
Disney’s greatest challenge today is to keep a 90-year-old brand
relevant and current to its core audience while staying true to
its heritage and core brand values. Disney’s CEO Bob Iger
explained, “As a brand that people seek out and trust, it opens
doors to new platforms and markets, and hence to new
consumers. When you deal with a company that has a great
legacy, you deal with decisions and conflicts that arise from the
clash of heritage versus innovation versus relevance. I’m a big
believer in respect for heritage, but I’m also a big believer in
the need to innovate and the need to balance that respect for
heritage with a need to be relevant.”
Internally, Disney has focused on the Disney Difference—“a
value-creation dynamic based on high standards of quality and
recognition that set Disney apart from its competitors.” Disney
leverages all aspects of its businesses and abilities to touch its
audience in multiple ways, efficiently and economically.
Disney’s Hannah Montana provides an excellent example of
how the company took a tween-targeted television show and
moved it across its various creative divisions to become a
significant franchise for the company, including millions of CD
sales, video games, popular consumer products, box office
movies, concerts around the world, and ongoing live
performances at international Disneyland resorts like Hong
Kong, India, and Russia.
Disney also uses emerging technologies to connect with its
consumers in innovative ways. It was one of the first companies
to begin regular podcasts of its television shows as well as
release ongoing news about its products and interviews with
Disney’s employees, staff, and park officials. Disney’s Web site
provides insight into movie trailers, television clips, Broadway
shows, virtual theme park experiences, and much more. And the
company continues to explore ways to make Mickey Mouse and
his peers more text-friendly and virtually exciting.
According to internal studies, Disney estimates that consumers
spend 13 billion hours “immersed” with the Disney brand each

4. year. Consumers around the world spend 10 billion hours
watching programs on the Disney Channel, 800 million hours at
Disney’s resorts and theme parks, and 1.2 billion hours
watching a Disney movie—at home, in the theatre, or on their
computer. Today, Disney is the 63rd largest company in the
world with revenues reaching nearly $38 billion in 2008.
Questions
1. What does Disney do best to connect with its core
consumers?
2. What are the risks and benefits of expanding the Disney
brand in new ways?
2. Ebay, page 411
Your APA formatted Case Study should be a minimum of 500
words (not including the title and references pages). You are
required to use a minimum of three peer-reviewed, academic
sources that are no more than five years old (one of which may
be your textbook). All sources used, including the textbook,
must be referenced; paraphrased and quoted material must have
accompanying citations.
In 1995, Pierre Omidayar, a French-Iranian immigrant, wrote
the code for an auction Web site where everyone would have
equal access to a single global marketplace. Omidayar couldn’t
believe it when a collector bought the first item, a broken laser
pointer, for $14.83.* Soon the site grew into a broader auction
site where consumers could auction collectibles such as baseball
cards and Barbie dolls. The momentum continued when
individuals and small businesses discovered that eBay was an
efficient way to reach new consumers and other businesses.
Large companies began using eBay as a means of selling their
bulk lots of unsold inventory. Today, people can buy and sell
virtually any product or service, on the world’s largest online
marketplace. From appliances and computers to cars and real
estate, sellers can list anything as long as it is not illegal or
violates eBay’s rules and policies.

5. eBay’s success truly created a pricing revolution by allowing
buyers to determine what they would pay for an item; the result
pleases both sides because customers gain control and receive
the best possible price while sellers make good margins due to
the site’s efficiency and wide reach. For years, buyers and
sellers used eBay as an informal guide to market value. Even a
company with a new-product design that wanted to know the
going price for anything from a copier to a new DVD player
checked on eBay.
eBay has evolved to also offer a fixed-price “buy it now” option
to those who don’t want to wait for an auction and are willing to
pay the seller’s price. Sellers can also use the fixed price format
with a “best offer” option that allows the seller to counteroffer,
reject, or accept an offer.
The impact of eBay’s global reach is significant. In 2009, over
$60 billion worth of goods was sold on eBay—that’s almost
$2,000 worth every second. The site has 405 million registered
and 90 million active users and receives 81 million unique
visitors a month. More than 1 million members make their
living from the site. Yet eBay itself doesn’t buy any inventory
or own the products on its site. It earns its money by collecting
fees: an insertion fee for each listing plus a final-value fee
based on the auction or fixed price. For example, if an item
sells for $60.00, the seller pays 8.75 percent on the first $25.00
($2.19) plus 3.5 percent on the remaining $35.00 ($1.23).
Therefore, the final-value fee for the sale is $3.42. This pricing
structure was developed to attract high-volume sellers and deter
those who list only a few low-priced items. With eBay’s
expansion into a wide range of other categories—from boats and
cars and travel and tickets to health and beauty and home and
garden—collectibles now make up only a small percentage of
eBay sales.
eBay’s business model is based on connecting individuals who
otherwise would not be connected. It was the first example of
online social networking, years before Twitter and Facebook
existed, and consumer trust is a key element of its success.

6. While skeptics initially questioned whether consumers would
buy products from strangers, Omidayar believed people are
innately good, and eBay’s originators did two things well: they
worked hard to make their Web site a community, and they
developed tools to help reinforce trust between strangers. The
company tracks and publishes the reputations of both buyers
and sellers on the basis of feedback from each transaction. eBay
extended its feedback service in 2007 by adding four different
seller categories: items as described, communication, shipping
time, and shipping and handling rate. The ratings are
anonymous but visible to other buyers. Sellers with the highest
rankings appear at the top of search results.
eBay’s millions of passionate users also have a voice in all
major decisions the company makes through its Voice of the
Customer program. Every few months, eBay brings in as many
as a dozen sellers and buyers and asks them questions about
how they work and what else eBay needs to do. At least twice a
week the company holds hour-long teleconferences to poll users
on almost every new feature or policy. The result is that users
(eBay’s customers) feel like owners, and they have taken the
initiative to expand the company into ever-new territory.
*Some falsely believe that eBay was created to help Omidayar’s
girlfriend find and collect Pez candy dispensers. That story,
however, was created by an employee to help generate initial
interest in the company.
eBay continues to expand its capabilities to build its community
and connect people around the world by adding services,
partnerships, and investments. The company acquired PayPal,
an online payment service, in 2002 after eBay members made it
clear that PayPal was the preferred method of payment. The
acquisition lowered currency and language barriers and allowed
merchants to easily sell products around the world. eBay also
acquired Skype Internet voice and video communication service
in 2005, which allowed buyers and sellers to communicate over
voice or video free and generated additional ad revenue for
eBay. However, in 2009 eBay sold a majority stake in Skype to

7. focus more on its e-commerce and payments businesses, leading
the company to acquire Shopping.com, StubHub, Bill Me Later,
and others. eBay now has a presence in 39 markets around the
world.
Although eBay was a darling in the dot-com boom and has
achieved tremendous success since then, it is not without
challenges. These include a worldwide recession, increased
competition from Google, and difficulties as it expands globally
into tough markets such as China. Its CEO, Meg Whitman,
retired in 2008 after leading the company for 10 years and was
replaced by John Donahue. Under its new leadership, the
company continues to focus on one of its founding beliefs: a
strong commitment to and investment in technologies that help
people connect. Recent efforts to adopt mobile applications,
integrate with iPhones, and become more green have helped
take the company to the top of such lists such as Newsweek’s
Greenest Companies in America and Fortunes 100 Best
Companies to Work For in back-to-back years.
Questions
1. Why has eBay succeeded as an online auction marketplace
while so many others have failed?
2. Evaluate eBay’s fee structure. Is it optimal or could it be
improved? Why? How?
3. What’s next for eBay? How does it continue to grow when it
needs both buyers and sellers? Where will this growth come
from?
IT Today is a start-up company that is interested in providing
technological assistance to the average consumer that is
interested in all the newest technological gadgets (smartphone,
tablet, laptops, printers) but does not necessarily have the time
or background to maintain their operation. IT Today would like
to provide 24/7 technological assistance as well as assistance in
networking. The company goal is to put together this business
with the end result of a profitable business model.

8. MBA
5501, Advanced Marketing
5 alternative new product/service offerings with the idea of re-
capturing some of their lost customers.
Unit II Scholarly Activity
Marketing Plan: Company Overview and Market Research
Overview of Company
Market Research Strategies
Analyzing Macro-environment
-
PEST
Analysis
In this section of the Marketing Plan, you will introduce the
fictional company you have selected/created, allowing the
reader to understand the company, product/service, and any
other pertinent details. Marketing plans are compiled by
companies that have incorporated a solid marketing research
strategy in order to better understand the industry, competition,
and customer. Explain the research strategies that will be used
by your company. Finally, analyze the macro environment using
a PEST analysis. This will lead to a better understanding of how
changes in the political/legal, economic, socio-cultural, and
technological environment will affect your company. Your APA
formatted assignment should be a minimum of three (3) pages in
length (not including the title and references pages). Be sure to
use the subheadings as given above. Because this assignment is
a comprehensive plan, additional research and support should be
included.
You are required to use a minimum of three peer-reviewed,
academic sources that are no more than five years old.