Walt Disne, Case Study Example

Executive Summary

The paper has conducted a Disney case analysis to understand the marketing and management aspect of the company. A SWOT analysis was used that helped understand the strengths of Disney in terms of dominating the consumer market. The analysis also highlighted the weaknesses, opportunities, and threats that the company faces in the market.

The paper also analyzed how various aspects have positively or negatively affected Disney’s returns and popularity. Some examples include the impact that The Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser is a luxury hotel would have in terms of returns as well as the losses that Disney would make following the backlashed faced by the Mulan movie following the comments of the lead actors in supporting the use of force against protestors, which goes against human right.

Additionally, Disney commends officers from Xinjiang for their corporation and commendable work during the shooting, even though the same officers are in charge of the concentration camps where Muslims are being held and reeducated to wipe out their religious beliefs. The paper also contains a conclusion section that gives an overview of how the aforementioned aspects are likely to affect Disney in the end.

An excellent example is the backlash that Mulan received that resulted in the boycott of the movie, including petitions by different groups of people. Additionally, humanitarian groups also requested individuals to boycott the movies in support of the oppressed individuals in the concentrations camps in china as well and to advocate for the rights of the pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong that were met with resistance and forces.

Introduction

Walt Disney Company is an entertainment company based in the United States, started by Walter Disney and his brother Roy O Disney in 1923. Over time, the company has grown to become a $27 billion a year Global Entertainment giant (The Walt Disney Company, 2021). The aforestated brand of the company revolves around the value of a fun experience and entertainment that is always guaranteed with blockbusters such as Mickey Mouse that quickly became a household name (The Walt Disney Company, 2021). The company recognizes the Disney brand’s value in the marketing world and has used the brand to grow the company.

Disney responded to the public’s preferences by leveraging the company’s products that most appeal to the public across several consumer markets (Gilliland, 2021). Take, for example, a family that goes to see a Disney movie such as Mickey Mouse, and the family is so fascinated by the movie that they savor the moment or keep the fun of the movie rolling (MBA Knowledge Base, 2021). In such a case, Disney has developed merchandise that is often offered to families in every age group. The aforestated measure shows the excellent marketing technique that Disney has applied and has resulted in the company’s rapid growth (MBA Knowledge Base, 2021).

Walt Disney has taken control of four consumer markets due to management and marketing techniques (Blankenship, 2021). The aforestated consumer markets include but are not limited to the Walt Disney studios and motion pictures, the Disney theme parks, Disney T.V that target different groups of people, such as Disney junior that is meant for children (Blankenship, 2021). Lastly, Disney merchandise is often related or associated with Disney characters.  Channels and media networks and Disney consumer (merchandising) products (Blankenship, 2021).

The strategy of Walt Disney Company is to develop a consumer market for each of the characters that have been developed by the company (MBA Knowledge Base, 2021). An excellent example is the Pirates of the Caribbean, released in 2003 and became a blockbuster hit (The Numbers, 2021). The movie was meant for all the family members, and after that, a theme park for the movie was developed, and merchandise for the characters in the movie, such as Captain Jack sparrow that helped draw in a significant return. The company also introduced video games and comic books of the same genre (MBA Knowledge Base, 2021).

SWOT Analysis

The competition in the business world is constantly rising. It is thus essential for businesses to analyze to establish whether the companies can still keep up with the competition in the business market (MBA Knowledge Base, 2021). The best way for companies to conduct detailed analysis is by considering elements that are crucial to the competitive edge of every business. The aforestated elements include the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT analysis). The aforementioned analysis provides relevant information that helps establish a firm’s resources and capabilities in the competitive market (MBA Knowledge Base, 2021).

Strengths:

Localization of products.

Disney adapts its products to be able to suit the local tastes. An excellent example is the Disney theme park in Chine that was tailored to suit the needs of the local tastes (Jurevicius, 2021).

Diversified businesses.

The business is diversified in that it is found in five different segments of consumer markets. The segments include media networks, parks, and resorts (Jurevicius, 2021).

Brand reputation.

The Walt Disney brand has been recognized for quality for approximately ninety years. The brand is recognized for its theme parks, characters, channels, and movies (Jurevicius, 2021).

Weaknesses:

Heavy dependence on income from North America.

Disney is Ove reliant on the United States and Canada despite operating in over two hundred countries. Approximately seventy percent of the revenue comes from America (Jurevicius, 2021).

Few opportunities for significant growth through acquisitions.

The Walt Disney Company is quite large as such. There are fewer opportunities for the company to grow further without becoming concerned with the government (Jurevicius, 2021).

A tremendous workload

Disney has a tremendous workload that is continuously growing and could become impossible to manage if measures are not implemented to handle the company’s size (MBA Knowledge Base, 2021).

Opportunities:

Expansion of movie production to new countries.

Disney can move its production to countries like China, with excellent production infrastructure at lower costs, thus increasing income (Jurevicius, 2021).

Growth of paid TV industries in emerging economies.

Disney has entered the market for paid cable TV. The income or return for cable TV in areas such as the Asia Pacific region accounted for more than 50% market (Jurevicius, 2021).

positive government attitudes towards its operations

The government, such as the French government, has had a positive attitude towards Disney’s expansion and even contributed to the Euro Disneyworld project (MBA Knowledge Base, 2021).

Threats:

Stiff competition.

Disney faces stiff competition in the consumer market from other providers. An excellent example is theme parks that face competition from local competitors with the ability to provide better-adapted products (Jurevicius, 2021).

Rise in cases of piracy.

Disney’s income suffers because of the rise in piracy cases that have been enabled by advancements in technology, such as fast internet speeds (Jurevicius, 2021).

Growth of online streaming sites.

Online streaming also threatens the income earned by Disney because, compared to cable TV, managing online streaming sites are relatively cheap (Jurevicius, 2021).

Case Analysis

Topic 2

The Disney live-action Mulan has been the point of debate for the alleged support of Xinjiang’s inhumane activities of putting Muslims in concentration camps and reeducating them to ride the religion (Ward, 2021). The reason for the backlash is that part of the movie was filmed in Xinjiang, and the credits; Disney thanked the officers and the people of Xinjiang for the support and corporation during the movie’s filming (Ward, 2021).

Additionally, the film has also been controversial because of the support that the lead actor, Liu Yifei, posted her support for the Hong Kong police using force against pro-democracy protesters (BBC, 2021). The events raise a serious question as to the commitment of Disney to promoting the rights of individuals (BBC, 2021). Additionally, the events raise a serious question on the management of Disney for having supported such acts (BBC, 2021).

The backlash that surrounded Mulan made the movie a failure I the box office, with a significant number of people failing to turn up to watch the movie since it was considered to support the inhumane activities that were going on in China, such as holding Muslims in concentration camps. Additionally, the public was not impressed by Disney management for not addressing Liu Yifei’s comment that seemed to support oppression over the people of Hong Kong. The movie was thus considered a flop receiving a lower rating than the cartoon version of the movie (LiMato, 2021).

Topic 3

The Walt Disney Company’s popularity and success can be attributed to the company’s strategic management. The mission and vision statement of Walt Disney Company is tailored in such a way that it relates to the innovation of Disney (Williams, 2021). From a theoretical point of view, the mission statement points to the company’s direction, whereas the vision statement determines the growth and development of the company.

It is noteworthy that its mission and vision emphasize its leadership (Williams, 2021). However, just like any other company, Disney can modify the mission and vision to better suit the needs of the business. It is essential to point out that Disney’s mission statement accommodates the theme parks and all manner of entertainment since it is one of the world’s leading entertainment producers (Williams, 2021).

Topic 5

Disney’s Hollywood Studios was developed as a theme park inspired by show business activities (Niles, 2021). Additionally, the studio was also built as an operating production studio. As a theme park, the studio was supposed to give those who visited them a sneak peek into the development of movies (Niles, 2021). The studio had a production service with television production services, and animation facility branch, and a functioning backlot as a production service.

The outbreak of Covid 19 has sine seen the studio close down. One of the primary reasons the studio closed down is because it had to be in line with covid 19 regulations that resulted in lockdowns amongst other regulations. The outbreak cost Disney approximately $2.4 billion in losses (Whitten, 2021).

Topic 6

The Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser is a luxury hotel built by Disney in the theme of star wars and is set to open on the 1^st of March 2022 (Baver, 2021). The hotel is a family-friendly environment that allows all the hotel guests to take up the role of their favorite Star Wars characters (Baver, 2021).

The hotel has received a lot of attention from several star wars fans who are eager to step into the role of star wars characters upon the finishing of the hotel (Baver, 2021). The positive impact of the said hotel is that it will raise the income levels of Disney due to the level of attention that the hotel has received before it is even finished (Baver, 2021). The only problem with the hotel is that star wars fans believe that it does not meet the expected standards, and thus fans have canceled their booking to the hotel (Cannioto, 2021).

The projections that have been published by Bloomberg Opinion suggest that the luxury hotel will invent a new way for Americans to spend money, particularly the rich populations of America. The returns are also expected to be good, considering that the household incomes have gone up (Bloomberg, 2021). This makes it possible for almost everyone to afford the experience.  The cost that has been slapped on the experiences on the luxury hotel include a $5,000 Star Wars adventure and a $450,000 off-planet trip (Bloomberg, 2021).

Lastly, it is noteworthy that despite the heavy price tag placed on the tickets of the luxury hotel, the highly anticipated costly Star Wars hotel experience has been reported to sell out in the first four months of its announcement (Slade, 2021). This is even though the hotel opened its doors In March 2022 (Slade, 2021).

Topic 7

Disney is restructuring its media and focusing its approach on the streaming network. It is noteworthy that On Monday, the firm said that it would consolidate its media companies into a single organization that would handle all content distribution and sales. The company’s shares rose to more than 5% upwards after the announcement.

Disney took the approach as a response to the Covid 19 outbreak, which had since the outbreak crippled theaters forcing a significant number of movie lovers to turn their focus to streaming (Whitten, 2021). It is noteworthy that Disney boasts 100 million paid customers across all of its streaming services as of August, with Disney+ accounting for more than half of those (Whitten, 2021).

When asked about the project and the role Covid 19 played in stirring Disney towards the online platform, CEO Bob Chapek responded by saying that, “I would not characterize it as a response to Covid” (Whitten, 2021). Instead, he stated, “I would say Covid simply accelerated the rate at which we made this transition, but this transition was going to happen anyway.” (Whitten, 2021).

Conclusion

Firstly, the actions of Disney in filming part of Mulan in Xinjiang and even thanking and commending the officers at Xinjiang was a wrong move by Disney and the management (Nguyen, 2021). Secondly, the lead actor in Mulan showed support to the Hong Kong police, who were using force against citizens who were protesting for democracy also seemed inhumane and came out as an opposition to human rights (Nguyen, 2021). The actions could negatively affect Disney’s income from the movie as many people started to boycott the movie altogether.

According to Trinh Nguyen, there have been numerous calls for supporters and the public to boycott the new movie by Disney because of the comments that the lead actor posted in support of the actions of the Hong Kong police that were considered inhumane (Nguyen, 2021).

Secondly, the paper has established that the strategic success of Disney is tailored to the mission and vision of the company, which does not only ensure leadership but also promotes the need for the company to be the leading company in terms of promoting entertainment. The strong vision and mission ensure that the employees know the company’s direction. The employees thus apply themselves to ensure that the vision and mission of the company are met.

Thirdly, Disney’s Hollywood Studios were built as a theme park and a production service center. The studios, however, closed because of the Covid 19 outbreak. This led to a loss for Disney since the theme park could not earn back the money used in its contraction. Additionally, with Covid 19 still a menace, there is no definite date when the park might be opened.

Fourth, The Star Wars: Galactic Starcruiser is a luxury hotel built by Disney in the theme of star wars meant to be the most significant innovation by Disney. Many star wars fans have for a while been looking forward to the opening of the luxurious hotel for a two-day star wars experience, with a significant number of fans having booked for the journey.

The hotel’s launch, set for March 1, 2022, will see Disney raise a lot of income from the ticket sale. In addition, just like other Disney products, the hotel and the theme are family-friendly and can accommodate individuals of different ages, from children to adults. That said, t is noteworthy that several star wars fans who seem underwhelmed by the hotel’s theme seem to be canceling their tickets, which could spell disaster for Disney, should the trend continue.

Lastly, the outbreak of Covid 19 has since seen all movie theaters close down for the duration of the outbreak. The closure of the movie theaters has spelled losses for Disney, considering that the fans are not buying movie tickets and merchandise. A significant number of the fans have moved from the theaters to the online platforms where they watch movies by subscribing to streaming channels.

Because of the preceding statement, the decision by Disney to move from the theaters to the online platform through streaming services such as Disney+ may be perfect for the organization. The reason is that the organization can appeal to the fans of Disney programs to subscribe to the streaming platforms, which could result in high income by Disney.

According to an article by Jie Yee Ong, currently, Disney owns the lion’s share of the programs produced by Hollywood. The fact that Disney opts to strengthen its dominance in Hollywood by joining the streaming platform will prove worthwhile by raising the income earned by Disney from the subscriptions on its media platforms.

References

BBC, B. (2021). Liu Yifei: Mulan boycott urged after star backs HK police. BBC News. Retrieved 8 December 2021, from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-49373276.

Blankenship, S. (2021). Walt Disne alt Disney World as a Model for Br orld as a Model for Brand Mark and Marketing: An IMC eting: An IMC Approach to Build Br o Build Brand Loyalty (Honors Thesis). University of Mississippi.

Bloomberg, B. (2021). Bloomberg. Bloomberg.com. Retrieved 8 December 2021, from https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2021-08-11/disney-s-star-wars-experience-taps-into-america-s-rich.

Cannioto, M. (2021). ‘Star Wars’ Fans Are Canceling Their Reservations For  Galactic Starcruiser – Here’s Why – Inside the Magic. Inside the Magic. Retrieved 8 December 2021, from https://insidethemagic.net/2021/12/starcruiser-cancelations-mc1/.

Gilliland, N. (2021). How Disney World has mastered customer experience. econsultancy.com. Retrieved 7 December 2021, from https://econsultancy.com/how-disney-world-has-mastered-customer-experience/.

Jurevicius, O. (2021). Walt Disney SWOT analysis – SM Insight. Strategic Management Insight. Retrieved 8 December 2021, from https://strategicmanagementinsight.com/swot-analyses/walt-disney-swot-analysis/.

LiMato, N. (2021). Critics and fans dislike new Mulan movie, claiming it is a flop. Athens Oracle. Retrieved 8 December 2021, from https://athensoracle.com/6197/ae/the-new-mulan-movie-is-a-flop/.

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Nguyen, T. (2021). Disney’s Mulan Controversy Is A Harrowing Reminder Of Human Rights Abuses. The Organization for World Peace. Retrieved 8 December 2021, from https://theowp.org/disneys-mulan-controversy-is-a-harrowing-reminder-of-human-rights-abuses/.

Niles, R. (2021). Theme park history: A short history of Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Theme Park Insider. Retrieved 8 December 2021, from https://www.themeparkinsider.com/flume/201308/3600/.

Slade, R. (2021). Disney’s Star Wars hotel, Galactic Starcruiser, is sold out for its first 4  months. delicious.com.au. Retrieved 8 December 2021, from https://www.delicious.com.au/travel/article/disney-reveals-pricing-new-star-wars-hotel-galactic-starcruiser/l1gdi49z.

The Numbers, T. (2021). Pirates of the Caribbean Franchise Box Office History – The  Numbers. The Numbers. Retrieved 7 December 2021, from https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/Pirates-of-the-Caribbean#tab=summary.

The Walt Disney Company, T. (2021). About The Walt Disney Company. thewaltdisneycompany.com. Retrieved 7 December 2021, from https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/about/.

Ward, A. (2021). The international controversy over Disney’s Mulan, explained. Vox. Retrieved 8 December 2021, from https://www.vox.com/culture/2020/9/9/21427978/mulan-disney-controversy-explained-uighurs-xinjiang.

Whitten, S. (2021). Disney said Covid-related costs shaved $2.4 billion from parks’  operating income in latest quarter. cnbc.com. Retrieved 8 December 2021, from https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/12/coronavirus-hurt-theme-parks-costing-disney-2point4-billion.html.

Williams, A. (2021). Walt Disney Company’s Mission Statement & Vision Statement (An Analysis) – Panmore Institute. Panmore Institute. Retrieved 8 December 2021, from http://panmore.com/walt-disney-company-mission-statement-vision-statement-analysis.