Business on Walt Disney Company - Assignment

Running head: BUSINESS REPORT
Business Report
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

1BUSINESS REPORT
Executive Summary
This report will discuss about the company “The Walt Disney Company” which is
operational in the entertainment industry. The report will begin by introducing the company
and will discuss about the various aspects of the organization. The two things for which the
company is famous will also be discussed in this report. Finally, the report will conclude with
a discussion of the negative aspects of the company.

2BUSINESS REPORT
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
“The Walt Disney Company”....................................................................................................3
Disney and movies.....................................................................................................................5
Disney and theme parks.............................................................................................................5
“Cross Cultural Management”...................................................................................................6
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................6
References..................................................................................................................................8

3BUSINESS REPORT
Introduction
The “business world in the present times” has become much more diversified than it
was in earlier times and “it is a reflection of this particular fact that various kinds of new
industries have emerged in the present times” (Greenfield and Osborn 2016). Thus, the
entertainment industry has emerged as one of the major ones in the present times and
includes not only the movie industry but also the related businesses of the theme parks and
others (Vogel 2014). Furthermore, this is one of the nascent industries of the world and seeks
to derive its profitability from the need of the people to effectively utilize the very little time
they from their hectic routine (Greenfield and Osborn 2016). This report will focus on the
company “The Walt Disney Company” and will discuss the things which they excel at and
the things for which they are criticized.
“The Walt Disney Company”
“The Walt Disney Company” founded by Walt Disney himself in the year 1923 is one
of the most popular companies of the world (Disneyland Resort 2018). It is interesting to note
that the company was originally called by the name of “Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio”
because of the fact that it was founded by the two Disney brothers (Disneyland Resort 2018).
It is significant to note that during the initial days of its foundation the company focused on
the direction as well as the production of various kinds of cartoons and television pieces
(Österle and Kuhn 2017). The concept of the theme park came much later in the 1950s when
Walt Disney in order to fulfill the childish whims of his daughter designed the park
(Disneyland Resort 2018). The theme park had been enjoying a considerable amount of
success since then and “it is a reflection of this particular fact that the theme parks are one of
the most visited locations of the world” (Österle and Kuhn 2017). The business organization
after enjoying a considerable “amount of success in the nation of the United States of

4BUSINESS REPORT
America expanded into the other nations of the world” and “thus in the present times it is
seen that in almost all the major countries of the world there is at least one theme park related
to the company” under consideration here (Österle and Kuhn 2017). Furthermore, in the later
part of the 20st century the company under consideration moved to the business of the
production of movies as well and this particular venture of the company under consideration
here is called by the name of “Walt Disney Productions” (O'Hagan and Mangiron 2013). The
company under consideration here in a bid to strengthen its position in the entertainment
industry has undergone collaboration with the company “Fox Entertainment” and in future
intends to do the same with Netflix (Disneyland Resort 2018). The company under
consideration here is the “24th largest business organization of the world in terms of the
annual revenue which it generates on yearly basis and for the year 2017 the net turnover of
the company was $178 Billion” (Forbes.com 2018). The below given figure provides the
financial details of the company,
Figure 1: “Financial statistics of Disney”
Source: “Factset, Bloomberg, S&P Cap IQ; Forbes”

5BUSINESS REPORT
Disney and movies
“The Walt Disney Company” is known for the quality of the movies produced by it
not only in the 21st century but also in the latter part of the 20st century (O'Hagan and
Mangiron 2013). It is “a reflection of this particular fact” that some of the most preferred
movies of the children “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, “The Adventures of Ichabod
and Mr. Toad”, Treasure Island, Cinderella, Peter Pan, “Alice in Wonderland”, “The Story of
Robin Hood and His Merrie Men”, Frozen, “The Jungle Book”, “The Lion King”, Finding
Nemo, “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” and others (Disneyland Resort 2018). In
addition to these the company under consideration here has subsidiaries or collaborations
with the other major production houses of the present times like “Marvel Studios, Lucas film,
Touchstone Pictures, Hollywood Pictures, Miramax Films, Dimension Films, ESPN Films”
and others (Disneyland Resort 2018). Therefore, it can be said that the company under
consideration here provides a wide range of movies from different genres to the children and
it is precisely this particular feature which has enabled “the company under consideration to
achieve the kind of success which it had attained in the recent times” (Tsang et al. 2012).
Disney and theme parks
“The Walt Disney Company” is also known for the various theme parks related to it
which, though initially started in the nation of the United States of America can now be found
in almost every major nation of the world (O'Hagan and Mangiron 2013). As already
mentioned the concept of the theme park was the brain child of Walt Disney and the first
Disneyland theme park started in California was designed by him (Disneyland Resort 2018).
However, for the other nations of the world the design as well as the mode of operation of the
theme park is drastically “different from the one in the nation of the United States of
America, keeping in view the differences in the cultural as well as the social backgrounds of

6BUSINESS REPORT
the two nations” (O'Hagan and Mangiron 2013). The theme parks were originally designed
with the primary purpose to entertain the children however in the present times it is seen that
these theme parks have become popular with people from all ages and nations and this is one
of the primary reasons for the ever increasing popularity of the various theme parks related to
“The Walt Disney Company”.
“Cross Cultural Management”
The concept of “cross cultural management” comes when a particular business
organization is trying to conduct its business in other nations of the world which have
different cultures as well as social background (Tung 2015). It is significant to note that the
factor of “cross cultural management” becomes one of primary importance when a business
organization is conducting its business across borders and an ineffective consideration of this
particular factor can “hamper the interests of the concerned business organization in a
significant manner” (Tsang et al. 2012). “The Walt Disney Company” in the last decade of
the 20th century opened its theme parks in the other nations of the world like France, Japan
and others other the one which it had in the United States of America (Disneyland Resort
2018). However, “The Walt Disney Company” failed to take into consideration the cultural
differences between these nations and the culture which it initially had followed in its own
home nation of the United States of America (Tsang et al. 2012). As per the opinion of many
scholars this “is one of the primary reasons for the lack of success of the company under
consideration in the various European as well as Asian nations” (Tsang et al. 2012).
Conclusion
The entertainment industry “has emerged as one of the most important industries of
the world in the recent times and it is generally seen that the majority of the people like to
take the help of the services provided by this particular industry” to pass their leisure time.

7BUSINESS REPORT
This is “one of the primary reasons for the success” attained by the companies like “The Walt
Disney Company” in the recent times. It is significant to note the initial success attained by
the company in the domain of cartoon making and other similar activities encouraged the
company under consideration to move into other spheres of business like the theme parks and
the movie production.

8BUSINESS REPORT
References
Disneyland Resort. 2018. Disneyland® Official Site. [online] Available at:
https://disneyland.disney.go.com/ [Accessed 9 May 2018].
Forbes.com. 2018. Forbes Welcome. [online] Available at:
https://www.forbes.com/companies/walt-disney/ [Accessed 10 May 2018].
Greenfield, S. and Osborn, G., 2016. Contract and control in the entertainment industry:
Dancing on the edge of heaven. Routledge.
O'Hagan, M. and Mangiron, C., 2013. Game Localization: Translating for the global digital
entertainment industry (Vol. 106). John Benjamins Publishing.
Österle, B. and Kuhn, M.M., 2017. Disneyland in B2B? Toward Physical Brand Worlds in
Industrial Marketing. In Creating Marketing Magic and Innovative Future Marketing
Trends (pp. 729-742). Springer, Cham.
Tsang, N.K., Lee, L.Y., Wong, A. and Chong, R., 2012. THEMEQUAL—Adapting the
SERVQUAL scale to theme park services: A case of Hong Kong Disneyland. Journal of
Travel & Tourism Marketing, 29(5), pp.416-429.
Tung, N.S.,2015 The Customers. Perception of Glocalization on Theme Park: The Case
Study of Hong Kong Disneyland.
Vogel, H.L., 2014. Entertainment industry economics: A guide for financial analysis.
Cambridge University Press.