International Business Strategies at Disneyland Paris

This assignment examines the international business strategies employed by Disneyland Paris. Students are tasked with analyzing various aspects of the park's operations, including its target market, competitive landscape, management practices, and adaptation to the French culture. The analysis should draw upon relevant theories and concepts from international business literature, considering factors such as globalization, cultural differences, and strategic decision-making in a foreign market.

Introduction to International
Business

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
1. THE FRENCH/EUROPEAN MARKET.....................................................................................1
a. France/Europe was an attractive location/market for Disneyland ..........................................1
b. The current key international business environment factors that affect the management of
Disneyland Paris..........................................................................................................................2
c. Recommendations on addressing the two key factors ............................................................3
2. LOCAL MARKET ADAPTATION V/S STANDARDISATION.............................................4
a. Analysing the various aspects of Disneyland Paris, evidencing the reasons for such
decisions and evaluating its success............................................................................................4
3. LEADERSHIP AND HR CHALLENGES..................................................................................5
a. The HR challenges faced by Disneyland Paris......................................................................5
b. Recommendations for Disney leaders to meet these challenges............................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
An organisation should consider various factors and market condition to introduce their
business in that particular desired market. Their management team of the organisation is highly
responsible to carry out a proper strategy by identifying and allocating all the resources. The
strategy must comply the policies and regulation stated by the company as well as the
government (Gilligan and Hird, 2012). The main aim of the strategy is to implement plans and
take actions in accordance to achieve all the objectives specified by the organisation. The report
is dealing with the international market information and their environmental factors that can
determine the benefits of doing the business.
1. THE FRENCH/EUROPEAN MARKET
a. France/Europe was an attractive location/market for Disneyland
There are various factors which are to be considered by an organisation to expand its
business in the overseas market. These factors are highly impacting the business operations and
activities that lead to positive or negative outcome. Similarly, the elements which attracted
Disney business to expand their market in France/Europe and to consider it as a fruitful place to
attain higher profits and revenue are: Openness to regional and international trade – It is ascertained that the market of Europe
is quite opened for any international company. The regulation stated by their government
is also friendly for the international organisations (Han, Nunes and Drèze, 2010). In
addition to this, they extremely support the foreign business enterprise to establish their
market within their boundaries. Considering this scenario, the management of Disneyland
also get attracted with the market of Europe/France that forces them to set up their
business in the particular location. Tourist destination – Concerning the statistical data of visitors addressing capacity of
France which states that the country has faced 84 million tourist in 2013 that is
comparatively higher than any other country. It is termed as the most famous and
attractive place for the visitors (Six reasons why France is top tourist destination, 2014).
In the case of Disneyland, it is remarkable that the company would face similar sort of
tourists as their customers.
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 Lesser competitors generate low competition – It is evident that there are few competitors
to Disneyland which are having similar business. In the context of Europe or France, the
main competitor that affects the business of Disneyland is Alton Tower, which is in
London. It was determined that it can influence the customer decision and the
profitability of the company (Patel and et. al., 2014). But further the result stated that
Disneyland is achieving higher profits as compare ton any of its competitors.
 Developed country – According to the present GDP rate of France and other countries of
Europe, it is specified that the economic condition is stable. The rules and regulations
defined by their policies and legal framework were also specific and confined which can
be easily comply by the foreign organisations. Europe and all the neighbour countries
were highly developed and their residents attain strong spending capacity that extremely
attracts the Disneyland marketers.
b. The current key international business environment factors that affect the management of
Disneyland Paris
The main environmental factors that can impact the business of Disneyland Paris are
determined in three forms which are political, technological and legal. Their level of impact is
highly responsible to define the capacity of revenue earning and maximizing sales. The
company's existence and level of attaining customer's attention mostly depends on such factors. Political Factors – These are the factors that are created and developed by the policies
and framework defined by the country's political parties. It includes the restriction by the
parties on the entry of international company in their local market. The political
structuring and power of ruling party are directly impacting the business of foreign
organisations (Peng, 2010). It is examined that in the context of Disneyland Paris, such
political factors have influenced the profit earning capacity and abilities of attracting
large number of customers. Disneyland is an American company and their decision of
entering the market of Paris was very strategically and effectual. Their main aim was to
earn profit by attracting the local residents and tourist which was on visit, but the
variation in the political framework was influencing their business. Legal Factors – It includes the factors that are mainly responsible to affect to the
business of international organisation. The differences in the legal framework of the local
market in which the company deals and the international market where it is likely to deal,
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is the reason that affects the decision of overseas company to invest in outside market. A
domestic firm must follow the laws and customs of its home country. It is marked that an
international enterprise faces a more difficult and complex task. It is essential that they
must follow all the laws stated in its home country but also the laws that are defined by
their host countries in which they operate. It is determined that business is affected by
both home and host country laws which are critically affected by the way international
enterprise conduct their business in the overseas market (Schaffer, Agusti and Dhooge,
2014). These laws determine structure to Disneyland management, the way of serving the
clients, the prices to be charge for all their services and the cost of essential inputs like
labour, facilities and advance technology. It is examined that the laws also affect the
location in terms of economic activities.
 Technological Factors – It is termed as one of the essential factors that regulate the
company to adopt new strategy and implement advance technology in their business
operations. These factors highly impact the customer's decision to spend their money on
gaining that product and service benefits. It is marked that Disneyland has to consider
this factor as most influencing because of the available competitors related with the
similar business has kind of same rides and entertainment services provided by the
Disneyland.
c. Recommendations on addressing the two key factors
Considering the market and business of Disneyland Paris, the two main key elements that
are to be addressed by implementing activities. It is necessary for the management of Disneyland
to comply and identify methods to overcome all the factors that can impact their business
processes (Tucker, 2011). The recommendations for the main two factors that highly influence
the international business of Disneyland are: Legal Factors – It is necessary for the foreign business enterprise to understand all the
regulation stated under the legal framework of the country from where the company
wants operates its business. National legal systems of every country vary dramatically
from each other and on the basis of historical, cultural, governmental and religious
reasons. Along with this, the rules as per the laws, the function defined by for the
lawyers, the burden of providing evidence or proof, the right to attain judicial information
and reviewing the orders by the court and, of course, the legal regulations are different
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from country to country. It is recommended that the company like Disneyland should
consider all such legal aspects before planning to establish their business in that area. It is
marked that it must comply each and every law specified for their business in order to
regulate their processes and functions in the country (Ambos and Håkanson, 2014). They
should develop a team whose responsibility is to maintain and monitor the level of
company's working in accordance to the legal framework stated by the country's
government.
 Technological Factors – The technological factors are the elements that deal with all the
technical support and specialized equipment’s adopted by the company. These factors are
highly related with the company's efficiency to attract the attention of the customers. It
includes the methods used by the company to draw the attention of customers and
processes that provide high benefits and satisfaction to their clients. In that case, it is
recommended that the management of Disneyland Paris should implement a regular
change and bring innovation in all their rides, entertainment areas and places in order to
create new ideas to give higher satisfaction to the customers.
2. LOCAL MARKET ADAPTATION V/S STANDARDISATION
a. Analysing the various aspects of Disneyland Paris, evidencing the reasons for such decisions
and evaluating its success
It is evident that there were various aspects which were considered by the management
team of Disneyland. They determine these perspectives on the basis of their information of local
and international market. Based on that information, the company has defined all the features and
aspects required for taking decisions regarding the standardisation and local adaptation
regulation and practices (Child, Faulkner and Tallman, 2015). The company is going to create
and implement a proper strategy to function in the desired market. Considering the aspects and
reasons behind the decision can be specified by following elements: Integration – It is termed as the Disneyland is highly focusing on maintaining their
infrastructure and controlling their risk management system. For this, the company
requires dealing and managing with the time, patience, understanding, willingness and
knowledge to accept and compromise the programs. The two main factors affecting the
integration plan of Disneyland are:
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◦ Insurance laws: The Walt Disney Company would have preferred to participate in
three-year contract as stated under the American standards, but could not do to same
since they were establishing in another country. However, the Walt Disney company
had to comply the French laws in their management.
◦ Sprinkler's laws: In the context of French law which deny implementing sprinklers in
the hotels of Disneyland and is not mandated under their laws and regulation. On the
other side, Disneyland believed to installation of sprinklers in their hotels is important
(Neilson, 2014). After the company' explanation, French government approved the
installation of the sprinklers. Financial – The centrepiece of the plan was to bring financial help from all the available
sources. Company launched a right issue for the public which was an offering that allows
rights to purchase shares below the market price. But to their existing shareholders, they
were available in the aforementioned proportion as per their present ownership. Changing of Name – The company actions to adapt and fulfil the European needs and
provide higher satisfaction to their customers, decided to the change the name from Euro
Disneyland to Disneyland Paris.
 Promotions – The method of promoting company's image and increase the customer
value, management of Disneyland Paris offered a lower priced entrance tickets (Kemper,
Engelen and Brettel, 2011). Further, it introduced the strategy of cutting the entry rate
and lowering the room rates for particular off season.
3. LEADERSHIP AND HR CHALLENGES
a. The HR challenges faced by Disneyland Paris
The issues related to the Human Resource (HR) are common in every organisation. It can
identify by analysing the problems faced by the company during a particular duration. These
issues can be in form of unskilled or semi-skilled workforces, lower level of satisfaction, low
quality services and inefficiency of labour. The abilities and capabilities of HR functioning is
highly depended their present level of skills and knowledge (Knežević and Wach, 2014). It is
ascertained that the accuracy and eligibility of workforces has direct relations with the company's
tasks and operations assigned to them. Disneyland Paris faced main challenges during improving
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the relations between their management and other staff members (Willsher, 2013). This
challenges were generally linked with their lower and middle level managers and that are: Innovative Ideas – Company's main aim was to provide great satisfaction to all of their
customers and maintain a high level of support during their visit in the park. The HR
management team was mainly responsible. Union leaders as incompetent and illiterate – Due to high incompetency and illiteracy
among the union leaders, their subordinates face a reduction in their ability to develop
and attain better skills. Low level of general knowledge – The inefficiency of the workforces was quite low in
Disneyland that can be reason behind the low level of general knowledge.
 Improper working conditions – The company also reported the problem of improper
working condition for all the staff engaged with the organisation.
b. Recommendations for Disney leaders to meet these challenges
According to the challenges identified, it was examined that the reasons behind such
issues were the inefficient strategy and improper structure of the HR. The stated challenges can
be easily overcome by adopting and implementing few methods. These methods will help the
HR team to refurbish the high efficiency and perfect performance level among their employees
(Eshun Jr, 2010). It was also ascertained that the process used by the top level management was
very traditional and has slow approach to achieve the targets. In that regard, the following are the
recommendations for defeating the challenges: Identify new talent – It is the duty of the HR manager of Disneyland to identify a fresh
and new talent among all the new recruits and applicants. The manager has to develop a
strategically interview and proper testing method in order to refine the best eligible
candidate for the position. Training and development – The company should adopt a new standard of training and
developing their staff and workforces. This will help in promoting their ability to
complete the task and attain proposed results from their working. This will assist them in
increasing their efficiency and performance level. The company can use both the methods
of On-the-Job and Off-the-Job training.
 Enhancing their quality – The management of the company should direct their efforts
classifying the quality required among the staff and implement specific structure for
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enhancing the employees' level of providing better quality services (Hohenthal, Johanson
and Johanson, 2014.).
CONCLUSION
This report is concluding about the necessity of defining a perfect strategy by an
organisation while planning to establish its market in foreign countries. The company needs to
consider various aspects and factors which are highly responsible and influencing the business of
the enterprise. The report also represents about the issues and negative situation faced by the
Disneyland Paris during its expansion and establishment in France.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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Child, J., Faulkner, D. and Tallman, S., 2015. Cooperative strategy: Managing alliances,
networks, and joint ventures. OUP Catalogue.
Eshun Jr, J. P., 2010. Business incubation as strategy. Business Strategy Series. 10(3). pp.156-
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relationship value in the foreign market. International Business Review. 23(1). Pp.4-19.
Kemper, J., Engelen, A. and Brettel, M., 2011. How top management's social capital fosters the
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Peng, M., 2010. Global Business. Cengage Learning.
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Cengage Learning.
Tucker, R. B., 2011. Strategy innovation takes imagination. Journal of Business Strategy. 22(3).
pp.23-27.
Online
Willsher, K., 2013. Disneyland Paris management's efforts to improve staff relations backfire.
[Online]. Available through:
<http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/dec/04/disneyland-paris-management-staff-
union-plan-backfires>. [Accessed on 14th April 2016]
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