International Business: Ocean Park's Competitive Strategy Analysis

This case study examines Ocean Park's response to the competitive threat posed by Disneyland's entry into the Hong Kong market. Initially lacking a strong brand image and facing declining visitor numbers, Ocean Park, under the leadership of Allan Zeman, undertook a major rebranding initiative to differentiate itself. The study explores how Ocean Park avoided direct competition with Disneyland by focusing on a distinct theme, emphasizing real animal attractions, and offering competitive pricing strategies. It analyzes how Ocean Park capitalized on Disneyland's presence by targeting tourists visiting both parks, offering special packages, and leveraging seasonal events. The case highlights the importance of market segmentation, strategic pricing, and branding in turning a potential business threat into a significant opportunity for growth and success in the international market. The case also reflects on the challenges faced by local companies when competing with multinational giants and the importance of adaptability and innovation.

Running Head: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
International Business Management
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Table of Contents
1. Why was Ocean Park able to turn a threat into an opportunity?.................................................3
2. Ocean Park made the decision not to complete head to head with Disneyland. Will this
strategy always work and local companies space multinational Giants? Explain...........................4
3. How can Ocean Park capitalise on Disneyland's presence?........................................................4
Reference List..................................................................................................................................6

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1. Why was Ocean Park able to turn a threat into an opportunity?
Since, established in the year 1977, Ocean Park was the only investment park in the local area,
they suffered from lack of competition and because of which did not feel the need to upgrade
themselves or develope the brand image. After the emergence of business investment Park
comma its feel as if they did not have a brand image at all. It is worth mentioning that the brand
logo of Ocean Park at that time was symbolised by the non smiling seahorse. It is evident in the
case study that’s the young people found it hard to associate themselves with the non smiling
seahorse as it was not at all warm or cuddly.
In this situation Ocean Park amusement park was on the verge of being eliminated from
competition. However, in the words of the board chairman of Ocean Park, Allan Zeman, the only
way they could survive in the face of the stuff competition first to make their Park absolutely
world class (Kozak, 2016). However, it was also evident that beating Disneyland in their own
game, is also impossible. That is why the company had to launch their $700 worth rebranding
plan (Tsang, Prideaux & Lee, 2016). There in was to develop a different theme for the park
altogether different from that of Disney. On one hand Disneyland emphasized on the theme of
the cartoon characters The Marvellous visual impact created by their movie like sets and lustrous
build up. On the contrary Ocean Park geared up for facing Disney's competition by installing you
attractions, up-gradation of TVS rides and enhancing the opportunity for the young visitors to
engage in two interactive activities with animals including the only Pandas of Hong Kong.
Ocean Park aimed to establish themselves as a world-class Marine based fraction using real
animals. Hence, the factor of advantage for them was that they wanted to poultry the real nature
rather than the spelling strength with cartoon characters, castles, fantasy as well as virtual reality
like Disney. In an overall analysis it can be stated that they never any of the decorations, rights or

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events of Disney. On top of that, the presence of Disney amusement park has given Ocean Park a
dramatic turn around. Opening of Disneyland in the area aggravated the interest among the local
as well as foreign tourists in visiting the amusement parks of that area. The visitors coming to
visit Hong Kong from China or any other parts of Southeast Asia targeted to visit the Ocean Park
amusement park compulsorily along with the Disney Amusement Park. These are the strategies
that help Ocean Park to turn their threat into a significant business opportunity.
2. Ocean Park made the decision not to complete head to head with Disneyland. Will this
strategy always work and local companies space multinational Giants? Explain.
Ocean Park was definitely a local company, but it was a big brand after all. Hence with its
competitive scale of revenue, they were able to afford their rebranding plan of $700 Millions.
However, as stated by Wang, Gurnani and Erkoc (2016), in many cases local companies not have
the necessary fund to initiate the revamping plan they want to implement.
In other instances, local companies also face challenges like lack of experience and technology
to compete with multinational brands. It is visible in this case study the given after doing a
completely branding of the Ocean Park, the amusement park was not able to attract customers
uniquely (Cateora, Gilly & Graham, 2015). It was the presence of Disneyland that that allowed
them to make the necessary market segmentation. Again, it is also visible that many of small
local companies are not sure about how to make sustainable changes for their business (Cheung
& McCarthy, 2019). They try to compete with big brands by introducing small changes which do
not work in the long run. Letter lack of funds compares them to accept defeat in the field of the
big multinational brands.
3. How can Ocean Park capitalise on Disneyland's presence?

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Ocean Park can capitalise on the presence of Disneyland by offering special pricing package to
the tourist who come to visit Disneyland from abroad. Ocean Park can offer handsome discount
to people coming to visit there amusement park along with visiting Disneyland (Aw, Chan &
Cheung, 2015). They can also populate their ocean theme which has a natural attraction about it.
Ocean Park and also stick to the competitive pricing strategies adopted by Sea World. The offer
packages to foreign tourists at significantly lesser prices than that of Disneyland. This
competitive pricing draws in the spectators who come to visit Disneyland only. In order to spy
attendance during the seasonal events like Halloween, Christmas and New Year, local visitors
like school children can be given free seasonal entry passes through lucky draws or other similar
social event. Besides, Merchandise like t-shirts, caps and further usable can be distributed for
free to the children who come to visit Ocean Park. However, the most significant strategy that
can be adopted by Ocean Park is to offer great discount to the international visitors if they can
show tickets of Disneyland. This will spread of word of mouth publicity about the campaign
among the foreign visitors.

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Reference List
Aw, T. Y. C., Chan, C. Y., & Cheung, Y. M. (2015). Ocean Park: the risen dead miracle of Hong
Kong.
Cateora, P., c Gilly, M., & Graham, J. L. (2015). International Marketing. McGraw-Hill Higher
Education.
Cheung, M., & McCarthy, W. (2019). “Authentically Disney, distinctly Chinese” and faintly
American: The emotional branding of Disneyland in Shanghai. Semiotica, 2019(226),
107-133.
Kozak, M. (2016). Family-based travel narratives: Confirmatory personal introspection of
children’s interpretations of their journey to three destinations. Journal of Hospitality and
Tourism Management, 29, 119-125.
Tsang, N. K., Prideaux, B., & Lee, L. (2016). Attribution of inappropriate visitor behavior in a
theme park setting–a conceptual model. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 33(8),
1088-1105.
Wang, H., Gurnani, H., & Erkoc, M. (2016). Entry Deterrence of Capacitated Competition Using
Price and Non‐Price Strategies. Production and Operations Management, 25(4), 719-735.