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Title：Walt Disney Company Case Study
Author(s): Anna(方榆安)，Adrien(安磊恩), Jackie(楊欣樺), Judy(洪靖雯),
Zoe(范氏黃英)
Class: 1 s t
and 2 nd
year of Department of International Business
Student ID: M0566104, M0400975, M0419066, M0401183, M0570968
Course: Global Strategic Management
Instructor: Dr. Dr. Fang-Yi Lo
Department: Department of International Business
Academic Year: Semester 1, 2016-2017
The Walt Disney Company Case Study
1 FCU e-Paper (2016-2017)
Abstract
In an ever-changing world, we researched how a company like Disney and more
particularly the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts division can become and stay a leader
in its industry.
We analyzed the different levels of strategy, created a strategic map, applied a
five forces analysis of the company, did a group analysis, did a VRIS and
Resource/Analysis, did a BCG matrix and Synergy analysis, a value chain analysis,
explained the diversification strategy.
These researches allowed us to define the key point that makes Disney the
reference in the amusement park industry: offer a unique, immersive and positive
experience to each visitor through a great storytelling that is constantly renewed. The
future success of the company depends on its ability to innovate and keep delivering
an outstanding user experience.
Keyword： Disney parks, amusement parks, strategy
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Table of Content
Chapter 1 The Walt Disney Company ........................................................................... 8
1.1 Introduction ...................................................................................................... 8
1.2 Choosing Disney .............................................................................................. 8
1.3 Facts and Statistics ........................................................................................... 8
1.3.1 Company ............................................................................................... 9
1.3.2 Divisions: .............................................................................................. 9
1.3.3 Subsidiaries ........................................................................................... 9
Chapter 2 Strategic Level ............................................................................................. 10
2.1 Disney’s Corporate Level Strategy ................................................................ 11
2.2 Disney’s Business Level Strategy .................................................................. 11
2.3 Disney’s Functional Level Strategies ............................................................. 12
2.3.1 Research and Development ................................................................. 12
2.3.2 Human Resource ................................................................................. 13
2.3.3 Finance ................................................................................................ 13
2.3.4 Marketing ............................................................................................ 14
2.3.5 Tokyo Disney Resort ........................................................................... 15
Chapter 3 Strategic Map .............................................................................................. 16
3.1 Guest Experience ........................................................................................... 16
3.2 Telling Stories ................................................................................................ 18
3.3 Family Entertainment ..................................................................................... 18
Chapter 4 Five Forces Analysis ................................................................................... 19
4.1 Industrial Rivalry ........................................................................................... 19
4.2 Threat of Substitutes ...................................................................................... 21
4.3 Potential Entrants ........................................................................................... 21
4.4 Bargaining Power of Supplier ........................................................................ 22
4.5 Bargaining Power of Buyers .......................................................................... 23
Chapter 5 Strategic Group Analysis ............................................................................. 27
5.1 Single Location Theme-based Parks .............................................................. 28
5.1.1 Internal competition of cluster: Medium ............................................ 28
5.1.2 Mobility barriers: Medium .................................................................. 28
5.2 Single Location Mainly Theme with Few Rides Parks Cluster ..................... 29
5.2.1 Cluster internal competition: High ...................................................... 29
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5.2.2 Cluster Mobility: Low-medium .......................................................... 30
5.3 Multiple Location, Mainly Theme with Few Rides Park............................... 30
5.3.1 International competition of cluster: Low ........................................... 30
5.3.2 Mobility barriers: Medium .................................................................. 30
5.4 Multiple Location Sensation-Based Cluster .................................................. 31
5.4.1 Cluster internal competition ................................................................ 31
5.4.2 Cluster Mobility .................................................................................. 31
5.5 Global Theme and Sensation Parks Cluster ................................................... 32
5.5.1 Cluster internal competition ................................................................ 32
5.5.2 Cluster Mobility .................................................................................. 33
Chapter 6 Resource and Capability Analysis ............................................................... 34
6.1 Resources ....................................................................................................... 35
6.1.1 Tangible resource ................................................................................ 36
6.1.2 Intangible resource .............................................................................. 37
6.1.3 Human Resources ............................................................................... 42
6.2 Capabilities .................................................................................................... 43
6.3 Resources and Capabilities Analysis ............................................................. 45
6.4 VRIS Analysis ................................................................................................ 47
6.4.1 Capability ............................................................................................ 47
6.4.2 Resources ............................................................................................ 48
Chapter 7 Value Chain ................................................................................................. 49
7.1 Firm Infrastructure ......................................................................................... 49
7.2 Human Resources Management .................................................................... 52
7.3 Technology Development .............................................................................. 53
7.4 Procurement ................................................................................................... 54
7.5 Inbound Logistics ........................................................................................... 55
7.6 Operations ...................................................................................................... 56
7.7 Outbound Logistics ........................................................................................ 56
7.8 Marketing & Sales ......................................................................................... 56
7.9 Service ............................................................................................................ 60
Chapter 8 BCG Matrix and Synergies ......................................................................... 63
8.1 BCG Analysis ................................................................................................. 64
8.1.1 ESPN Inc. - Dog ................................................................................. 64
8.1.2 Lucasfilm - Star ................................................................................... 64
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8.1.3 Disney Channels Worldwide－Question Mark ................................... 65
8.1.4 Walt Disney Animation Studios - Star ................................................ 67
8.1.5 Pixar Animation Studios - Star ............................................................ 70
8.1.6 Disney Parks and Resorts - Cash Cows .............................................. 72
8.1.7 Disney Interactive – Question Mark ................................................... 77
8.1.8 Disney consumer product – Question Mark ....................................... 78
8.2 Synergy among SBUs .................................................................................... 80
Chapter 9 Vertical Integration, Outsourcing and Diversification Strategy .................. 81
Disney Integration Map ....................................................................................... 81
9.1 Disney Vertical Integration ............................................................................ 82
9.1.1 Park and Resorts ................................................................................. 82
9.1.2 Movie .................................................................................................. 82
9.1.3 Merchandise ........................................................................................ 83
9.1.4 ABC Networks Group ......................................................................... 85
9.2 SIC Code of Walt Disney Cooperation .......................................................... 86
9.3 Diversification of The Walt Disney Company ............................................... 86
Chapter10 Diamond Analysis ...................................................................................... 89
10.1 Factor endowments: Disney parks and resorts USA .................................... 89
10.1.1 Location ............................................................................................ 89
10.1.2 Infrastructure ..................................................................................... 90
10.1.3 Hospitality well-educated employees: .............................................. 90
10.2 Demand Conditions ..................................................................................... 91
10.2.1 Standard Operating Procedures ......................................................... 91
10.2.2 Economic scale ................................................................................. 91
10.2.3 Copy right ......................................................................................... 91
10.3 Related and Supporting Industries ............................................................... 92
10.3.1 Rides/Attraction Manufacturers ........................................................ 92
10.3.2 Transportation ................................................................................... 92
10.3.3 Food .................................................................................................. 92
10.3.4 Tourism Industry ............................................................................... 92
10.3.5 Consumer Merchandises ................................................................... 93
10.4 Firm strategy, structure, and rivalry ............................................................. 93
10.4.1 Firm strategy ..................................................................................... 93
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10.4.2 Firm structure .................................................................................... 93
10.4.3 Rivalry ............................................................................................... 94
10.5 Government .................................................................................................. 94
Chapter 11 Conclusion ................................................................................................. 95
References .................................................................................................................... 97
Appendix .................................................................................................................... 111
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List of Figures
Figure 1. Strategic Level .............................................................................................. 10
Figure 2. Strategic Map ................................................................................................ 16
Figure 3 Five Forces Analysis ...................................................................................... 19
Figure 4. Disney Industrial Rivalry ............................................................................. 20
Figure 5. Disneyland in Anaheim ................................................................................ 24
Figure 6. Queue time for major attractions and visitors .............................................. 25
Figure 7. Strategic Group cluster ................................................................................. 28
Figure 8. Value Chain................................................................................................... 49
Figure 9. Finding Nemo /Dory attraction/ride concept art .......................................... 57
Figure 10. Finding Nemo ............................................................................................. 57
Figure 11. Iron Man Experience .................................................................................. 58
Figure 12. Taylor Swift as Rapunzel ............................................................................ 59
Figure 13. Disney wedding .......................................................................................... 60
Figure 14. Strategic Level of Disney ........................................................................... 63
Figure 15. BCG Analysis ............................................................................................. 64
Figure 16. Cable Networks Segment Market Share ..................................................... 66
Figure 17. Walt Disney Animation Studios .................................................................. 67
Figure 18. Big Hero 6, Zootopia, and Moana .............................................................. 69
Figure 19. Pixar ............................................................................................................ 70
Figure 20. Disney Parks around the world ................................................................... 73
Figure 21. Internet Users in the World ......................................................................... 77
Figure 22. The Growth of Interactive Media Industry ................................................. 78
Figure 23. Disney Integration Map .............................................................................. 81
Figure 24. Merchandise Outsourcing ........................................................................... 84
Figure 25. Consumer product revenue of the Walt Disney Company ......................... 84
Figure 26. Repartition of 2013 Global revenue ........................................................... 87
Figure 27. Diamond Analysis ...................................................................................... 89
Figure 28. The U.S. and Global populations by income in 2011 ................................. 91
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List of Tables
Table 1. The financial report for fiscal years 2015, 2014 and 2013............................. 12
Table 2. Numbers of Location and Sensation or/and Theme Park ............................... 27
Table 3. Resources ....................................................................................................... 35
Table 4. The World's Most Reputable Companies 2016 .............................................. 39
Table 5. The World's Most Valuable Brands, 2016 ...................................................... 40
Table 6. Capabilities ..................................................................................................... 43
Table 7. Departments within Disney Parks and Resorts .............................................. 44
Table 8. Resources and Capabilities Analysis .............................................................. 45
Table 9. VRIS Analysis - Capability ............................................................................ 47
Table 10. VRIS Analysis - Resources .......................................................................... 48
Table 11. The Total Consolidated Revenues of Disney Company ............................... 50
Table 12. Segment Operation Income .......................................................................... 50
Table 13. Investing Activities ...................................................................................... 51
Table 14. Social Media Platform and User Statistics ................................................... 58
Table 15. Revenue in Cable network ........................................................................... 65
Table 16. Network Viewers .......................................................................................... 66
Table 17. 2014-2016 Animated Films Total Lifetime Gross ....................................... 68
Table 18 Pixar Animation Studios ............................................................................... 71
Table 19. Worldwidw Ranking of Animation .............................................................. 72
Table 20. Disney Financial Report – the Fiscal 2016 .................................................. 74
Table 21. Operation Income ......................................................................................... 75
Table 22. Revenues ...................................................................................................... 76
Table 23. Market Share ................................................................................................ 76
Table 24. The Walt Disney Revenue and Segment Operation Income ........................ 79
Table 25. Disney Studios SIC Code ............................................................................. 83
Table 26. SIC Code of Walt Disney Cooperation ........................................................ 86
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Chapter 1 The Walt Disney Company
Disney, the kingdom of entertainment founded by Walt Disney and Roy O.
Disney in 1923, is hands down a benchmark in its industry. The Walt Disney
Company continues to bring joy and happiness to its consumers around the globe, and
would never stop surprising us with its visions.
1. 1 Introduction
Behind all the wonders that Disney has brought us, are the visionaries of
Disney’s leadership team who strive to generate creativity, foster innovation, and
utilize the latest technologies. Disney is a multinational, cross-platform conglomerate.
Their business flourish in many different domains, including parks and resorts,
consumer products, studio entertainment, media networks, and interactive media. The
company is currently operating in more than 40 countries, and they really have taken
issues such as labor, ethics, environment, philanthropy and etc., very seriously.
1.2 Choosing Disney
Upon deciding what case we want to explore in this class, we struggled quite a
bit trying to come up with something that is well-known but not cliché. Our eyes lit
up when spotting a group member’s t-shirt that has a cartoon character on it: it was
Dale, from “Chip n Dale” the Disney cartoon chipmunks. When we think of business
cases we often think of products and their brands, such as H&M in the fashion
industry, or Apple in the consumer electronics industry; rarely do we think of the
entertainment industry. We chose to look into Disney because it has been part of our,
if not everyone’s childhood. Those classic fairytales and adventures taught us about
love, about courage, and about faith. Furthermore, like we do, Disney matures
overtime, bringing more diversity and innovation into its works, connecting and
bringing happiness to people of different generations.
1.3 Facts and Statistics
The rich backstory of Disney could not be easily simplified into a few pages of
writing, therefore certain facts and statistics that we found important to illustrate this
company has been cherry-picked and listed below.
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1.3.1 Company
■ Founding Date: October 16, 1923 (93 years ago)
■ Products: Theme parks, cable television, films, publishing, broadcasting,
radio, web portals, music, video games
■ Number of employees: 180,000 (2014)
■ Net income: US$8.38 billion (2015)
■ Total assets: US$88.18 billion (2015)
1.3.2 Divisions:
■ Walt Disney Parks and Resorts
─ Featuring the company's theme parks, cruise line, and other
travel-related assets
■ Walt Disney Studios
─ Includes the company's film, music recording label, and theatrical
divisions.
■ Disney Media Networks
─ Includes the company's television properties.
■ Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media
─ Produces toys, clothing, and other merchandising based upon
Disney-owned properties, as well as including Disney's Internet,
mobile, social media, virtual worlds, and computer games operations.
1.3.3 Subsidiaries
■ Walt Disney Studios
■ Walt Disney Animation Studios
■ Disney Theatrical Productions
■ The Walt Disney Company India
■ Pixar Animation Studios
■ Marvel Entertainment
■ Marvel Studios
■ Lucasfilm
■ The Muppets Studio
■ Disney–ABC Television Group
■ ESPN Inc. (80%)
■ A+E Networks (50%)
■ Radio Disney
■ Hulu (32%)
■ UTV Software Communications
■ Maker Studios
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Chapter 2 Strategic Level
For this week’s assignment, we are attempting to describe the strategies that The
Walt Disney Company took in different levels and segments of its business. However,
Disney operates in many aspects of entertainment, including amusement parks, TV
channels, consumer products, movies, and so on. We chose to study about Disney’s
parks and resorts in further detail, making this segment of the Disney entertainment
kingdom our focus in this course.
Figure 1. Strategic Level
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2.1 Disney’s Corporate Level Strategy
As we have introduced in previous passages, Disney’s businesses flourish in
different aspects of entertainment industries, its divisions include: Walt Disney Parks
and Resorts, Walt Disney Studios, Disney Media Networks, and Disney Consumer
Products and Interactive Media. Despite their differences in operation, the core of
these businesses are united, that is Disney’s mission statement.
DISNEY'S MISSION STATEMENT
"The mission of The Walt Disney Company is to be one of the world's leading
producers and providers of entertainment and information. Using our portfolio of
brands to differentiate our content, services and consumer products, we seek to
develop the most creative, innovative and profitable entertainment experiences and
related products in the world."
These words, carefully chosen, summed up the Disney’s vision as an
entertainment tycoon. Everything that its business units carry out aim to realize
Disney’s mission statement.
2.2 Disney’s Business Level Strategy
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts is one of Disney’s most profitable business units,
currently operating in six different locations around the world, including California,
Florida, Paris, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Shanghai. When it came to expanding
overseas, entering international markets, Disney did more than just copy its success at
home. Instead, based on past experiences and conditions of the hosting country,
Disney went with one of two ways: licensing or joint venture. Disney licensed its
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brand to a Japanese company called Oriental Land Company, Disney had not been
involved in operation, only did they receive royalties and parts of Tokyo Disney
Resort’s (TDR) revenue in return. Whereas in Paris, Hong Kong, and Shanghai,
Disney chose to collaborate with local entities and run its business in the form of joint
venture. Due to these different strategies, different functional level strategies were
then sketched out and performed.
2.3 Disney’s Functional Level Strategies
2.3.1 Research and Development
Investing Activities
According to the financial report posted on Disney official website, people can
know that Disney Company had invested in park and resorts more and more for R&D
each year until now. As a result, it is obvious that they really put emphasis on
Research and Development this part to meet this changing world.
The financial report for fiscal years 2015, 2014 and 2013 are as follows:
Table 1. The financial report for fiscal years 2015, 2014 and 2013
The main capital expenditures for the Parks and Resorts are expansion, new
attractions, cruise ships, capital improvements and systems infrastructure. The
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increase capital expenditure in domestic parks and resorts was to construct new
attractions in Walt Disney World Resort. While the higher capital expenditures are in
international park and resorts are due to the construction of Shanghai Disney Resort.
2.3.2 Human Resource
The strategy of Human resource in Disney Park and Resorts is one of the factors
make them such success. They have standard operation procedure when hiring,
training, and encouraging their employees. When recruiting new employees, the first
priority is “attitude”, then their skills.
They like to talk about the worst situation at first. Before job seekers applied the
recruitment form, they were asked to see a video, which illustrate the company's
culture and practices. For example, they have to work on weekends, holidays and at
night. For another example, they have strict restrictions on clothing. They can’t even
unveil their tattoo when they are working.
Besides, Disney asks supervisors humble themselves. When the receptionist on
the front line are busy, those supervisors will assist them directly. They can do
everything from sell popcorns to even put the merchandise on the shelfs. From an
aspect of the company, there are three benefits when they doing so. Firstly, supervisor
share responsibility of workload with staff. Secondly, front line workers know that
company pay high attention on their works. Thirdly, supervisors could have chance to
interact with customers directly.
2.3.3 Finance
Owns and operates:
Walt Disney World Resort in Florida
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Disneyland Resort in California
Manages and has effective ownership interests:
81% in Disneyland Paris (recapitalization)
47% in Hong Kong Disneyland Resort
43% in Shanghai Disney Resort
Licenses intellectual property to a third party for the operations:
Tokyo Disney Resort in Japan
2.3.4 Marketing
Disney puts a lot of emphasis on marketing to continually attract visitors. The
following were what they effort:
Embrace New Technology
The park has always been quick to embrace technological advantages, like
launching an app to keep visitors informed, or their new MagicBands wearables.
Use Data to Inform Decisions
The MagicBand provides tracking data on all of the park’s guests, which allows
Disneyland to optimize everything from staffing to the location of a food vendor.
Optimize User Experience
Disney always consider customer experience and work to streamline the process
of purchasing, using, and servicing product.
Balance Accessibility with Exclusivity
Design a way to make customers feel special, and they will respond with
customer loyalty.
Deliver Unexpected Moments of Magic
Disneyland capitalizes on this affinity with live characters, surprise performances,
parades, and exceptional customer service. Making an effort to surprise and
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delight customers at every turn will always pay dividends.
2.3.5 Tokyo Disney Resort
Aging trends in Japan has led to a decrease in TDR’s targeting market, TDR had
to find new ways to appeal to potential customers other than children and young
adults, their original target customers. In order to maintain attendance of its parks and
resorts, TDR attempted to motivate the Japanese population of forty or above, and
defined these people as “New Age”. The “New Age Marketing” targeted guests that
age forty to sixty, promoting that Disney’s parks were not just for kids or young adults.
A separate online homepage called “Disney for Adults” was set up, promoting the 45+
Passport to adults. This passport features services that aimed to bring a more
customized entertainment experience to its adult users. Tokyo Disney Sea (TDS) was
also built to provide a more “grown-up experience” for Tokyo Disney’s older
customers, where they would be less surrounded by “cuteness” such as Mickey Mouse
or its fellow characters.
Mid-Long Term Strategies
TDR had planned out its future strategies, surrounding its core plan of
maintaining a theme park attendance figure of 30 million guest per year. To achieve
that number, TDR aimed to “build stronger family entertainment” and “increase guest
comfort”. Budgets and plans were invested and planned out to be carried out through
the next decade.
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Chapter 3 Strategic Map
The main objective of Disney Parks and Resort is to create happiness for their
guests, which is supported by three goals: guest experience, telling stories, and family
entertainment.
Figure 2. Strategic Map
3.1 Guest Experience
● Meet and exceed the needs of customers
+ Customer loyalty: loyalty is generated through increasing customer
satisfaction
+ Customizing: customizing customer service allows Disney to meet the
different needs of its different customers: parents or children, young or
elder, and etc.
+ Employee training
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▪ Regulations
▪ SOP
▪ Attitude: Disney makes sure that its employees share the same
attitude and values as the company
▪ Value sharing
▪ Workload sharing: managers would supervise and help with the
work of other employees, even if it is selling hotdogs or picking
up trash. It all comes down to providing guests the best
experience in the parks.
+ High quality service standard
● Comfortable surroundings
+ Cleaning staff
+ Stroller guy: One simple yet thoughtful service makes guests more
comfortable
● Attendance control: In order to provide the guests with the best Disney
experience, Disney controls attendance number. In which the guest could be
comfortable with the park space, service quality, and plentiful time to enjoy.
+ Ticket price management: The price is much higher than other
amusement parks, especially in hot seasons. Additional payments may
be needed for premium services.
+ Special passports: some passports allows guests to enjoy the rides
without having to wait in the long queues.
● Data Collection
● Embrace new technology
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3.2 Telling Stories
● Deliver unexpected moments of magic: For example, Disney characters may
show up to entertain the guests in queues, creating an element of surprise.
● Consumer merchandise
● Live characters
● Setting atmosphere
+ Infrastructure
+ Background music
+ Restaurant (and food) designs
3.3 Family Entertainment
● Renew themes and rides
+ Creativity
+ Purchasing popular franchises: Disney acquired popular franchises
such as Marvel and Star Wars, which they can now build new
theme-based rides to attract more guests.
● Parades
● Stage shows
● Photo services
● Cruise trips
● Accessible environment
● Customize packages
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Chapter 4 Five Forces Analysis
Building on the previous parts we have discussed on Disney’s theme park
segment, Disney Park and Resorts, we continue to look into this case with a critical
eye. Using Porter’s five forces analysis, we studied what kind of external threats that
Disney might have encountered, or would come across in the future. By understanding
more about the industrial environment, the business is in, it helps the company to
navigate its way towards sustainability and success.
Figure 3 Five Forces Analysis
4.1 Industrial Rivalry
For Disney Parks and Resorts, there are four main rivalry in the amusement park
industry, they are Universal Parks and Resorts, Cedar Fair, Six Flags, Cedar Fair, and
Merlin Entertainment. These amusement parks are located mainly in the US, some
expanded abroad globally like Disney itself. Disney also competes with local theme
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parks in locations outside USA, such as China.
Each of these parks tried to out-perform their competitors in order to attract new
customers and keep their old customers coming back. Ticket prices of these parks do
not differ much from one another, so it would be the differences in themes and
experiences that makes them unique in their own way. New attractions, rides,
infrastructures and restaurants are the keys to making that “sprint” to be head in the
game. For example, Universal added the Harry Potter franchise, the Wizarding World
of Harry Potter, into its parks, and its customer visits sky-rocketed. This success of
Universal stimulated Disney’s expansion of its Magic Kingdom which began in 2012,
over one billion US dollar was invested in order for Disney to maintain its leading
position in the theme park industry.
That being said, Disney Parks and Resorts generate astronomical revenues every
year. As the chart shows, not even if all of its competitors’ revenue added together
could come close to Disney’s massive success. In general, the bargaining power of
Disney’s rivalry would be seen as medium.
Figure 4. Disney Industrial Rivalry
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4.2 Threat of Substitutes
“Substitutes can be defined as those products or services that meet a particular
consumer need but are available in other market. A substitute product is a product
from another industry that offers benefits to the consumer similar to those of the
product produced by the firms within the industry”.
“The Threat of Substitutes means the availability of a product that the consumer can
purchase instead of the industry’s product”.
In this case of Disney Parks and Resorts we think the Threat of Substitutes is
relatively high for the following reasons:
● Cheaper alternatives to active entertainment, such as: Zoo, Museum, Movie,
Concert, Sports.
Theme parks are meant for active entertainment. Consumers could choose to go
to the movies, park, sporting event or concert, just to name a few, instead of
going to a theme park.
● Disney maintains relevance because of unique experience.
Because Disney theme parks have a distinctive competency of their animated
characters and their family fun rides, consumers cannot get the Disney
experience anywhere else – making Disney relevant.
4.3 Potential Entrants
In Western countries the threat of potential entrants is low. The market of
amusement park is mature with more than 400 amusement parks and attractions in the
U.S. and about 300 in Europe.
Building a new park requires a significant capital. As example $5.5 billion have
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been invested in Shanghai Disney. In my opinion this the main limitation for potential
entrants as finding such a capital is really challenging. Adding that in the last years
some amusement parks have shown to be unprofitable. So potential investors may
consider putting their money into other businesses.
In China there are many opportunities in the amusement park market however
the competition is already intense with many new theme park projects. So it is
difficult for a newcomer to succeed.
Disney parks have by far the strongest brand and loyal customers. Another
strength that limits the threat of new entrants.
4.4 Bargaining Power of Supplier
“Suppliers are those who supply the organization with what it needs to produce the
product or service. As well as fuel, raw materials and equipment, this can include
labor and sources of finance. Suppliers can exert bargaining power on participants in
an industry by raising prices or reducing the quality of purchased goods and services.
Powerful suppliers can thereby squeeze profitability out of an industry unable to
recover cost increases in its own prices” (Michael, 1980).
In the case of Disney Park and Resorts we think the Bargaining Power of
Supplier is Medium for the following reasons:
● Limited suppliers
Not many companies are in the industry of producing, building and maintaining
amusement rides. The few major of them are Bollinger & Mabillard, Intamin,
Vekoma, Arrow, Premier Rides, The Gravity Group, and S & S Power. Their
products could be found in most of the theme parks throughout the world. Thus,
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those companies have large flexibility to bargain with Disney.
● Switching costs
The unique products and service is not only unique but also popular among
Disney’s customers. For the industry of producing toys or character related
products, they had lower bargaining power. Disney has the pattern right on it,
so it can ask any company to produce merchandise. However, in amusement
rides industry, Disney can only buy specific rides from limited company. If
Disney wants to change the supplier, the switching cost would be high.
● Supplier sustainability
The company size may be an advantage to Disney. Suppliers do not control the
bargaining power strongly because Disney they would want to keep their
business. Suppliers know that Disney is a stable company that could provide
business for many years to come.
4.5 Bargaining Power of Buyers
In the parking and entertainment industry, there are four big bosses that are
Disney, Six Flags, Seawood and Universal. While Disney is the leader in this
Oligopoly service industry, buyers’ bargaining power is much lower.
The buyers group is non concentrated: Disney park and resort has three competitors
in their amusement park operate. For the 7 billions population in the world, they have
no many choices for this kind of entertainment and the fact that, Disney Park and
resort still stand steadily at first rate.
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The buyer group demand is higher suppliers
Figure 5. Disneyland in Anaheim
During special events, it's common to see thousands of people on Main Street, U.S.A.
at Disneyland in Anaheim. Here, they celebrate the park's 60th anniversary with a
24-hour party that began at 6 a.m.
There are fun facts about Disneyland:
● 0-25 minutes: 0-25 minutes is the average waiting time in line in low attendance
day in Disneyland. But this is rarely happened, and you might have to wait for an
hour + often.
● Forecast rain: It might be larger attendance days before rain forecasted days.
● Busy days: Week days are the least busy days. Saturdays are busier than Sundays.
Long Weekends can be 3 times busier.
● Discount ticket: Disney rarely offers discounts on single ticket. Because Walt
Disney focuses on middle class, its prices are reasonable. The price changes are
based on season which is high when the market is good and reduced during low
season. For Knott's and Six Flags, their tickets are lower than Walt Disney (in
range of $40-50 ). However, Six Flag has discounts frequently (bringing Coke
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cans to get 50% off), and Knott's ticket price promotion can be found at
supermarkets. Unlike some of its competitors, Disney not often give discounts on
single ticket purchases. They said that when the lower price, the quality is also
affected.
● Raising pass price and parking price: Some people speculated that Walt Disney
ticket price raising is needed way to reduce that large crowds during weekends
and hot season the recent ticket increases are a much-needed way to reduce the
large crowds that occurs at Disneyland during some weekends and high-demand
seasons.
Parking prices at the Disneyland Resort also raised. New prices for annual
passholders increases from $169 to $199. Theme park parking raised $1, to $18.
Downtown Disney now only offer two hours of free parking, the hourly parking price
now is doubled from $6.
Figure 6. Queue time for major attractions and visitors
This graph is for US Disney Resorts, which include Disneyland, Disney
California Adventure & Walt Disney World, Florida (WDW includes: Magic Kingdom,
EPCOT, Disney Hollywood Studios & Animal Kingdom) and is very generalised. The
http://www.ocregister.com/sections/entertainment/ocdisney/
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Tokyo Disneyland, Disneyland Paris and Disneyland Hong Kong theme park
attendance patterns will differ due to holidays that don't match with the USA.
The products is differentiated: Disney park and resort has their own
spaciality and so are competitors. The feeling and experience is not the same for every
kind of theme park so may be visitor will consider before making decision.
Many switching costs on the part of the buyer: althought there is different
among substitues but switching cost is not very high, because for the entertainment
service, different experience is necessary.
Summary
The amusement park industry is a mature and profitable market in western
countries. Most of Disney’s established competitors are in North America. The
company also faces competition in China where they recently opened a new park in
Shanghai. The threat of substitutes to amusement parks is relatively high however
Disney has a strong brand and offers a unique experience making the visit of a park
still attractive. Disney parks are relatively free of potential entrants as opening a park
requires a huge capital. The bargaining power of suppliers is medium because there
are only a handful of attraction makers and switching may cost a lot of money; once
Disney makes a company build an attraction they have to stick with them several
years for the maintenance. The visitors have very low bargaining power as the entry
ticket prices are fixed and cannot be negotiated. Finally, Disney Park and Resorts has
many strengths, its future success will be determined by its ability to innovate and
keep offering a unique experience to its visitors.
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Chapter 5 Strategic Group Analysis
In this strategic group analysis, first we discussed and found some popular theme
or sensation parks and resorts in the world, which is Disney, Six Flag, Lego land,
Universal, Puy du fou, Europa Park, Tivoli, Wanda city and HK Marine Park. And we
chose the two variable is Numbers of Location and Sensation or/and Theme Park.
Table 2. Numbers of Location and Sensation or/and Theme Park
Numbers of location Sensation/Both/Theme
Disney 6 Both
Six Flag 13 Sensation
Lego land 8 Both-theme
Universal 4 Both
Puy du fou 1 Theme
Europa Park 1 Sensation
Tivoli 1 Both-Theme
Wanda city 2 Sensation
HK Marine Park 1 Theme
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Figure 7. Strategic Group cluster
5.1 Single Location Theme-based Parks
5.1.1 Internal competition of cluster: Medium
There is a competition in this category of parks as they need to differentiate from
others by storytelling, immersive experience and quality of shows. Innovation is also a
critical factor in this cluster. To attract returning visitor and build customer loyalty, the
parks have to offer new shows and experiences. For example, when people get into
YehLiu Ocean World, s/he can not only see fish exhibition but also see ocean theater
performance by sea lion and dolphin. During the performance, those performers can
even interact with audiences. Thus, it become a special experience for customers.
5.1.2 Mobility barriers: Medium
These parks can attract a larger audience by adding some rides, however their
current customers are not visiting because of rides but to live the themed experience.
These parks can expand internationally if they manage to build a strong enough brand.
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5.2 Single Location Mainly Theme with Few Rides Parks
Cluster
5.2.1 Cluster internal competition: High
In the cluster of “Multiple location sensation-based”, there are two Parks
including Tivoli Garden and Europa Park. Tivoli Garden was opened in 1843 in
Denmark. Operation for 173 years, it is the second oldest amusement park in the
world. Tivoli is famous for its pleasure garden and some amusement rides such as one
of world's oldest wooden roller coasters built in 1914 that is still operating today.
While Europa Park was opened in 1975 in Germany. This park is themed as thirteen
European countries combine with Grimms' Fairy Tales. With plenty of stories and
high capacity rides, people like to go there spending their vacation.
Both of two parks are located in Europe and have highly reputation. In 2015, the
visitor number of Tivoli Garden and Europa Park are 4.733 million and 5.5 million.
As a result, they are quite competing in Europe due to their similar characteristics.
However, the Leofoo Village Theme Park (六福村主題遊樂園) was opened in
Taiwan in 1979 as a Wildlife Park. Now Leofoo Village divide the theme into four
areas, Arabian Kingdom, African Safari, South Pacific, and Wild West. They combine
wildlife park and amusement rides together. That’s why they could attract 1.65 million
people in 2015, which is the highest among Taiwan amusement parks. The target
visitors include family, couples, students and those who want to experience various
attractions in one day. So the visitor flow is different from above two amusement
parks due to the location and type.
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5.2.2 Cluster Mobility: Low-medium
The mobility of single location theme park is low-medium. Tivoli Garden and
Europa Park are in specific theme such as its history or national and story
characteristics that attract visitors around the world. There are two ways to think about
it. One is that if they move to the other cluster, their attractiveness might be cut down.
Then stay in their original cluster would be better for them. However, in such a
competitive environment, they have to try harder and harder to keep their customers.
Thus, they could improve their rides and equipment to enhance attention. And
gradually move toward both theme and sensation park.
5.3 Multiple Location, Mainly Theme with Few Rides Park
5.3.1 International competition of cluster: Low
Competition in this kind of park is relatively low because they have special
theme that is Lego and they differentiate from others. Therefore, they can hold a
certain customer of their own.
Remaining high visitor attendance and building customer loyalty are the biggest
mission of this cluster. While existing competitor continuously expand and innovate
their appearance all over the word as well as more and more rivalry of new
amusement parks, Legoland need to renew audience experience by adding more
shows, games,…
5.3.2 Mobility barriers: Medium
The mobility barriers of this kind of park is medium, Legoland has diversified
activities such as waterpark, Lego bricks, shows, rides and so on. So that they can
serve and satisfy various groups of customer. Visitors also find specific experience in
these kinds of recreation in Lego theme. These parks can strengthen their
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globalization if they expand their appearance in more nations buy building more
amusement parks next stage.
5.4 Multiple Location Sensation-Based Cluster
5.4.1 Cluster internal competition
In this cluster, which we named “Multiple location sensation-based”, there are
two firms: Six Flags and Wanda City. Six Flags operates all over USA, with a total of
eleven different locations and numerous parks; outside of USA it also have parks in
China and Dubai. Six Flags is heavily sensation-based, almost no themes or
background stories are incorporated into its rides. Wanda City is an emerging theme
park business in China, it operates in two locations, one is Nanchang (南昌) and the
other one is Hefei (合肥). In the parks, they are equipped with thirty-three set of
world-class rides. The most eye-catching ride is the 白龍飛天 roller-coaster. It
stretches over one kilometer, with a height of fifty-six meters, and the speed can reach
125 kilometers per hour. It is the highest and fastest roller-coaster in the world. Wanda
City is quite the new comer comparing to Six Flags, but it has great ambitions and is
expanding and investing aggressively.
Even though Six Flags and Wanda City are in the same cluster, they had little
competition with each other due to their difference in location, Six Flags mainly
operates in the US and in China, Wanda City. They would become direct competitors
once they expand to more international sites, but as for now, they are more likely to be
competing with other amusement parks from other clusters which operate in the same
regions.
5.4.2 Cluster Mobility
For cluster mobility, it would be fair to say that this cluster’s entry barrier is
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relatively low. One would need to invest a great deal of capital to acquire land and
facilities (eg. rides, restaurants, infrastructures, etc.), and that would be about it. Less
creativity and innovation would be needed then coming up with an attractive and
successful theme for theme-based parks.
However, for Six Flags and Wanda City to move towards being more
theme-based, it would be more challenging. First of all, these parks are already
well-known for providing highly sensational entertainment, to add new themes and
stories to its rides might not be beneficial, as this would undifferentiated them from
their competitors such as Universal and Disney. Sometimes visitors just want to
experience the excitement without having to process the story behind it. Secondly,
when merging a story-based theme to a ride, the appearance of the ride would need to
be specifically designed for its purpose of telling the story. These parks already has
their rides in place, either replacing them or altering them would be a huge
investment.
Overall, we believe that entering this cluster would be relatively easy if one
invests time and capital into it. On the other hand, exiting this cluster would be more
challenging and risky, due to reasons mentioned above.
5.5 Global Theme and Sensation Parks Cluster
5.5.1 Cluster internal competition
In this cluster, which we named “Global theme and sensation Parks Cluster”, one
is Disney, Disney has six locations in the world, which is California (1955), Florida
(1971), Tokyo (1983), Paris (1992), Hong Kong (2005) and Shanghai (2016).
Disneyland is distributed all over the world. Inside the Disney parks, there have
sensation and theme parks. Another is Universal, Universal has four locations in the
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world, which is California, Florida, Tokyo, and Singapore. Universal is distributed all
over the world. Inside the Universal, there have sensation and theme parks. I think
Disney and Universal are competitors in these cluster, and they will be complement
each other forever. They have different rides and theme in their parks, so they will
attract different visitors to enter the park.
5.5.2 Cluster Mobility
I think the mobility of the Global theme and sensation Parks Cluster is low,
because Disney and Universal are distributed all over the world, and they have
different sensation and theme parts, they will attract different visitors to enter the park
and play in the park. I think Disney and Universal do not need to remove single theme
park or single sensation park, because they use their attraction, creation and
innovation to let their visitors make them happy and enjoy their selves. If Disney or
Universal remove to single theme or sensation parks, they will lose their number of
visitors who prefer to the theme or sensation parks is their reason to enter the park. It
is not a wise choice at all.
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Chapter 6 Resource and Capability Analysis
Introduction
“It is important to distinguish between the resources and the capabilities of the
firm: resources are the productive assets owned by the firm; capabilities are what the
firm can do.” (Robert M.Grant,2007.)
In the entertainment industry, Disney must compete in a complex and
challenging environment to maintain its position as the master of globalization. Hence,
the importance of understanding the firm’s capabilities and resources, finding out the
firm’s competitive advantages, is unneglectable. On one hand, it is beneficial to
understand and enhance those capabilities, and reinforce on weaknesses - it helps to
increase customers’ satisfaction and strengthens customer relationship. On the other
hand, competitive advantages help Disney to be sustainable over time, generate
revenues and profits year by year.
Therefore, in this report, we’ve carried out an analysis of capabilities and
resource of Disney Parks and Resorts to find out how Disney has reached its success.
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6.1 Resources
Below are some tangible and intangible resources of Disney, including financial
and physical resources, technology, reputation, patents, entertainment and culture, and
human resources.
Table 3. Resources
Resource Details Indicators
Tangible
Resources
Financial Income Ticket sales, restaurants
income, hotel revenue
Physical
Parks Asset
Rides Many attractive rides
Land
Intangible
Resources
Technology
Technological know-how
Animation technology
Reputation
Brand equity
Brand names 13 rank
Customer’s attendance large number visitor
every year
Patents Media Technology
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Entertainment Characters and plots (from
Films and TV series)
Culture Organizational Culture
Human Resources Loyalty of employees Good salary rate,
restrictions, welfare
6.1.1 Tangible resource
Financial
Income:
Disney park and resort has sustainable and large income every year from park
Tickets, restaurants, hotel and resort service. The revenue of Disney Park and Resort
increased yearly (14.087M $ in 2013 and 15.099M S in2014), while the profit is also
high (2.220M$ in 2013 and 2.663M$ in 2014). (By Walt Disney). As we know,
capital is one of the most important factor which contribute to the success of a firm,
and Disney has strong advantage in this factor.
Physical
Parks:
Disney has six park and resorts in different location including California, Florida,
Tokyo, Paris, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, which can attract visitors around the world.
People from America to Asia, and even Europe can enjoy Disney atmosphere.
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Rides:
The rides in Disney fit almost every age level person. There are many rides in
Disney park with Disney characters or icons. The top three Disney classic rides are
Dumbo, Peter Pan’s Flight, and Its’s a small world.
Land:
The land area of Disney is an advantage especially when comparing to other
amusement park. The largest one is in Florida, the USA, which has 12228 hectares
with four theme parks, two water parks, some other attractions, and thirty-four resorts
and hotels. The second largest is in Paris, which has 1951 hectare with five themed
land. The third is large location is located in Shanghai with 700-hectare land with
seven themed lands. California and Tokyo has similar area of land, one is 206 hectares
and the other is 201 hectares. The smallest Disney is in Hong Kong with 126 hectares
of land, but still larger than many other parks.
6.1.2 Intangible resource
Technology
Animation technology:
Disney is famous for its work of art in the field of animation, numerous films and
TV series are the results of Disney’s hardworking animation artists. They constantly
develop new technology to bring their creation to the next level; for example,
animated hair/fur on human/animal characters has become more and more realistic
overtime, from Monster Inc. to this year’s Zootopia.
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Technological know-how:
Being technologically advanced is crucial for Disney Parks and Resorts, as it
helps operation around the parks, providing better guest experiences. For example, the
introduction of the Magic Band. Magic bands are small, wearable bracelets that has an
RFID chip connected directly to your credit card, hotel room, and park tickets. A
super easy way to get around the parks and resorts without any hassle. Fast Pass+ is
also a great example, Disney use crowd projections to allocate a certain number of
spots per ride per time frame, so that the guests can pre-select when they want to ride.
And then, having those reservations made and tied directly to your MagicBand makes
it that much easier.
Reputation
Brand Equity:
The Walt Disney was ranked 2nd in the world’s Most Reputation Companies,
2016, because of the citizenship and governance categories. Nielsen said: “The Walt
Disney Company is number one in the world when it comes to being perceived as a
good corporate citizen and also as a company with fair and ethical business
practices.”
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Table 4. The World's Most Reputable Companies 2016
Company Rank
Rolex 1
The Walt Disney Company 2
Google 3
BMW Group 4
Daimler (Mercedes-Benz) 5
LEGO Group 6
Microsoft 7
Canon 8
Sony 9
Apple 10
Brand names:
The brand of Disney is well-known all over the world for many decades. It was
also ranked 13rd in the World's Most Valuable Brands, 2016. This is the most
valuable and rare advantage of Disney.
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Table 5. The World's Most Valuable Brands, 2016
Rank Brand Brand
Value
1-Yr
Value
Change
Brand
Revenue
Company
Advertising
Industry
#1 Apple $154.1 B 6% $233.7 B $1.8 B Technology
#2 Google $82.5 B 26% $68.5 B $3.2 B Technology
#3 Microsof
t
$75.2 B 9% $87.6 B $1.9 B Technology
#4 Coca-Co
la
$58.5 B 4% $21.9 B $4 B Beverages
#5 Faceboo
k
$52.6 B 44% $17.4 B $281 M Technology
#6 Toyota $42.1 B 11% $165.1 B $3.6 B Automotive
#7 IBM $41.4 B -17% $81.7 B $1.3 B Technology
#8 Disney $39.5 B 14% $28 B $2.6 B Leisure
#9 McDona
ld's
$39.1 B -1% $82.7 B $719 M Restaurants
#10 GE $36.7 B -2% $92.3 B - Diversified
Note: Brand values are calculated as the net present value of future earnings generated
by the brand.
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Customer’s attendance:
Disney has strong customer’s loyalty, it can be seen by the huge attendance in
every single theme park especially in USA. They have long queue of visitors, you
even have to wait hours even in weekdays, this number of visitor in hot season is
much higher and raising ticket price is considered to be needed measure to control the
crowd.
Patent
Media Technology: Disney thrives to bring the best experience to its millions of
guests every year, new technology is being developed and put into use continuously.
The brilliant engineers and artists of Disney put their minds together to introduce the
world to the newest entertainment experience and services. Patents of Disney covers a
wide range from control systems to artificial intelligence, from image projection to
user application, and much more.
Entertainment
Characters and plots (from Films and TV series): One of Disney Parks and
Resorts’ biggest strategy is telling stories, and people goes to Disney’s theme park for
the “theme”, the fairy tales they enjoyed as a kid (eg. Cinderella), the TV series (eg.
Tinkerbell) and films they watched and love (eg. Toy Story), and etc. These beloved
characters and stories are Disney’s biggest attraction, what all other parts of Disney is
built upon. This is what makes Disney special and different from other theme parks,
and cannot be easily imitated.
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Culture
Disney’s core value is to bring happiness to everyone. To reach this goal, they
always immerse corporate value and organizational culture into new employee
orientation training. If someone who cannot fit into the culture, then s/he would not be
hired. And now they even treat this training process as a product. They sell to others
who are willing to learn and like Disney culture and value.
6.1.3 Human Resources
Loyalty of employees:
Disney gets the loyalty of employees by good salary rate, welfare and company’s
culture and environment. In Disney US, Average Walt Disney Parks and Resorts
hourly pay ranges from approximately $7.25 per hour for Planner to $20.31 per hour
for Host/Hostess. The average Walt Disney Parks and Resorts salary ranges from
approximately $14,500 per year for Greeter to $85,045 per year for Project Manager.
How much does Walt Disney Parks and Resorts in United States pay?
Average Walt Disney Parks and Resorts hourly pay ranges from approximately
$7.25 per hour for Planner to $20.31 per hour for Host/Hostess. The average Walt
Disney Parks and Resorts salary ranges from approximately $14,500 per year for
Greeter to $85,045 per year for Project Manager.
Employees level:
Disney has talented labor force that are experts in their fields. This can be seen
by their job experience and certification in many areas.
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6.2 Capabilities
Below are the capabilities of Disney, including acquisition, management, innovation,
and services.
Table 6. Capabilities
Capabilities
Acquisition Purchasing successful companies (Pixar, Marvel Studios, Lucas
film), bringing in new contents
Management In addition to conventional function-based departments, also
includes more specialized departments.
Innovation They apply new tech into their rides and all surrounding
Services The entire park has free wifi for all guests.
Acquisition
Disney has been generating classic fairy tales for decades, but now creating a
popular and profitable story is harder than ever. Therefore, why not just directly
harvest stories that has already generated its large fan base? Disney’s acquisition of
Marvel Studios and Lukas film (Star Wars) not only requires capital, but also a great
vision and boldness to execute. This can be considered as one of Disney’s strongest
capabilities: knowing when to take a leap of faith.
Management
Instead of the conventional hierarchical management style, Disney Parks and
Resorts had its organization structure designed around specific functions and project.
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Each department has its main objective, if needed, collaboration between departments
could be direct and straight forward.
Table 7. Departments within Disney Parks and Resorts
Finance Design and Project Delievery
Legal Marketing and Sales
Asia Managment Disneyland Resort
Walt Disney Imagineering Walt Disney World
New Vacation Operation and Disney Cruise
Line
Disney Vacation Club and Adventures by
Disney
Human Resources and Diversity and
Inclusion
Operations and Next Generation
Experiences
Worldwide Public Affairs Communication
Innovation
New things are always eyes catching. To attract customers in the competitive
amusement industry, Disney always has new program or surprising performances. For
example, they held Halloween party parade this year to fit in the atmosphere. And
another example is that they use new technology to collect data in the park to know
customers’ preferences products or rides.
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Services
At Disney World, the entire park has free wifi for all guests. Consider how big
the resort is, and the capacity that the system must support, and where they hide all the
camouflaged wifi routers. The free wifi for all guests is actually a pretty innovative
and awesome technological feat.
6.3 Resources and Capabilities Analysis
A company’s resources and capabilities analysis is critical and can clearly show
its strengths and weaknesses.
Table 8. Resources and Capabilities Analysis
Superfluous Strengths Key Strengths
Rides Brand
Operations
Global immersive user experience
Human resource
Service
Inconsequential Weaknesses Key Weaknesses
Limited number of location Waiting time for some attractions
Key strength:
Disney park and resort have key strengths such as brand, operations, global
immersive user experience, human resource and service that make them have
comparative advantage to competitors. In detail, the strong brand which specialize the
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quality of them make customers distinguish and think of Disney as the master of
theme park.
Disney also has strong team that are expert in their field and make sure to bring
customers best quality and service. Such a good team makes the company really
strong in operations, managing its different pars efficiently. Finally, all these strengths
work toward the main strength of Disney that offering a global immersive experience.
Superfluous strengths:
Rides, the rides in Disney theme park can bring customers good experience, but
it is not unsubstituted. Customers can use the rides of others with almost same
satisfaction.
Inconsequential Weaknesses:
limited number of location is really a weakness but it doesn’t much affect to
Disney theme park. Customers from all over the world is willing to go for long
distance, even oversea to use Disney service and entertainment.
Key weakness:
Waiting time for some attractions. The service of Disney theme park is
sometimes overload and guests have to wait hours to buy some ticket attractions.
Especially in hot season, they might be hustled and jostled. In the end, some of them
refuse to go to Disney in that period. It is the most weakness of Disney that might
cause customer satisfaction and decrease their loyalty.
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6.4 VRIS Analysis
6.4.1 Capability
Below are the capabilities, acquisition, management, innovation, and international
capabilities of Disney.
Table 9. VRIS Analysis - Capability
V R I S Competitive
consequences
Performance
implication
Acquisition O X O O temporary
competitive advantage
above average
to average
Management O O O O sustainable
competitive advantage
above average
returns
Innovation O X O X Competitive
consequences average returns
International O O O O sustainable
competitive advantage
above average
returns
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6.4.2 Resources
Below are the resources of Disney, including land, rides, brand, technology, capital,
and park.
Table 10. VRIS Analysis - Resources
V R I S Competitive
consequences
Performance
implication
Land O O O O sustainable
competitive advantage
above average
returns
Ride X O X O competitive parity Average
returns
Brand O O O O sustainable
competitive advantage
above average
returns
Technology
(animation,
know-how)
O O O O sustainable
competitive advantage
above average
returns
capital
(finance) O O O O
sustainable
competitive advantage
above average
returns
Park O X O X competitive parity average
returns
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Chapter 7 Value Chain
Looking into Disney Parks and Resorts’ value chain may allow us to analyze the
success of Disney, how they create synergy among its different departments, and bring
out the best of them, presenting to their guests.
Figure 8. Value Chain
7.1 Firm Infrastructure
Financial
Revenue
The total consolidated revenues of Disney company are 52,465 million.
According to Disney fiscal 2015 report, Parks and Resorts earn 16,162 million at the
same year, which is one third of total revenue. And they increase 7% from 2014 to
2015.
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Table 11. The Total Consolidated Revenues of Disney Company
(in millions)
Segment operating income (loss)
The total Disney segment operating income is 14,681 million in 2015. Park and
Resorts accounting for 3,031 million, it is almost one-fifth of total. Compare to fiscal
2014, 2,663 million, they have about 14% growth.
Table 12. Segment Operation Income
(in millions)
Investing Activities
For domestic market, Disney invest from 1,184 million (2014) to 1,457 million
(2015) for expand new attractions, systems infrastructure, cruise ships, capital
improvements. For International market, Disney invest from 1,504 million (2014) to
2,147 million (2015) largely because the construction of Shanghai Disney Resort.
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Table 13. Investing Activities
(in millions)
Organization
Disney has six Park and Resorts around the world which are managed in three
ways: sole property, partial ownership, and licensing. Disney owns and operates in
two location in USA. One is Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, and the other is
Disneyland Resort in California. For its international parts, Disney has 81% interest in
Disneyland Resort Paris (recapitalization), 47% in Hong Kong Disneyland Resort.
Disney practiced joint venture with French Government and the Government of the
Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, but Disney can wholly manage those two
parks. The situation is somehow different in Shanghai Disney Resort, where Disney
company has 43% ownership interest, the other 57% is owned by Shanghai Shendi(上
海申迪集團). Disney company has 70% interest of management right, the other 30%
right belongs to Shendi group. Tokyo Disney Resort in Japan is the exception, where
Disney licenses intellectual property to them instead.
Legal Affairs
Disney Park and Resorts is a huge organization. To manage this international
business well, Disney had formed a group to deal with business affairs, contracts,
privacy, country law, patents, copyrights, etc. This group plays an important role
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because it protects and solves any problem related to Disney comprehensively from
park construction to operation. For example, they investigate in people who infringed
trademark rights and copyrights, as well as the stores that use “Disney Store” name
without authorized. Another example is that this group negotiate with joint venture
partners when Disney entering into international market such as land lease, cost, and
capital to meet the win-win situation.
7.2 Human Resources Management
Recruiting
Disney has a standard operation procedure when recruiting new employees.
Besides basic qualifications, Disney prefer to recruit those who believe in and are
willing to follow Disney’s values. There are seven values including “Honesty,
Openness, Balance, Diversity, Integrity, Respect, and Courage.” Also, Disney has
released guidelines for their employees. They need to follow restrictions from clothing
(color of undergarment, accessory prohibition, tattoos covered, etc.) to behaviors
(chewing gum, smoking, having poor posture, etc., are prohibited). If the applicant
could not accept the requirements above, s/he may have no chance in getting into
Disney.
Training
Disney has its own learning school called “Disney University”. New employees
have to take the course “Disney Traditions” to learn about Disney-related facts. With
this course, new staff can understand Disney’s current status, development, features
and segmentations. They also learn from basic Disney story to their role in this family.
Disney would also asked full time employees to take classes each year to acquire
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more skills, trends and knowledge.
Welfare
To maintain staff loyalty, Disney offers a set of rewards package. The benefits
include medical insurance, accident insurance, annual leave, overtime payment,
laundry services for uniforms and costumes. Also, s/he will get free or discount ticket
for him/herself, family and friends to worldwide Disney theme parks and resorts. The
hotels, shopping stores, dining area also have discount if staff ID is shown.
7.3 Technology Development
There is no doubt that technology Development is significant for Disney.
Through creative and innovative techniques, Disney can provide customers
a-dream-come-true experiences and moments in the tale with the interaction manner.
When it comes to theme parks, examples of utilization of technology can be found in
many places, such as the Finding Nemo Submarine Voyages, where the latest visual
effects and sound immersion technologies are implemented. The latest technology is
not only used in innovation storytelling, but also in the reservation system of
DisneyPark.com, where customers can customize their trip to Disney Resorts in the
light of their own preferences.
Research and Development
Disney’s R&D division develops better ways of providing entertainment to their
guests. Walt Disney Imagineering Research & Development, Inc. is the research and
development arm of The Walt Disney Company, it is responsible for the creation,
design, and construction of Disney theme parks and attractions worldwide. They
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design and building Disney theme parks, resorts, and other entertainment venues at all
levels of project development.
Technology (Bringing Innovation)
Disney Parks and Resorts is a typical example of the spirit of innovation. Much
of that innovation is driven by technology to create new and exciting experiences.
Their imagineers love Disney stories and experience, and used technology to make
them more interactive, and even more entertaining. For example, they use 3D
innovation with 4D to enhance the attraction and allow guests to experience the story
from a toy’s perspective. The guests can also experience Toy Story Midway Mania! at
Disney California Adventure Park.
7.4 Procurement
Disney is a unique and important customer to many of its suppliers, therefore it
has the ability to purchase with the lowest price while obtaining the highest quality of
its supplies. Procurement is a support function where the company can make the
greatest savings. This is due to the fact that capital expenditures for domestic and
international Parks and Resorts take up almost 70% of the total capital expenditures of
the company. Because of diverse business lines with their own business strategies,
Disney could not use standardization as their fundamental strategy for procurement
and supply chain management throughout the conglomerate. That being said, its
diverse business lines also bring opportunities for cooperation and generating
synergies among them. Procurement for Disney Parks and Resorts include activities to
maintain the optimum operating level cost efficiently. Some Disney parks products
can be found in others Disney parks, and the design can be use in others countries.
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7.5 Inbound Logistics
Disney Park and Resort’s strategy is based on providing “customer experience”,
thus its inbound logistics would be quite unusual comparing to conventional
manufacturing industries.
Construction facilities, goods and warehouses
Disney Parks and Resorts have sustainable suppliers for their inbound, from
attraction construction to hotel, cruise and restaurant. Being a global brand, its goal is
to bring the best experience to visitors. Therefore, they customize by offering safe
rides, fresh foods, comfortable hotel, and etc.…from the very first inbound.
Technology
Animation technology and technology know-how are components that contribute
greatly to Disney Parks and Resorts. They are the key elements in bringing the
characters from films of Disney to life in Disney theme parks. The continuously
developing technology in Disney Parks and Resorts also gives customers special
experiences and convenience. For example, the magic band - small bracelets that has
chip connecting to park tickets, hotel rooms and credit cards.
Employees
Disney Parks and Resorts have teams of workers that are experts in their field.
Their duties are bringing visitors happiness and quality service. The thoughtfulness
within Disney’s employees towards their guests is one of their elements of success.
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7.6 Operations
Construction and maintenance
The main active of Disney park and resort are constructing rides and attractions
which also including repairing and adding in new technology and appearance.
Creating events and trips
One of the biggest difference of Disney park and resort is their themes of cartoon
characters, stories,…from films or animation that they produced. They not only create
parade, music concert in special events annum in the park and resort but also voyage
in many periods all over the world.
Service (attractions, hotels, cruise, restaurant, and etc.)
As the master of service industry, good service is the most important things that
Disney wants to bring to their customers. Service in park, hotel, cruise and restaurant
contribute a large percentage to the different operation of Disney park and resort.
7.7 Outbound Logistics
We believe that Outbound logistics is not really applicable in the value chain of
Disney parks and resort. Outbound logistics is usually part of the value chain of
manufacturing and trading companies. Disney parks and resorts belongs to a specific
industry with a specific value chain.
7.8 Marketing & Sales
One of the strongest strength of Disney is integrating all of its business activities
to create this synergy that brings in profit, the product of the movie industry could be
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have the effect of marketing for the theme park industry or Disney’s consumer
merchandises. In this analysis, we will be focusing on the marketing and sales
activities related to Disney Parks and Resorts.
Content Marketing
As we have mentioned before, Disney is an empire selling stories, imaginations,
and happiness. When you visit a Disney theme park, you see rides, restaurants, hotels
that are designed around a certain Disney movie or Disney character you have seen
before. In a way, we can say that Disney movies play heavy roles in marketing of the
parks. There are many examples, such as Tokyo Disney introducing their new
attraction based on “Finding Nemo” and “Finding Dory” in 2017, and Hong Kong
Disney’s new attraction “Iron Man Experience”.
Figure 9. Finding Nemo /Dory attraction/ride concept art
Figure 10. Finding Nemo
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Figure 11. Iron Man Experience
Social Media
Today social media is a part of people’s lives, and a pretty big one too. The
internet allows firms to reach its customers faster and cheaper. Disney’s official
Facebook page alone has over 50 million likes, Disneyland and Walt Disney World
have around 33 million likes combined; and we are just getting started. Listed below
are the statistics extracted from Disney’s different social media platforms.
Table 14. Social Media Platform and User Statistics
Social Media Platform Statistics
Facebook 50 million likes
Twitter 5.13 million followers
Instagram 7.6 million followers
Youtube 1.9 million subscribers
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Apart from social medias, Disney also runs its own “Buzzfeed” website called
“Oh My Disney" and the “Disney Parks Blog”, which continuously provide contents
about Disney, including new attractions in theme parks, promotion of current releases,
TV series, Movies, trivia, quizzes, and etc. This keeps the fans updated and interested
between their visits to the parks and resorts.
In order to attract the more “mature” customers to Disney Parks and Resorts,
Disney had launched some interesting campaigns. One of them is the “Disney Dream
Portraits”, where Disney casted Hollywood A-list stars as iconic Disney characters in
a set of photo shoots. This marketing activity obviously targeted at customers aside
from children, and appeals to adults (eg. parents) and older fans.
Figure 12. Taylor Swift as Rapunzel
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Fairy Tale Weddings
Many of Disney’s fairy tales are stories of princesses living happily ever after
with the princes they fell in love with, and what more can a girl ask for when it comes
to the ultimate princess experience: getting married in a Disney castle?
Figure 13. Disney wedding
Starting from 2012, happy couples are able to book weddings at Disney Parks in
Florida, California, Tokyo, and Hong Kong. Packages often include ceremony at the
castle, reception at the hotel hall, princess-inspired wedding gowns and bridesmaid
dresses, and so on.
7.9 Service
As Disney parks and resorts offers entertainment it can be considered as a service
company, Service is a good opportunity for the company to improve their guests stay.
The company offers many services to its customers. Here is the list of services
provided by Walt Disney World, no less than 56 extra services are listed to fulfil the
need of most of the visitors and deliver a personalized experience. The list includes
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/
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umbrella rentals, mosquito prevention, laundry service, child care services or car care
center… Service is a key strength of the company and contribute to the main goal of
the company that is providing a unique immersive experience.
Where does the value come from?
Disney Parks and Resorts are magical kingdoms where dreams come true,
bringing happiness and joy to its loyal guests. Being a benchmark business entity in
the leisure industry, the value of Disney theme parks is difficult to be measured in
numbers and diagrams. The value comes from the synergy of all departments within
the organization, thriving to provide the best entertainment for each and every
customer. It is in the technology department, where the animations are so life-like
when projected in 3D; it is in the human resource management and service, where
employees are trained to alway smile to the guest, to be happy to assist the guest in the
best fashion possible; it is in marketing, spreading words and creating trends on the
internet, causing ticket sales to skyrocket every year. Overall, the value of Disney
Parks and Resorts comes from its forever-progressing innovation and quality customer
services.
Differentiation or low cost strategy?
In industries that are more conventional, such as manufacturing or farming, the
low-cost strategy is usually implemented. However, with an entertainment business
such as Disney, all has to give way to the content; they would definitely try to reduce
redundant expenses, but in the end in all come down to differentiation, what differs
Disney Parks and Resorts from its competitors. Running a theme park, especially a
successful theme park, is not cheap, so it would take outstanding contents and
attractions to bring in visitors, to make them feel their ticket price is worthwhile.
The Walt Disney Company Case Study
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