Walt Disney Competitive Advantage

Mission “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”. Market Analysis Company The Walt Disney Company is a diversified multinational American mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, CA. It is the world’s 2nd largest media conglomerate in terms of revenue, after Comcast.

So he carried just 40 dollars in his pocket and set of for the shining, sparkling city of Hollywood. Business started off a little rocky, and Disney Studios took quite a blow during World War 2, but the business soon got back on their feet, and Walt decided that he wanted to create a Disney Amusement park. With much done in between the time frame that Walt dreamed up this amusement park fantasy, and the time that the park was opened, much had happened. Walt knew that he wanted to build the park fast and quick, so with construction beginning in 1954, the Disneyland park opened on July 17th, 1955. At last, Walt had created an environment where the characters from his wildly popular movies and hit T.V cartoons could come to life.

He paid attention to things that others failed to think about. A brilliant example of this ability to “think outside the box” is that all doors in hotel rooms have two peepholes, one at the usual height and one at a child’s-eye level. Defining a Common Purpose Disney formulated a Mission Statement for his company that encompassed some important service values and operational criteria, covering health and safety, courtesy, quality standards, efficiency. In order to deliver on these, Disney formulated what is known as a Service Compass. Disney’s Quality Service Compass

A game changer is a person who changes the world in a significant way. A game changer is a person who is honest, inspiring, and influential. This game changer had inspired the world and everybody of his amazing animations. The autobiography about Walt Disney is about how he created Disney World, and how he changed the lives of people. Walt Disney created Walt Disney World to fulfill people’s dreams and wanted to make it the happiest place on Earth.

In the process of analyzing The Walt Disney Company compared to its competitors, Six Flags and SeaWorld, it has come to our attention that Six Flags went through Chapter 11 Bankruptcy on April 30, 2010. Due to the filing of Chapter 11, the numbers that will be reported are going to more successful than alleged. (http://investors.sixflags.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=61629&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1588338&highlight & http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB124489639859012503) SeaWorld in recent years has barely survived a catastrophic marketing ploy against them regarding their treatment to their sea animals through the movie of “BlackFish” but has been able to keep a small share of the market through recently marketing campaigns that show the positive things that they do for the animals that they rescue. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/seaworld-buys-newspaper-ads-in-wake-of-blackfish-backlash/ . It has been said that park attendance as decreased by one million visitors due to the “BlackFish” scandal.

Six Flags finally found its 'niche'. The investors loved this plan for lower prices. As reported by Hal (et. al., 2010) the company seems likely to benefit financially as families spend on leisure again, and it occupies a sweet spot in a sluggish recovery as parents opt for local "staycations" over pricey trips. The achievement of this strategy is likely due to Six Flags finally making the decision to work within its competitive range.

Since the 1930’s, the Walt Disney Company is known for producing characters, images, as well as stories which have created happiness for audiences around the world. This corporation has grown from a small cartoon studio run by famous Walt and Roy Disney to a million dollar business and is a prime example of globalized American culture. In Janet Wasko’s book, “Understanding Disney”, Wasko explains Disney as corporation name it “The Disney Empire”. Throughout her book, Wasko argues that Disney is set up like a typical profit seeking corporation, as well as an industry that re-invents folk tales by “Americanising” them (Wasko 2001).

Disney position their main attraction in a place with high flow of people, so more people familiar with the brand name. You can now found Disney’s theme park in California, Florida, Paris, Tokyo, and Hong Kong. Last

As Connellan (1996) suggests, "Your competition is anyone who raises customer expectations — because if someone else satisfies customers better than you, no matter what type of business, you suffer by comparison" (p. 20). Recreation resource managers, then, can find themselves compared to the success of Disney’s approach. Disney World and Disneyland may be nearer to what people want than anything given them before. The more that managers publicly aspire to be meeting those expectations, the more the public will apply the standards they know of from Disney. Disneyland and Disney World are prime examples of a completely constructed environment, and a fundamentally prescribed visitor experience.

Participation of very few firms in this market is the cause for Disney to be an oligopoly. Some of Disney’s major competitors include News Corporation (NWS), Time Warner (TWX), DreamWorks Animation SKG (DWA), and Viacom (VIA), who directly compete with Disney in myriad business lines. As there are only a few number of firms, competitive pricing does not exist and consumers have limited choices to choose from. Walt Disney Company is large enough to affect the market. Hence, the firm is a price maker and changes prices quite frequently to maximize profits.

Although there was a number of theme parks in Europe, given the high switching costs of customers, Disneyland Paris had been market-leading (Table 1). The theory focused less on the cultural factors and

What are the two types of core competencies that drive a firm’s competitive advantage? Which firms demonstrate a clear competitive advantage because of (a) major value-creating skills/core capabilities and/or (b) superior assets or resources? Which firms have demonstrated sustainable sources of competitive advantage? The two core competencies that drive a firm’s competitive advantage are cost leadership and differentiation.

This may sound simple but it was a lot different than the Anaheim resort competing with the Six Flags parks in Los Angeles. However, Disney has consistently focused on high quality service and entertainment, keeping their branding relative to their family-oriented Disney characters (Disney, n.d.). Globalized Disney has been very successful due to their willingness and ability to make required adaptions for both cultural and competition purposes. This type of flexibility is often the key factor in making an organization successful when they seek to

Competitive strategy is a suit of methods and action sequence deliberately planned and put into place by companies in the face of market competition. This seems to be a clear way of keeping their market shares, expanding sales and managing the product lines to deliver desired results. The corporate world often needs some sorts of solid strategies considering the trends of the market competition. Beyond the issues of quality and distribution, companies often need to plan ahead and protect their market share in the sale.

Vacation destinations are usually viewed as places where people travel to relax and escape from the realities of everyday life. When going on an excursion to a tropical island or an amusement park, it is easy to forget how much hard work is put into creating the perfect experience guests. Walt Disney World, located in Orlando, Florida, is one of the most popular vacation destinations for families all around the world. Disney World is known for its ability to bring fairytales to life through themed attractions and interactive character experiences. From the outside, it may appear that this vacation spot only exists to make a profit, but the implementation of creativity and hard work has shown me that through those means, success and happiness can be achieved.