Disney

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Situation
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Euro Disney:
Was not intended to be a European alternative to the US parks, but rather to develop a market of its own and to build interest in all Disney products.
The French were more suspicious, warning of a potential “Cultural Chernobyl”, so, CEO Michael Eisner enlisted a former professor of medieval French literature, RobertFitzpatrick, as the president of Euro Disney to oversee the park´s development according to both Disney´s specifications and French sensitivities.
Michael Eisner envisioned Euro Disney as a reflection of the dissolution of borders between nations of the European Community. The cast at Euro Disney comprised some 85 nationalities and 35 languages, capable of delivering amultinational, multilingual service to the park´s guests.
The company had set its attendance target at 11 million visitors in the first year. Between opening day in April and the end of September 1992, Euro Disney had 7 million visitors.
Visitors started to decay because of the combination of a weak dollar and high European prices, which made visits to Disney World more affordable forEuropeans than similar trips to Euro Disney.
The company lowered prices at its hotels and restaurants in order to make them more affordable, lay off employees, and deferred its management fees for two years.
In 1993, Euro Disney announced it had lost in excess of $900 million for the past year and that it would complete a financial restructuring by the spring 1994.Questions
Were Disney´s analytic methods, developed on the basis of experience in the United States and Japan, appropriate for consideration of entry into France?
In what respects, if any, should Euro Disney differ from Disney World?
Does the Disney service experience offer value to the European target market?
Would the Disney experience be made more o lessappealing if customized to meet the local culture?
Is the target market sufficiently homogeneous with respect to its interests in Disney to offer a single answer, or must distinct target markets be addressed with distinct service concepts?
Can operations and service delivery systems meet the requirements of the service concept?
Analysis
Strategic Service Visionfor Euro Disney:
Disney Expansion Strategy:
The expansion strategy that Disney uses is a diversified network because, first of all, it offers theme parks in different places across the world, like both parks in the United States, Disney Tokyo and Euro Disney in Paris. Also, Disney also has different types of services like:
Hotels and Resorts
Disney Vacation Club
DisneyCruise
Sports
Home Video
Network Television
Cable Television
Disney on Broadway
Publishing
Global Service Strategy:
Multi Country expansion: Disney has used this strategy to expand its service in multiple locations around the world. Cultural adaptation is a major issue in this type of strategy.
Importing customers: Disney hasused this strategy because, as it only has limited parks around the world, customers need to travel long distances in order to visit the parks.
Competitors:
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Problems
The decision to locate a park in France may have been guided by analysis that failed to incorporate important local issues and circumstances.
Disney entered France without a local partner,and it too faced difficulty in defining and understanding its target market. Unlike its successful Tokyo Disneyland venture with the Oriental Land Company, the Euro Disney case presents evidence of a lack of sophisticated understanding of the European market. In particular, the fact that Euro Disney is a “European” attraction means that the target market includes guests from many...