The Emergence of the Entertainment Industry

Discuss about the company “The Walt Disney Company” .

The “business world in the present times” has become much more diversified than it was in earlier times and “it is a reflection of this particular fact that various kinds of new industries have emerged in the present times” (Greenfield and Osborn 2016). Thus, the entertainment industry has emerged as one of the major ones in the present times and includes not only the movie industry but also the related businesses of the theme parks and others (Vogel 2014). Furthermore, this is one of the nascent industries of the world and seeks to derive its profitability from the need of the people to effectively utilize the very little time they from their hectic routine (Greenfield and Osborn 2016). This report will focus on the company “The Walt Disney Company” and will discuss the things which they excel at and the things for which they are criticized.

“The Walt Disney Company” founded by Walt Disney himself in the year 1923 is one of the most popular companies of the world (Disneyland Resort 2018). It is interesting to note that the company was originally called by the name of “Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio” because of the fact that it was founded by the two Disney brothers (Disneyland Resort 2018). It is significant to note that during the initial days of its foundation the company focused on the direction as well as the production of various kinds of cartoons and television pieces (Österle and Kuhn 2017). The concept of the theme park came much later in the 1950s when Walt Disney in order to fulfill the childish whims of his daughter designed the park (Disneyland Resort 2018). The theme park had been enjoying a considerable amount of success since then and “it is a reflection of this particular fact that the theme parks are one of the most visited locations of the world” (Österle and Kuhn 2017). The business organization after enjoying a considerable “amount of success in the nation of the United States of America expanded into the other nations of the world” and “thus in the present times it is seen that in almost all the major countries of the world there is at least one theme park related to the company” under consideration here (Österle and Kuhn 2017). Furthermore, in the later part of the 20st century the company under consideration moved to the business of the production of movies as well and this particular venture of the company under consideration here is called by the name of “Walt Disney Productions” (O’Hagan and Mangiron 2013). The company under consideration here in a bid to strengthen its position in the entertainment industry has undergone collaboration with the company “Fox Entertainment” and in future intends to do the same with Netflix (Disneyland Resort 2018). The company under consideration here is the “24^th largest business organization of the world in terms of the annual revenue which it generates on yearly basis and for the year 2017 the net turnover of the company was $178 Billion” (Forbes.com 2018). The below given figure provides the financial details of the company,

The Walt Disney Company’s History and Success

Figure 1: “Financial statistics of Disney”

Source: “Factset, Bloomberg, S&P Cap IQ; Forbes”

“The Walt Disney Company” is known for the quality of the movies produced by it not only in the 21^st century but also in the latter part of the 20st century (O’Hagan and Mangiron 2013). It is “a reflection of this particular fact” that some of the most preferred movies of the children “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, “The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad”, Treasure Island, Cinderella, Peter Pan, “Alice in Wonderland”, “The Story of Robin Hood and His Merrie Men”, Frozen, “The Jungle Book”, “The Lion King”, Finding Nemo, “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” and others (Disneyland Resort 2018). In addition to these the company under consideration here has subsidiaries or collaborations with the other major production houses of the present times like “Marvel Studios, Lucas film, Touchstone Pictures, Hollywood Pictures, Miramax Films, Dimension Films, ESPN Films” and others (Disneyland Resort 2018). Therefore, it can be said that the company under consideration here provides a wide range of movies from different genres to the children and it is precisely this particular feature which has enabled “the company under consideration to achieve the kind of success which it had attained in the recent times” (Tsang et al. 2012).

“The Walt Disney Company” is also known for the various theme parks related to it which, though initially started in the nation of the United States of America can now be found in almost every major nation of the world (O’Hagan and Mangiron 2013). As already mentioned the concept of the theme park was the brain child of Walt Disney and the first Disneyland theme park started in California was designed by him (Disneyland Resort 2018). However, for the other nations of the world the design as well as the mode of operation of the theme park is drastically “different from the one in the nation of the United States of America, keeping in view the differences in the cultural as well as the social backgrounds of the two nations” (O’Hagan and Mangiron 2013). The theme parks were originally designed with the primary purpose to entertain the children however in the present times it is seen that these theme parks have become popular with people from all ages and nations and this is one of the primary reasons for the ever increasing popularity of the various theme parks related to “The Walt Disney Company”.

The Walt Disney Company’s Popular Movies

The concept of “cross cultural management” comes when a particular business organization is trying to conduct its business in other nations of the world which have different cultures as well as social background (Tung 2015). It is significant to note that the factor of “cross cultural management” becomes one of primary importance when a business organization is conducting its business across borders and an ineffective consideration of this particular factor can “hamper the interests of the concerned business organization in a significant manner” (Tsang et al. 2012). “The Walt Disney Company” in the last decade of the 20^th century opened its theme parks in the other nations of the world like France, Japan and others other the one which it had in the United States of America (Disneyland Resort 2018). However, “The Walt Disney Company” failed to take into consideration the cultural differences between these nations and the culture which it initially had followed in its own home nation of the United States of America (Tsang et al. 2012). As per the opinion of many scholars this “is one of the primary reasons for the lack of success of the company under consideration in the various European as well as Asian nations” (Tsang et al. 2012).

Conclusion

The entertainment industry “has emerged as one of the most important industries of the world in the recent times and it is generally seen that the majority of the people like to take the help of the services provided by this particular industry” to pass their leisure time. This is “one of the primary reasons for the success” attained by the companies like “The Walt Disney Company” in the recent times. It is significant to note the initial success attained by the company in the domain of cartoon making and other similar activities encouraged the company under consideration to move into other spheres of business like the theme parks and the movie production.

References

Disneyland Resort. 2018. Disneyland® Official Site. [online] Available at: https://disneyland.disney.go.com/ [Accessed 9 May 2018].

Forbes.com. 2018. Forbes Welcome. [online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/companies/walt-disney/ [Accessed 10 May 2018].

Greenfield, S. and Osborn, G., 2016. Contract and control in the entertainment industry: Dancing on the edge of heaven. Routledge.

O’Hagan, M. and Mangiron, C., 2013. Game Localization: Translating for the global digital entertainment industry (Vol. 106). John Benjamins Publishing.

Österle, B. and Kuhn, M.M., 2017. Disneyland in B2B? Toward Physical Brand Worlds in Industrial Marketing. In Creating Marketing Magic and Innovative Future Marketing Trends (pp. 729-742). Springer, Cham.

Tsang, N.K., Lee, L.Y., Wong, A. and Chong, R., 2012. THEMEQUAL—Adapting the SERVQUAL scale to theme park services: A case of Hong Kong Disneyland. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 29(5), pp.416-429.

Tung, N.S.,2015 The Customers. Perception of Glocalization on Theme Park: The Case Study of Hong Kong Disneyland.

Vogel, H.L., 2014. Entertainment industry economics: A guide for financial analysis. Cambridge University Press.