As opined by Mannheim (2016), the extensive use of recent technologies as well as innovations has drastically changed the nature of the business world and the impact of this is not only visible in the products or services offered by the organizations but also in the kind of business models that they are using. Forsgren and Johanson (2014) are of the viewpoint that this has significantly enhanced the level of competition within the business world and the organizations are thus required to take the help of effective business enterprises to enhance the business prospects of their organization. The net result of this is the fact that the organizations unlike the traditional times need to take the help of effective leadership as well as management philosophies for the management of the organization and also human capital.
Shenkar, Luo and Chi (2014) argue that the modern organizations also need to utilize human capital management policies or strategies so as to effectively manage the human capital that they have. This is important since the overall productivity of a business enterprise depends greatly on the individual job productivity of the different workers of the concerned organization. Capurro et al. (2018), on the other hand, are of the viewpoint that the role played by the notions of organizational design and marketing strategies cannot be undermined and they to a great extent determine the success or the failure of an organization. In addition to this, the organizations in order to expand their business globally need to take into effective consideration various factors like market entry strategies, political environment, cultural issues and others. This paper will analyze the business operations of the organization Walt Disney and its various related aspects.
The researcher for the completion of this paper has gathered data from the annual reports, financial statements, official website of the organization Walt Disney and others. In addition to this, the researcher has also taken the help of the reviews of the organization under discussion here given by the different experts. In addition to these, the researcher has also used different kinds of secondary data related to the organization and also related to the concept of international business. The primary objective of the researcher behind the collection of these different kinds of data was to gather the information that enabled the researcher to complete this paper.
Walt Disney World Resort or more commonly called by the names of Disney World and Walt Disney World was founded in the year 1971 by Walt and Roy Disney (Disney.com, 2018). This theme park or complex was initially established in the state of Florida in the United States of America (Disney.com, 2018). The primary motive behind the foundation of this theme park was to cater to the desire of Walt Disney’s daughter (Forbes.com, 2018). However, soon the theme park captured the attention of the children of not only of USA but also from the different parts of the world. The net result of this is the fact that the organization under discussion here has theme parks in more than 11 different nations of the world like France and others (Disney.com, 2018). The organization offers extensive entertainment packages not only to the children but also to the adults as well and some of the most famous characters which appear in the comics as well as the movies produced by Disney can be found in the themes of the organization.
The theme parks of the organization in the different nations is one of the visited destinations of the world and the number of people who visited the themes parks of the organization under discussion here was more than 52 million (Forbes.com, 2018). More importantly, the organization has an employee capacity of more than 74,000 and the net revenue earned by the organization was the year 2017 was 2.6 billion U.S. dollars (Thewaltdisneycompany.com, 2018). Furthermore, the organization in addition to the theme parks has various kinds of resorts which are based on settings of the various movies that are produced by the organization. Moreover, the organization at the same time owns a production house and has active movie making interests (Disney.com, 2018). It is pertinent to note that the organization holds a monopoly in the entertainment industry and the major competitors of the organization in the entertainment industry are Viacom (VIA), Time Warner (TWC), 21st Century Fox (FOX), Sony (SNE), CBS (CBS) and Comcast (CMCSA) and others (Capurro et al., 2018).
The original idea for the establishment of the theme park in Florida, often called by the name of “The Florida Project” was the brainchild of Walt Disney himself (Higgins & Huque, 2015). In this regard, it needs to be said that throughout his life he followed the transformational style of leadership and the net result of this was the fact that the major themes as well as characters for which the movies and parks of the organization are known were composed by Walt himself (Chinta, Cheung & Capar, 2015). More importantly, he himself tried to lead the employees of the organization by example and always encouraged the employees to “think out of the box” and come up with innovative ideas (Bae et al., 2018).
The primary philosophy of the organization is to offer the best quality of unadulterated entertainment to the children and the adults who visit the theme parks and also opt for the other services by the organization (Park, Kim & Ok, 2018). The net result of this is the fact that the organization since its foundation has focused on the aspect of quality rather than quantity. More importantly, the management team of the organization in order to foster an environment of innovation as well as creativity within the framework of the organization organizes various kinds of competitions wherein the employees can display their creativity (Tanu, 2016). It is pertinent to note that these ideas developed by the employees are not only being used in the various theme parks of the organization but at the same time in the movies which are being produced by the organization as well. Thus, it can be said that the primary philosophy of the management team of the concerned organization can be said to be to foster innovation and creativity within the framework of the organization and also to use them for the services that they deliver to the customers.
The organization under discussion here actively takes the help of the framework of the strategic human resource management (SHRM) for the effective management of the human capital of their organization (Lafferty, Matulich & Liu, 2014). Isomura, Suzuki and Tochimoto (2015) are of the viewpoint that the tool of SHRM enables the organizations to strategically align the goals of the different employees of the organization with the overall objectives of the concerned organization. As opined by Bowie (2018), effective use of this HRM policy not only helps the organizations to enhance the individual job productivity of the different employees of the organization but at the same time the overall productivity of the organization as well. The net result of this is the fact that the organization in the recent times has faced limited number of employee disputes or conflicts. In addition to this, it is seen that the organization tries to increase the job satisfaction level of the employees by means by taking the help of the strategy of wage leadership and also reward and recognition system. More importantly, it is seen that the organization believes in hiring the best talents and this is the major reason why the majority of the employees of the organization are from the Ivy League colleges of the world (Chow, 2015). This is perhaps one of the major reasons why the organization does not hire employees from the local markets rather it has evolved its own brand of recruitment and selection policy wherein the individuals had to undergo a stringent selection process to get selected within the organization.
As opined by Wilson (2017), organizational design can be seen a detailed methodology which involves the creation of different kinds of roles, processes, as well as structures to ensure the fact that the overall goals of the organization are being achieved. In this regard, it needs to be said that the organization Walt Disney follows its own unique brand of organizational design wherein the business strategies, leadership, management policies and other processes used by the organization are integrated in an effective manner so that the organization is being able to achieve its goal (Bruner et al., 2017). The primary goal of the organization is to become the leader in the entertainment industry and offer the best quality entertainment services to the customers who are opting for their services (Karadjova-Stoev & Mujtaba, 2016). For example, it is seen that the organization follows the strategy of product differentiation for the kind of entertainment services that they offer to the customers (Stein, 2017). In this regard, it needs to be said that there are many organizations which offer similar kinds of entertainment services to the customers like the ones offered by the organization Walt Disney yet the factor which the distinguishes the services of Walt Disney is the fact that their services are designed on the basis of the themes which are prevalent in the movies produced by them (Alon et al., 2016). Moreover, the organization follows premium pricing strategy since the focus of the organization is to offer the best quality entertainment services to the customers and because of this the organization inadvertently ends up incurring a higher operations cost (Haley & Boje, 2014). Thus, to overcome this problem the organization takes the help of the strategy of premium pricing.
Maheshkar and Sharma (2018) are of the viewpoint that the business prospects of an organization depend greatly on the kind of culture which is being followed within the framework of that particular organization. The organization tries to foster a culture of innovation and creativity within the framework of their organization and the net result of this is the fact that the organization in the recent times has fostered a continuous learning culture within its workplace (Forsgren & Johanson, 2014). More importantly, it is seen that the organization for the various theme parks that it has in the nation of USA tries to incorporate the American culture within the services offered by them to the customers (Shenkar, Luo & Chi, 2014). This same cultural model was followed by the organization for its theme parks in France, Japan and others however they did not yield any success (Capurro et al., 2018). The initial failure of the ventures of the organization in the above mentioned nations can be attributed to the fact that the organization failed to take into effective consideration the factor of national culture of these nation. This is one of the major reasons for the various cultural issues that the organization faced in the nations of France, Japan and others. Furthermore, in the recent times the organization has even faced criticism related to the use of unethical practices for the services that they deliver to the customers. For example, one of the most common allegations made against the organization and the services that they offer is the fact that they are trying to distort the national culture of different nations (Bae et al., 2018). In this regard, it needs to be said that the French complained that the majority of the characters created by Disney are Americans and the organization is trying the Americanize the different nations of the world (Capurro et al., 2018).
The organization despite having its humble beginning in the nation of USA is currently operational in more than 11 different nations of the world and the services offered by the organization are used by people from all over the world (Forbes.com, 2018). The organization for the process of entry into the business market of different nations of the world had been following the method of single proprietorship through which they establish their own theme parks or resorts. One of the major reasons why the organization has been able to gain extensive success through the use of this method is because of the positive brand image that the organization enjoys and also the popularity of the services offered by them (Maheshkar & Sharma, 2018). However, in the year 2017 it was seen that the organization entered into collaboration with 20th Century Entertainment Production House so as to overcome the losses that it was facing (Forbes.com, 2018). The organization currently is planning to enter into the business markets of nations like India, Norway and others (Bowie, 2018). The organization can follow the market strategy of single proprietorship that it had followed for the purpose of expansion into the other nations of the world. However, the organization needs to refrain from making the mistake that it made in France and would have to take into effective consideration the national cultures of these nations and modify their services on the basis of these. More importantly, in order to gain a monopoly in the business markets of these nations the organization can follow the strategy of product diversification and offer a plethora of services to the customers rather than just the entertainment services that they are currently offering.
Shenkar, Luo and Chi (2014) are of the viewpoint that one of the most important trends which are being seen within the contemporary business world is the increasing insistence of the customers to opt for the e-commerce or online services rather than the brick and mortar services offered by the organizations. This change in the buying behavior of the customers can be attributed to the impact of the different kinds of technologies on the business world (Mannheim, 2016). The increasing insistence of the customers to opt for the e-commerce services is adversely affecting the prospects of the organization under discussion since for the year 2017 the organization experienced 1% decline in its annual revenue (Thewaltdisneycompany.com, 2018). The net result of this is the fact that the organization in the recent times has started to offer e-commerce services to the customers. For example, it is seen that the organization offers live streaming options to the customers so that they can watch the movies produced by the organization over the internet rather than buying the DVDs of the concerned movies (Maheshkar & Sharma, 2018). In addition to this, it is seen that the customers presently are even given the choice to book the tickets for the theme parks over the internet and also pay for the same. More importantly, the present day customers of the organization under discussion here even have the luxury to make reservations online for the various resorts or the hotels of the organization and even select the rooms or the packages as per their own convenience (Bae et al., 2018). These e-commerce services offered by the organization under discussion here are likely to enhance the business prospects of the organization in a substantial manner and also help it to earn a higher level of profit as well.
Chinta, Cheung and Capar (2015) have argued that the political condition of any nation had a profound influence on the business operations of the business organizations which are operating in that particular nation. As opined by Bowie (2018), one of the most basic requirements of the different business enterprises is a congenial political environment which is free from political turmoil, struggles, strikes and others so that they can conduct their business in an effective manner. More importantly, the trade policies, tariff charges, export or import rates charged by any nation also affects the business operations of any organization (Chow, 2015). For example, it is seen that if a nation follows a free trade policy, has a lower tariff charge and import or export charges then this can affect the business prospects of an organization in a positive manner (Wilson, 2017). It is pertinent to note that the political condition of the nation USA in which the major business interests of the organizations are based is a very congenial one. For example, it is seen that the nation enjoys a very stable government which is free from various kinds of political turmoil, struggles and other similar kinds of problems (Park, Kim & Ok, 2018). More importantly, it is seen that the nation follows a free trade policy and charges a nominal amount of tariff or import/ export fees from the different organizations which are operational in the concerned nation (Alon et al., 2016). Thus, it can be said that the congenial political environment of USA actually acts as an opportunity for the organization under discussion here which it has utilized in an effective manner for attaining a significant amount of success.
Conclusion
To conclude, the internationalization is one of the most important trends which is seen within the contemporary business world and it is seen that different business enterprises are actively taking the help of this process to attain a higher level of growth. However, there are various factors that the organizations need to take into effective consideration for the process of expansion into the business markets of other nations like national culture, political environment and others. More importantly, the organization at the same time needs to have clear leadership as well as management philosophies and also needs to strategically align the individual goals of the employees with the overall goals of the organization as well. In addition to this, the organizations at the same time need to take the help of effective business strategies and organizational design so as to effectively utilize the business opportunities offered by the business environment. Lastly, effective use of the e-commerce strategies is another option that the contemporary organizations can utilize to gain a higher level of growth. All these aspects of international business become apparent from an analysis of the international business operations of the organization Walt Disney in the different nations of the world.
References
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