A Brawl in Mickey’s Backyard
A Brawl in Mickey’s Backyard discusses the different views that Disney and SunCal both have. Walt Disney is a huge company known for entertainment and hosting many tourists’ areas. SunCal is a local developer in the Anaheim area. In this case Disney and SunCal both want to use land in the Disney district to expand.
Disney argues that the land should be used for tourist attraction. In 2007 Disney earned over $35 billion and wants to continue to create a place where people can “feel like they’re in another world.” Once Disney had upgraded in 2007, the newly developed resort district earned more than half of Anaheim’s tax revenue. The rent outside of Disney, within the district, is as high as $1,400 a month. Owners of Disney say that employees don’t have to live that close to the resort and can commute to work.
SunCal is on the opposing side along with many Disney employees and other activists. They argue that Disney only cares about making money and not about their employees. SunCal is very motivated to get this land because they want to give Disney’s employees, along with other people in the community, an adorable place to live. Employees are cramped in one bedroom apartments with their entire family just to try to get by with the high rent. Only 18% of their employees could actually afford to live in the district. SunCal wanted to use some of the land to build 1,500 affordable condominiums setting aside 15% of them designated to employees. They argue new condominiums will also help decrease commuting traffic and air pollution.

1. The focal organization in this case is Disney, a well know Entertainment Company. They are up against SunCal, a local developer from Anaheim. Both companies are fighting for the right to build on land that falls within the Disney district. SunCal wants to use the 26-acre lot to build affordable homes for the community, as well as discounted for the Disney employees. They are also fighting for the community to decrease the congestion on the streets as well decrease the amount of air pollution. SunCal along with employees and other activists are fighting the city council to give them special permission to build on the land. However, Disney is fighting to keep the land for expansion and believes any land within the district should only be used for tourist attraction. The city council is torn between the two. 2. The relevant market stakeholders include all groups that have an economic engagement with the company. The most important are the Disney employees. The returning customers/tourists are other market stakeholders. The non-relevant stakeholders are all other groups that are affected by the company’s action but are not involved in the economic engagement. The most important being Disney’s competition, SunCal. Others include the general public, union workers, and other activist groups in the direct community concerned about pollution. Lastly, the city council is affected by their actions. 3. The Disney employees, who are in favor SunCal’s proposal, are interested in being able to afford the housing that is conveniently located within the Disney district. They want Disney to realize that their services are what make Disney so successful and to treat them as so. The customers/tourists, who are opposed to the proposal, are interested in having a fun and entertaining spot to visit. They want to continue to get the value and quality that Disney has to offer. SunCal is in favor of the proposal. They are interested in building new affordable homes for the employees and community. They are also interested in expanding and gaining those new customers. The general public, union workers, various activists, and the city council are all in favor of the proposal. They are all interested in having there be affordable homes in the immediate area, as well as decreasing the amount of congestion and pollution caused from the long commutes. 4. Disney employees have economic power. They have the power to refuse work, or go on strike. They have the power to try to negotiate with managers in order to get what they want. They also have informational power. They also have the ability to talk bad about the company in public. The employees in the case have already practiced this right by protesting outside the City Hall. Disney’s customers/tourists also have economic power. They have to power to simply stop visiting their attractions. If they are unhappy with the development they can choose to avoid the entire place, in turn really hurting Disney’s profits. On the other hand, the tourists also have the power to disagree with Disney’s policies and boycott them because of that. Tourists also have informational power. They can bash Disney through many forms of social networking, or simply just through word of mouth. 5. N/A 6. A possible solution that might emerge from dialogue between SunCal and their stakeholders is that they could stop fighting for the 26-acre lot and get permission to use a different plot of land. The main interest of SunCal is to get the affordable housing near the Disney resort, but they don’t have to be right across the street. They might realize that even though all the housing around the resort is expensive, it’s not worth it to keep fighting Disney because they are a much bigger company with a lot more stakeholders. SunCal could build the condominiums somewhere extremely close to the district and get a shuttle service to bring all the workers back and forth. This will allow the employees that were driving to cut back while still helping to decrease the amount of pollution. SunCal could try to work with Disney instead of fighting with them. They could come to an agreement that the lot can be expanded into more Disney resorts but that they can build on a section of the lot designated for cheaper employee living. That way Disney could expand and keep their district almost strictly a tourist area, but the employees could also afford to continue to work there.