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Submitted By vscampbell55512
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To Diversify or not to Diversify

Contemporary Business

The companies that I selected to write about are Walt Disney Company and the National Semiconductor Corporation. The Walt Disney Company is my example of a successful diversification story. The Walt Disney Company was founded in 1923 as a cartoon studio by
Walter Elias Disney. The company has since become an entertainment powerhouse that pervades film, television, radio, vacation destinations, merchandise, music, cruise ships and more.
After World War Two, when demand for its film-making services that had been used heavily by the U.S. government during the war effort waned, the company, driven by financial motivation, expanded its footprint into other integrated market segments. This approach not only hedged the company’s bets insofar as financial success was concerned, but tied the offerings together, reinforcing the company’s already strong brand across seemingly disparate market segments.

As the company grew, Disney diversified production beyond cartoons and animated movies.

Treasure Island, released in 1950, was the studio’s first live-action film, and the company formed

Buena Vista Distribution a few years later. With its own in-house distribution company, Disney

could continue to churn out movies while significantly saving on distribution costs. Live-action

hits such as Swiss Family Robinson in 1960 and Mary Poppins in 1964 followed.
Disney's TV debut came around the same time as Treasure Island, with the special One Hour in
Wonderland. The popular Mickey Mouse Club debuted as a TV series in 1955.
But it was another TV program that began in 1954, called Disneyland, that showed Walt Disney had even bigger plans for the company. A few years earlier, Disney established WED Enterprises as a separate company and began drawing up plans for

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