...Walt Disney and Marvel Entertainment Strategic Initiative Cynthia Morgan FIN/370 July 29, 2012 University of Phoenix Nicole L. Givens Strategic initiative plans allow organizations to identify initiatives and strategies to undertake and to accomplish the objectives and goals identified by the organization. The process for strategic initiative planning involves various steps. The steps include identifying the organizations opportunities, threats, strengths, weaknesses, creation of objectives and goals, development of tactics, strategies, use of measures, and processes to evaluate the results. Team A will discuss Walt Disney and Marvel Entertainment acquisition strategic planning initiative, identify an initiative Walt Disney discussed in their annual report, the effects the initiative will have on the organizations financial planning and the initiative will affect the organizations cost and sales. Walt Disney and Marvel Entertainment Strategic Initiative The initiative of strategic planning of Walt Disney, Team A will analyze the acquisition of Marvel Entertainment. Reports show that Walt Disney...
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...Disney’s Acquisition of Marvel The Walt Disney Company (“Disney”) is one the most recognized and powerful brand names in the entertainment industry according to Datamonitor 2007. This is their biggest competitive advantage, combined with the fact that they hold a strategic array of assets (world’s largest media conglomerate) that helps the company to fully-exploit characters. On the other hand, Marvel’s biggest competitive advantages are both intangible assets: their intellectual property (characters like Spider-Man, Hulk, X-Men, etc.) and their creative potential (development of new characters). With the acquisition, Marvel will now serve as a source of “raw materials” for Disney’s businesses (theme parks, cartoons, movies, toys, etc.) while Marvel will benefit thanks to the capabilities of Disney’s advertising. Now with Disney and Marvel combined, they have eliminated Warner’s competitive advantage of having a Comic Studio backwards integrated to their corporation, which guarantees a continuous flow of exploitable material (characters). Nonetheless, Disney holds a notable competitive advantage over their competitor: they are more diversified: they have theme parks, consumer products and interactive media. Currently Disney is facing some critical issues after the acquisition, and they are: - Marvel’s most famous characters are compromised to Disney’s rivals. - Some of Disney’s main characters are out-dated (Pinocchio, Mickey-Mouse, Donald Duck, etc.). - Marvel could...
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...Disney: Diagnosing the Change HRM-587 Managing Organizational Change August 3rd, 2014 Introduction: Choosing a Diagnostic Model The diagnostic model I have chosen to discuss to analyze Disney and several of the companies acquired throughout the years such as Pixar, Marvel, and LucasFilm’s LTD for this assignment is the 7-S Framework model. I will also briefly discuss the many changes that Disney has implemented to improve the customer viewing as well as interactive experiences at their many new, current theme parks, and vacation destinations throughout the world. The 7-S model developed by McKinsey and Company consultants Robert Waterman Jr., Tom Peters, and Julien Phillips (Palmer, Dunford, Akin, 2009). The 7-S model may be used in a variety of situations where an alignment perspective is useful, for example, to help 1) improve the performance of the company, 2) examine the likely effects of future changes within a company, 3) align departments and processes during a merger or acquisition, 4) determine how best to implement a proposed strategy (Manktelow, J. 2014). The 7-S model is characterized by seven categories: Structure, strategy, systems, style, staff, skills, and superordinate goals (Palmer et al., 2009). The structure of the company was set and solidified by Walt Disney himself. He wanted to create something brilliant and diversified. This idea would be able to change through the years and remain a competitive force in the industry. Throughout Walt Disney’s...
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...Business The Walt Disney Company, together with its subsidiaries, is a diversified worldwide entertainment company with operations in five business segments: Media Networks, Parks and Resorts, Studio Entertainment, Consumer Products and Interactive Media. For convenience, the terms “Company” and “we” are used to refer collectively to the parent company and the subsidiaries through which our various businesses are actually conducted. On December 31, 2009, the Company completed an acquisition of Marvel Entertainment, Inc. (Marvel). See Note 4 to the Consolidated Financial Statements. Marvel businesses are reported primarily in our Studio Entertainment and Consumer Products segments. Information on the Company’s revenues, operating income, and identifiable assets appears in Note 1 to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in Item 8 hereof. The Company employed approximately 156,000 people as of October 1, 2011. MEDIA NETWORKS The Media Networks segment is comprised of international and domestic cable networks and our broadcasting business, which consists of a domestic broadcast television network, television production operations, domestic and international television distribution, domestic television stations, domestic and international broadcast radio networks, domestic radio stations, and publishing and digital operations. Cable Networks Our cable networks group operates the ESPN, Disney Channels Worldwide, ABC Family and SOAPnet networks. The cable networks group...
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...Walt Disney Company vs. 21st Century Fox Founded in 1923 by Walt Disney, The Disney Company, and since 1986, The Walt Disney Company is approaching its 92nd year anniversary. While the length of a company's existence is not necessarily tied to a company’s success, it is difficult for a media company to have such a long history and not have some kind of cultural impact. In fact, The Walt Disney Company has not been immune to shifts in the executive positions, scandals, and economic downturns. Disney is an international brand and a household name. It is a cultural icon. With that said, it is a business, one capable of bad decisions and mistakes. Over the last year, not only did Disney shares reach all-time highs, but the company experienced resounding cross-platform success with its Frozen franchise, spurred excitement for the upcoming sequels to the original Star Wars trilogy, and readied the opening of the new Shanghai Disney Resort. Furthermore, the media conglomerate continues to perform at a high level, despite facing constant pressure in its film and broadcasting holdings. Disney creates, develops, produces, markets, and distributes content through an unrivaled range of media platforms. The company derives its revenues from five operating segments. Media Networks (43% of companywide business in fiscal 2014) includes ESPN, ABC, Disney Channel, among others, and generates sales from affiliate fees, ad sales, and the distribution of television programs. Parks and Resorts...
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...The Walt Disney Company June18, 2014 International Management Table of Contents Abstract 3 The Walt Disney Company 4 Board of Directors 4 Chairman and CEO 5 Mission/Vision Statement 5 Disney History 6 Disney Divisions 9 Media Networks 9 Parks and Resorts 10 The Walt Disney Studios 10 Disney Consumer Products 11 Disney Interactive 11 Walt Disney Company Goals and Objectives 11 Corporate Culture 12 PEST Analysis 13 SWOT Analysis 14 References 17 Abstract This paper is designed to present an overview of the Walt Disney Company. It covers it mission/vision, company history and culture and a breakdown of the various division of the company as a whole. This breakdown is extensive and highlights the world wide interests of this company. Also covered will be what the goals are of The Walt Disney Company and how it see’s for its future. Also provided is a SWOT and PEST analysis. Finally, there is a conclusion as well as recommendations to the company. The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company is a leading diversified international family entertainment and media enterprise with five business segments: media networks, parks and resorts, studio entertainment, consumer products and interactive media. The company has subsidiaries and affiliates around the world including North America, South America, Europe, Middle East, Africa, Russia, Asian Pacific, and Japan. Board of Directors Walt Disney Company is a publicly held...
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...Disney’s Core Competency Walt Disney once noted: “I only hope that we don’t lose sight of one thing – that it was all started by a mouse”. (Disney Dreamer, 1998). Walt Disney’s original core competence was cartoons and animated movies. By combining Imagineering with engineering Disney’s company reached unparalleled success with the creation of the first full length animated movie. This success led to new ideas and one of them was to open a park, a different kind of park. In Disneyland Walt used new technology to bring his characters to life. He called them “Animatronics”. (Magical Kingdoms, July 2008) Together with unique storytelling and high quality of service Walt Disney created a magical environment for his guests which none of the competitors could quite duplicate. It became Walt Disney’s core competency. Disney once said: “Anything that has the Disney name to it is something we feel responsible for.” (Disney Dreamer, 1998) This competency is driven by superior Disney products and most of all by cast members and their renowned guest service. It’s always been a challenge to keep up with high expectations of the guests. To continue to improve its business Disney has set up new cast member standards in the form of the Basics (Meeting the new standards, December 2007). The new standards expect cast members to create and reinforce “magical” experience for the guests by being approachable, engaging, and willing to go above and beyond. As the company developed, many new...
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...Pixar Animations MBA 615 Mickey Langford/Kimberly Horne Spring 2013 Mickey Langford Pixar Animations is our company of choice for this case study analysis. In 2006, Walt Disney acquired Pixar, but before we get to all of that, let us start at the beginning. Before Pixar, there was Lucas Films. George Lucas, of Lucas Films, decided in 1979 to upgrade their computer division (Animations, 2012). Lucas had a desire to see how far they could take computer graphics within the film industry. Lucas Films succeeded by creating Andre & Wally B., in 1984 (Animations, 2012). Andre & Wally B. - First Ever Pixar Short Movie - The Adventures of André and Wally B. [1984 HD] - YouTube, was the first ever computer-generated imagery short movie (Movies, 2009). This was the foundational establishment in the film industry that Steve Jobs was seeking. In 1986, Jobs purchased the Computer Division from Lucas Films and named it Pixar Animations Studios. Walt Disney and Pixar Animation agreed to do a number of films together, the first being Toy Story which was a huge success. The movie debut on November 22, 1995 grossed $192 million domestically and $362 million worldwide (Animations, 2012). Listed below is a table of the gross amounts that Disney/Pixar movies have made: Released | Movie Name | 1st Weekend | US Gross | Worldwide Gross | Budget | 11/22/1995 | Toy Story | $29,140,617 | $191,796,233 | $361,948,825 | $30,000,000 | 11/20/1998 | A Bug's Life | $291,121...
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...“All of our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them'. This is what Walter Elias “Walt” Disney believed when he created his Disney brand in 1923. What started out as an silent animation film company, later grew into the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. The recent acquisitions of companies such as ESPN, Pixar, and Marvel are a few of many profitable ventures that are owned by Disney. In this paper I'll be reviewing Disney 2011 annual report, current business operations and further business opportunities . The main sections of an annual report include the financial statements, the managements discussion and analysis, notes to the financial statements, and a auditors report. Financial statements consists of four different statements. The income statements reports a company success or failure for a given time period. A balance sheet reports assets and claims at a specific point in time. The retained earnings statements show the net income retained in the business. These statements are concluded by the statements of cash flows which provides financial information about the cash receipts and cash payments of a business for a specific period of time. Some of the other documents included in the annual report are the managements discussion and analysis. This statement covers a companies ability to pay near term obligations, it's ability to fund operations, and the result of its operations. The notes to the financial clarify the four financial...
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...Strategic Initiative Paper Fin/370 March 6, 2013 Strategic Initiative Paper Disney is always looking for opportunities to complement their operations in theme parks as well as movie production. This article will discuss Disney’s acquisition of Lucasfilm, a strategic planning initiative released in Disney’s 2012 annual report. The article will delve into how this acquisition affects the Disney’s financial planning; that is, how this initiative affects costs, how will the initiative affect sales, and the risks associated with the initiative and financial effects they may have. What was the strategic and financial rationale for Disney’s purchase of Lucasfilm for $4 billion? As noted by Robert A. Iger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Walt Disney Company, the strategic acquisition of Lucasfilm provides tremendous new opportunities and creative potential across the entire company (The Walt Disney Company, 2012). The cornerstone of the purchase is Stars Wars franchise, which Disney has already announced plans to release a new feature film to continue the epic saga. Star Wars Episode 7 will be in theaters in 2015, with more feature films planned – along with television programming, games and merchandise, and an expanded Star Wars presence in our parks around the world (The Walt Disney Company, 2012). Disney CEO Robert Iger: "This is one of the great entertainment properties of all time, one of the best branded and one of the most valuable, and it's just fantastic for...
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...advantage, they face some seriously threatening issues. Some of the current issues they face are maintaining patents, company acquisitions, court battles, and new competition. In 1984, TYCO introduced Super Blocks, which were almost identical to the plastic brick design that LEGO has. TYCO had advertisements that stated “if you can’t tell the difference, why pay the difference”. LEGO launched a four year lawsuit against them, but by 1988 the patent for LEGO’s building block design expired, so they lost the lawsuit. All the effort against TYCO was wasted. LEGO should have renewed their patent to prevent incidents such as this one from happening. Once this patent expired, the barriers of competition were lowered significantly in the building toy market. In 2009, Disney acquired the comic book company Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion. This provided Disney with control over Marvel’s vast catalogue of over 5,000 comic book characters to be used in future publishing, movie production, and licensing operations. This was a threat because it placed a large amount of entertainment licensing under the control of one organization. Mattel, Hasbro, and LEGO all had individual licensing agreements with Disney to produce toys, but Disney had a long and favorable history of licensing toys with Mattel. In addition, Hasbro had an existing license agreement to produce Marvel toys and games until 2017. This left LEGO at a...
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... Analysis of The Walt Disney Company 1 An Analysis of The Walt Disney Company Kendall Forward TELE 3310 October 29, 2013 An Analysis of The Walt Disney Company Overview & History 2 The Walt Disney Company is a leading American diversified multinational entertainment and mass media conglomerate, headquartered in Burbank California. Founded on October 16, 1923 by Walt Disney and his brother Roy as a small cartoon animation studio, the company struggled through years of unsuccessful creations but turned around after the debut of Mickey Mouse, the official mascot of the company. Now headed by CEO Robert Iger, Disney is one of the largest entertainment corporations in the world with approximately 166,000 employees and annual revenues approaching the $45 billion mark (Walt Disney). For eight decades, Walt Disney has entertained people around the world with its theme parks, resorts, cruises, movies, TV shows, radio programming, and memorabilia. Before diversifying into live-action film production, television and travel, the company established itself as a leader in the American animation industry. The company went public in 1940 and was reincorporated under its current name in 1986 and expanded operations and also started divisions focused on theatre, radio, music, publishing and online media (Cohesion Case). Mission Statement The mission of The Walt Disney Company is to be one of the world's leading...
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...Andrew Meinsen GBA 490-901 Walt Disney Company discussion questions 1.) Walt Disney Company’s corporate strategy is centered on creating high quality family content, exploiting technological innovations to make entertainment experiences more memorable, and international expansion. Walt Disney Companies acquired Pixar and Marvel to enhance the resources and capabilities of its core animation business with the addition of new animation skills and characters. The acquisition of UTV in 2011 was executed for international expansion efforts into India and Russia. Disney’s corporate strategy also allocates substantial capital to its core theme parks and resorts business to sustain its advantage in the industry. Disney has started to integrate its highest grossing movies into its theme parks such as Pirates of The Caribbean and Cars 2 in attempt to capture synergies existing between its business units. 3.) My assessment of the competitive strengths of Walt Disney’s different business unit is that they have a strong competitive advantage of other companies in the same market. Disney’s strengths consist of: strong product portfolio, brand reputation, Competency in acquisitions, and diversified business. Disney’s ability to acquire technologically advanced companies and companies that complement Disney’s weakness in each individual unit and industry. Also the ability to integrate the different business units is a key strength for Disney. The Studio Entertainment unit shares major...
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...Strategic Plan Part 1 Walt Disney: Conceptualizing new service division Will Johnson BUS/475 March 12, 2015 Frank Bearden Strategic Plan Part 1: Conceptualizing new service division Introduction The Disney brand is a global powerhouse, renown for entertaining hundreds of millions of people over the past 75 years. Founder Walt Disney (d. 1966) took a simple vision of an animated mouse and turned it into a fantastical empire full of breathtaking imaginations come to life. The Disney Company is an organization which embraces constant innovations, one which the corporate world admires. It is because of this restless and intrepid spirit that Disney consistently lands on Forbes ‘Best Of’ lists, including Most Reputable Businesses and Most Valuable Brand (Forbes, 2014). Some of Disney's breakthrough innovations include the first motion feature using sound (Steamboat Willie), the first full-length animated feature film (Snow White), the first ‘4-D’ feature film (Captain E/O starring Michael Jackson), and the world’s first fully-interactive ‘themed park’ (Disneyland). This ‘company of firsts’ highlights the importance of an organization staying true to its mission statement while pushing above and beyond, breaking new ground with bold, visionary ideas. But Disney is not done. The Disney Company doesn’t rest on its laurels; and there are still new frontiers to discover in this illustrious company. Having developed new advancements in entertainment, Disney now points its mouse-ears...
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...The Fluidity of Disney. Gender Norms & Racial Bias in the Study of the Modern “Disney” The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney, is an American diversified multinational mass media corporation headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California. It is the world's second largest broadcasting and cable company in terms of revenue, after Comcast. Disney was founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, and established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into live-action film production, television, and theme parks. The company also operated under the names The Walt Disney Studio, then Walt Disney Productions. Taking on its current name in 1986, it expanded its existing operations and also started divisions focused upon theater, radio, music, publishing, and online media. In addition, Disney has created new corporate divisions in order to market more mature content than is typically associated with its flagship family-oriented brands. The company is best known for the products of its film studio, the Walt Disney Studios, which is today one of the largest and best-known studios in Hollywood. Disney also owns and operates the ABC broadcast television network; cable television networks such as Disney Channel, ESPN, A+E Networks, and ABC Family; publishing, merchandising, and theatre divisions; and owns and licenses 14 theme parks around the world. It also has a...
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