Isabella Battiata

SETON HILL UNIVERSITY

SBU 180 45 – Summer – 2018
Intro: The Walt Disney company has been prevalent since the 1920’s, but it was not remotely

close to reaching that powerhouse of a company until much later. Earlier in that decade, a man

named Walt Disney would go on to create short, cartoon films based on characters he thought up.

His first creation is about a real-life girl getting caught in a cartoon world. Her short films were

known as Alice in Wonderland. Once this story was published, alongside his brother, Roy

Disney, the Disney company would take flight in 1923. They would go on to create Oswald but

none of them really took hold until the infamous Mickey Mouse in 1927. After that, sales took

off and so did Walt’s popularity. Throughout the following year, Walt struggled with his short

films of Mickey because they were silent, and at the time, sound was flourishing. He finally

created a full-audio film, which is still known around the world today, called Steamboat Willie.

He created his first major movie called Snow White and the Seven Dwarves in 1937. After years

of successful movies and television shows, Walt felt a void in himself, despite his

accomplishments. He needed to go further. His yearning would lead him to an idea: what if

parents and children could enjoy their day together instead of parents sitting on the sideline while

the kids had fun? And just like that, Disneyland was born. “Disneyland would never be

completed as long as there was imagination left in the world” (Disney, 1955). To Disney,

entertaining families all across the globe and providing a place for them to enjoy each other and

spend time with one another was his primary goal. Walt would be ecstatic with how his company

soared since his death in 1966. The Disney Company has taken his original mission and brought

it to levels I’m sure Walt never dreamed of. For nine decades, The Walt Disney Company has

succeeded in making its name preeminent in the field of family entertainment; from humble

beginnings as a cartoon studio in the 1920’s to today’s major corporation, it continues its

mandate of providing quality entertainment for the entire family (D23, The Official Disney Fan
Club, 2012). The official Walt Disney company was established in 1995. Although their mission

statement has changed since the company’s establishment, the updated statement from the

company website is as follows: The mission of The Walt Disney Company is to be one of the

world’s leading producers and providers of entertainment and information. Using our portfolio of

brands to differentiate our content, services and consumer products, we seek to develop the most

creative, innovative and profitable entertainment experiences and related products in the world

(Disney, 2018).

Organizational design: The Walt Disney company has a decentralized organizational structure.

At the top of the chart, there is the President or CEO of the board, then what follows is a long list

of people, each having a unique, individual assignment to manage, followed by more people with

more unique assignments, and so on and so forth. The company does not work in unison. There

are multiple subunits and subcompanies all under Disney; however, each company acts as their

own company. For example, the television network ABC operates and produces its own

programs and controls its own audience, but Disney owns the company and oversees it. This

could also be called an M-form (multidivisional) organizational structure because of the amount

of companies that Disney takes ownership in. Disney also owns Disney Channel, Freeform,

ESPN, every global Disney theme park resort, and cruise line, Marvel, Lucasfilm, among other

Disney branded studio entertainment companies. They continue to purchase or partner with

major companies adding to their income and expanding the diversity of their audience. Disney’s

leadership team manages the world’s largest media company and are the visionaries behind some

of the most respected and beloved brands around the globe. Their strategic direction for The

Walt Disney Company focuses on generating the best creative content possible, fostering

innovation and utilizing the latest technology, while expanding into new markets around the
world (Disney, 2018). It seems as if Disney works autocratically. In other words, they have a

management team that works and makes decisions without their subordinate’s opinions. Within

that team, they have a specific goal to reach with everyone possessing their own assignment.

Underneath the management team is the board of directors. Working from the top down, the

management team is responsible for creating characters and stories for the world’s entertainment.

Their sole mission is to provide entertainment for all ages to attract the most broad and diverse

audience in the entertainment industry. In my opinion, Disney can never be overshadowed. The

board of directors is responsible for creating universal ties to the company. They are a diverse

group of people from all over the world to ensure the successes of the company in all regions of

the globe. Clearly this system, both organizationally and managerially, should never be altered

due to its impressive successes.

Products/services: Disney dabbles in almost every kind of product and service. To start with the

obvious, their theme parks are quite possibly the most successful source of entertainment ever.

Operating eleven theme parks across the globe (two of the most successful parks operating in the

United States), Disney is a household name without a doubt. The Walt Disney World Resort in

Orlando, Florida is the number one theme park in the world. It amassed over 52,000 people daily

and over nineteen million people in the year of 2014. Currently, the numbers have increased

slightly to over twenty million this past year. Disney has an immensely successful and globally

dominant theme park system that has yet to be beaten and is only progressing each year. Outside

of their theme parks, they also have television networks (listed above) as well as consumer

products. Within the past few years, Disney bought the rights to Lucasfilm (the Star Wars

movies) and Marvel Studios. Each company released multiple films and each film brought in an

audience to both the primary company and to Disney, boosting its revenue by the billions, if not,
trillions. Disney has also added a Star Wars and Marvel attraction to each of their parks which,

again, is boosting not only their in-park revenue, but also their attendance diversification.

Moving along, Disney also dabbles in consumer products ranging from books and apparel to fine

art, food, and electronics. Disney Springs is a themed retail, dining and entertainment center

inspired by Florida's charming waterfront towns, historic architecture and natural beauty (Disney

World, 2018). Millions of people have visited each store and restaurant it has to offer. It provides

a quick lunchtime meal, such as Earl of Sandwich, to a more pricey and extravagant spot called

The Basket at Wine Bar George which is a French and Italian restaurant. Disney Springs also has

its own glass sculpting store as well as a designer chocolate shop. Each subsidiary of Disney has

a massive diversity to attract all ages.

Company Niche: Disney has several market niches that no other company can match; however,

they have two main niches that is known worldwide. To start, they have embraced the Mickey

Mouse symbol to create the trademarked Mickey ears. Previously, you could purchase the

headbands with ears on top in either all black, or with a bow, or even in the form of a hat.

Currently, Disney has upped its game yet again with a fully designable set of ears. You can now

design the ears to any Disney trademarked movie or television show, and even add a matching

bow on top. These ears used to attract a large audience due to the souvenir value, but now that

you can design your own or purchase ears with your favorite movie designed onto it, the sales

have skyrocketed. Moving forward with Walt Disney’s statement “Disneyland would never be

completed as long as there was imagination left in the world,” the company is always making

innovations with all their products and services. Another well-loved niche that Disney embodies

is known as pin trading. Pins, to many, are just little decorative keepsakes to buy as a souvenir of

your trip to Disney. But as innovative as Disney is, pins are not just a keepsake. Disney has
created a trading and collecting system. There are certain sets of pins worth five dollars each and

other sets worth into the hundreds of dollars per pin. The rarer the pin, the more expensive it is.

With the lanyard to match, people fill it up with all their favorite pins, travel to a pin trading post

in any of the Disney owned properties and can either purchase more pins or trade a bunch for a

rare one. It has become a worldwide tourist attraction that will not slow down any time soon.

Management Principles:

- Planning: The Disney company has set many goals for itself since its startup. Every

single goal has been family oriented to provide the best creative and imaginative

experiences for each of its guests. “Never a customer, always a guest,” (McGinn,

Disney Secrets, 2003), is one of Disney’s management goals because Walt Disney

himself wanted respect and honesty given to each person that attended his parks and

for each of their needs to be met; much like a guest at a hotel rather than a customer

in a store. He wanted them to feel welcome and he succeeded in that task.

- Leading: “Disney’s leadership team manages the world’s largest media company and

are the visionaries behind some of the most respected and beloved brands around the

globe. Their strategic direction for The Walt Disney Company focuses on generating

the best creative content possible, fostering innovation and utilizing the latest

technology, while expanding into new markets around the world” (Disney, 2018). For

anyone, being the most respected brand worldwide would be motivation enough to

work together as a team toward a specific goal. Much like how Ivy League schools

seem more respected than public universities, Disney is an elite brand that anyone

would be lucky to work with.

- Organizing: As stated above, the Walt Disney company runs on a multidivisional

structure, meaning one person oversees a group of people and those people run their

own groups, and so on. There is one person that runs the parks and another that runs

the product services. The CEO oversees all management, then it is split into three

separate divisions: Walt Disney Parks, Walt Disney Studios, and Walt Disney

products, each of those containing their own subdivisions and individual managers

(Disney Powerpoint, 2011).

- Controlling: The Walt Disney company has many mechanisms in place to improve

the effectiveness of quality control, personnel hiring, production, manufacturing, etc.

Disney implements the Total Quality Management (TQM) philosophy that relies on

core values. “Working with values and a strong organizational culture is a profound

part of the Disney Company since the commercial experience is said to be co-created

between the customer and the employee” (Ingelsson, TQM, 2012). Because of this

desire to make customers equal to employees and to emphasize that they are guests,

working with core values makes the TQM method perfect for Disney. The

recruitment process at Disney is called Casting (since all employees are called Cast

Members). According to the ‘Disney Way,’ the Walt Disney company calls them Cast

members because each employee has a role to play to create an imaginative

experience for each guest that comes through the park. Each new hire goes through

the Casting Centre and must possess the ‘right values’ foremost to be considered for

employment. Below is a chart to show the eight-step hiring process. The leadership

and efficiency of the Walt Disney company is brought up from within. Disney

believes that if an employee is committed and devoted enough, that employee can be
 molded into a leader. Disney likes to promote from within which is much more

efficient since that employee would have already known the values that the company

requires.

*Recruitment diagram for the Walt Disney company

Strategic partners: the Walt Disney company is partnered with ESPN, ABC, and Freeform.

Disney is the main owner and operator of each company, but each company acts as an individual

entity. ESPN brings in more revenue because not only do they broadcast each sport and reach out

to audiences worldwide, but also videogame companies as well. Again, encompassing Disney’s

promise to reach out to families and people of all ages, ESPN reaches from kids to the elderly

equally peaking their interests.

Competition: Disney has competitors in all fields of business. On the film and television

platform, Disney rivals FOX, Comcast, Time Warner studios, and Sony among many others. On

a theme park platform, Universal is a major rival for Walt Disney World. The two main

competitors, however, are Comcast and Universal Studios Resort in Orlando, FL, seeing as both

of these entities are partners together. Starting with Comcast, its multichannel platform pressures

Disney to improve its television stance. Universal, on the other hand, is a major theme park rival

for Disney. With the introduction of the Harry Potter world to the Universal parks, Universals

attendance has skyrocketed, making it a very healthy competition for Walt Disney World. These

past few months, Universal has purchased a large amount of land to place new resorts and theme

parks. It is rumored that Universal will take after its Japanese park and create a Super Nintendo

World to rival Disney. However, with Disney’s opening of Toy Story World, and its introduction
to a Star Wars ride and hotel, it will not be behind Universal for long, especially with its 50th

anniversary arriving in 2021. There is no doubt that Disney will be a tough competitor for

Universal until the end of time.

SWOT:

Strengths Walt Disney Company Universal Studios

What are your business World Famous Brand Iconic Characters
advantages?
What are your core Variety Range of entertainment
competencies?
Where are you making the Media Theme Parks
most money?
What are you doing well? Entertaining all ages Always doing new things

Weaknesses Walt Disney Company Universal Studios

Where do you lack resources? Employee Wages Limited water rides and roller
coasters
What are you doing poorly? Handling employee Relying on character
discrimination popularity
Where are you losing money? Hurricane preparation caused Hurricane prep
the park to close for 3 days;
$90 million in losses
What needs improvement? Employee treatment Innovation; new rides and
characters

Opportunities Walt Disney Company Universal Studios

Any beneficial trends? Attraction additions Attraction additions
Niches that competitors are Mickey Ears Nightlife for parents
missing?
New technologies? Mobile One system (guests 3D simulators
can order food and pay ahead
to avoid lines)
New needs of customers? Innovating fast passes and More entertainment
mobile apps further
 Threats Walt Disney Company Universal Studios

Obstacles to overcome? Operating expenses Lack of innovation

Aggressive competitors? Universal Disney

Successful competitors? Universal Disney

Negative economic conditions? Declining market Declining market

Changing business climate? Will not affect Disney Will affect Universal

Vulnerabilities? Security Security

Two key products: Disney pins and Mickey ears are the most iconic products sold by the Walt

Disney company. These icons are known worldwide and bring in a high revenue for the

company. The Disney pins have always been a part of visiting the theme parks, but in 1999,

trading those pins became a tradition. People from around the globe would travel to the parks

and collect the pins either as a souvenir or as a trading card for the next trip to Disney. The other

iconic Disney products are the Mickey ears. These ears started in the 1950’s when the Mickey

Mouse club first aired on television (Fandom, 2018).

Conclusion: The Walt Disney company is a clear success story (most likely the greatest of all

time) because of its origins and its obvious impact now. The Disney world that is known and

loved globally started as one bunny comic strip in the 1920’s. Walt Disney wanted the world to

use its imagination to the fullest and stated that as long as there was imagination left, Disney

would never be completed. Disney wanted to bring families together in a place where all ages,

sizes, and colors could have fun in a safe and exciting environment. If he were still alive today,
he would be so proud of the leaps and bounds the Walt Disney company has taken to create the

Happiest Place on Earth®.

References

17, Class. (2011). Organization and Communication. Slide 12. Retrieved from

www.cabrillo.edu/

Disney - Leadership, Management Team, Global, History, Awards, Corporate Responsibility.

(2018). Retrieved from https://www.thewaltdisneycompany.com/about/

Fandom. (2018). Mickey Mouse Ears Hat. Retrieved from

http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Mickey_Mouse_Ears_Hat

History, Disney D23. (2018). Disney History. Retrieved from https://d23.com/disney-history/

Ingelsson, P., Eriksson, M., & Lilja, J. (2012). Can selecting the right values help TQM

implementation? A case study about organisational homogeneity at the Walt

Disney Company. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 23(1),

1-11.

Rudy, P. C. (2000). The Disney Way: Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your

Company. Quality Management Journal, 7(3), 80-81.