PLEASE ANSWER THE QUESTIONS REGARDING THE FOLLOWING CASE. a. why did success in Tokyo predispose disney management to be too optimistic in jts expectations of success in france? in china? discuss.

b. Assume you are a consultant hired to give Disney advice on the issue of where and when to go next. Pick three locations and select one you think will be the best new location for " Disneyland X " discuss. given yiur choice of locale X For the newest disney land, what are the operatjonal implications of the history of the four disney parks abroad for the new park?

BONJOUR, MICKEY! In April 1992. EuroDisney SCA opened its doors to European vil tors. Located by the river Mare some 20 miles cast of Paris, it was designed to be the biggest and most lavish theme park that Walt Disney Company (Disney) had built to date-bigger than Disney land in Anaheim, California Disneyworld in Orlando, Florida; and Tokyo Disneyland in Japan. Much to Disney management's surpriso, Europeans failed to "go goofy over Mickey, unlike their Japanese counterparts. Between 1990 and early 1992, some 14 million people had vis ited Tokyo Disneyland, with three-quarters being repeat visitors. A family of four staying overnight at a nearby hotel would eas ily spend $600 on a visit to the park. In contrast, at EuroDiy ney, families were reluctant to spend the $280 a day needed to enjoy the attractions of the park, including les hamburgers and les milkshakes. Staying overnight was out of the question for many because hotel rooms were so high priced. For example, prices ranged from $110 to $380 a night at the Newport Bay Club, the largest of EuroDisney's six new hotels and one of the biggest in Europe. In comparison, a room in a top hotel in Paris cost between $340 and $380 a night. Financial losses became so massive at EuroDisney that the president had to structure a rescue package to pot EuroDisney back on firm financial ground. Many French bankers questioned the initial financing, but the Disney response was that their views reflected the cautious, Old World thinking of Europeans who did not understand U.S. style free market financing. After some act- monious dealing with French banks, a two-year financial plan was negotiated. Disney management rapidly revised its marketing plan and introduced strategic and tactical changes in the hope of "doing it right this time. Spills and Thrills Disney had projected that the new theme park would attract 11 million visitors and generate over $100 million in operating earnings during the first year of operation. By summer 1994, EuroDisney had lost more than $900 million since opening Attendance reached only 9.2 million in 1992, and visitors spent 12 percent less on purchases than the estimated $33 per head. If tourists were not flocking to taste the thrills of the new EuroDisney, where were they going for their summer vacations in 19927 Ironically enough, an unforeseen combination of transat- lantic airfire wars and currency movements resulted in a trip to Disneyworld in Orlando being cheaper than a trip to Paris, with guaranteed good weather and beautiful Florida beaches within casy reach EuroDisney management took steps to rectify immediate prob- lems in 1992 by cutting rates at two hotels up to 25 percent, intro ducing some cheaper meals at restaurants, and launching a Paris ad blitz that proclaimed "California is only 20 miles from Paris." A Real Estate Dream Come True The Paris loco tion was chosen over 200 other potential sites stretching from Por tugal through Spain, France, Italy, and into Greece. Spain thought it had the strongest bid based on its yearlong, temperate, and sunny Mediterranean climate, but insufficient acreage of land was avail able for development around Barcelona. In the end, the French government's generous Incentives, together with impressive data on regional demographics, swayed Disney management to choose the Paris location. It was calculated that some 310 million people in Europe live within two hours' air travel of EuroDisney, and 17 million could reach the park within two hours by car-better demographics than at any other Disney site. Pessimistie talk about the disenal winter weather of northern France was countered with references to the success of Tokyo Disneyland, where rosolute visitors brave cold winds and snow to enjoy their piece of Americana. Furthermore, it was argued, Paris is Europe's most popular city destination among tourists of all nationalities. An American Icon One of the most worrying aspects of EuroDisney's first year was that French visitors stayed away, they had been expected to make up 50 percent of the attendance figures. A park services consulting firm framed the problem in these words: "The French se EuroDisney as American Imperialism-plastics its worst." The well-known, sentimental Japanese attachment to Disney characters contrasted starkly with the unexpected and wide spread French scorn for American fairy tale characters. French culture has its own lovable cartoon characters such as Astrix, tho helmeted, pintuized Gallic warrior, who has a theme park located near EuroDisney Hostility among the French people to the whole "Disney Idea" had surfaced early in the planning of the new project. Paris theater director Ariane Mnouchkine became famous for her description of EuroDisney as a cultural Chernobyl. In full 1989, during a visit to Paris, French Communista poltod Michael Elsner with gs. The Joko going around at the time was, "For BuroDisney to adapt prop erly to France, all seven of Snow White's dwarfs should be named Grumpy (Grincheux)." Early advertising by EuroDisney seemed to aggravato local French sentiment by emphasizing glitz and size rather than the variety of rides and attractions. Committed to maintaining Dis. ney's reputation for quality in everything, more detail was built into EuroDisney. For example, the centerpiece castle in the Maglo King dom had to be bigger and fancier than in the other parks. Expensive trams were built along a lake to tako guests from the hotels to the park, but visitors preferred walking, Total park construction costs were estimated at FFr 14 billion ($2.37 billion) in 1989 but rose by $340 million to Fr 16 billion as a result of all these add-ons. Hotel construction costs alone rose from an estimated FFr 3.4 billion to FFr 5.7 billion. EuroDisney and Disney managers unhappily succeeded in alien- ating many of their counterparts in the government, the banks, the seryone that if we let them do it their way, we would all have a man velous adventure. One former Disney stotive volced the opin- lon, "We were arrogant-It was like 'We're building the TW Mahal and people will come on our terms." STORM CLOUDS AHEAD Disney and its advisors failed to me igns at the end of the 1980s of the approaching European recession. Other dramatic events included the Gulf War in 1991, which put a heavy brake on vacation travel for the rest of that year. Other external factors that Disney secutives have cited were high interest rates and the devaluation of several currencies against the frac. EuroDisney also encoun tered diMculties with regard to competition-the World's Fair in Seville and the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona were huge attractions for European tourists. Disney management's conviction that it knew best was dem onstrated by its much-trumpeted ban on alcohol in the park. This rule proved Insensitive to the local cultore because the French aro the world's biggest consumers of wine. To them a meal without un verre de rouges unthinkable. Disney relentod. It also had to relax its rules on personal grooming of the projected 12,000 cast members, the park employees. Women were allowed to wear rodder nail polish than in the United States, but the taboo on men's facial hair was maintained. "We want the cleanshaven, neat and tidy look. commented the director of Disney University's Paris branch. which trains prospective employees in Disney values and culture. Euro Disney's management, however, did compromise on the ques tion of pets. Special konnels were built to house visitors' animals. The thought of leaving a pet at home during vacation is considered irrational by many French people. Plans for further development of EuroDisney after 1992 were ambitious. The initial number of hotel rooms was planned to be 5,200, more than in the entire city of Cannes on the Cote d'Azur Also planned were shopping malls, apartments, golf course, and Vacation homos. EuroDisney would design and build everything itself, with a view to selling at a profit. As a Disney executive com mented, "Disney at various points could have had partners to share the risk, or buy the hotels outright. But it didn't want to give up the upside." "From the time they came on, Duney's Chairman aner and President Wells had never made a single misstep, never a mistake never a failure," said a former Disney executive. There was a ten dency to believe that everything they touched would be perfect." The Incredible growth record fostered this belief. In the seven years before EuroDisney opened, they took the parent company from being a company with $1 billion in revenues to one with $8.5 billion, mainly through internal growth. cally at least three days, EuroDisney is most a two-day VEL Energetle visitors need even less time. One analyst claimed to have done every EuroDisney ride in Jout five hours. Typically, many eta arrive early in the morning rush to the park, come back to their hotel late at night, and then check out the next morning before heading back to the park. Vacation customs of Puropeans were not taken into consider ution. Dimey kecutives had optimistically expected that the arrival of their new theme park would cause French parents to take their children out of school in midsession for a short break It did not happen unless a public holiday occurred over a weekend. Similarly, Disney expected that the American style short but more frequent family trips would displace the European tradition of a one month family vacation, usually taken in August. However, French office and factory schedules remained the same, with their emphasis on In August shutdown, In promoting the new park to vision, Disney did not stress the entertainment value of a visit to the new theme park the emphasis was on the size of the park, which ruined the maglo." To counter this, ads were changed to feature Zorro, a Prench favorite: Mary Popping and Aladdin, star of the huge moneymaking movie so cells. A print ad campaign at that time featured Aladdin, Cinderel la's castle, and a little girl being invited to enjoy a "maple vacation the kingdom where will dreams come true. Six new attractions were added in 1994. Including the Temple of Peril, Storybook Land, and the Nautilus attraction. Donald Duck's birthday was celebrated on June 9-all in hopes of positioning EaroDisney the number one European destination of short duration, one to three days. Faced with falling share prices and crisis talk among sharehold ers, Disney was forced to step forward in late 1993 to rescue the now park. Disney Announced that it would fund EuroDisney until a financial restructuring could be worked out with lenders. However, it was made clear by the parent company, Disney, that it was not writing a blank check." In June 1994, EuroDisney received a new lifeline when a mom ber of the Saudi royal family agreed to invest up to $500 million for a 24 percent stake in the park. The prince had an established reputation in world markets as a "bottom-fisher," buying into potem tially viable operations during crises when share prices are low. The prince's plans included a $100 million convention center at EuroDisney. One of the few pieces of good news about EuroDis ney is that it convention business coded expectations from the beginning MANAGEMENT AND NAME CHANGES Telling and Selling Fairy Tales Mistaken assump tions by the Disney management team affected construction design, marketing and pricing policies, and park management, as well as initial financing. Disney executives had been erroneously informed that Europeans don't eat breakfast. Restaurant breakfast service was downsized accordingly, and guess what? "Everybody showed up for breakfast. We were trying to serve 2,500 breakfasts in a 350 scat restaurant at some of the hotels). The lines were horren dous. And they didn't just want croissants and coffee; they wanted bacon and ages. Frenchman Philippe Bourguignon took over at EuroDisney as CEO in 1993 and was able to navigate the theme park back to profitabil ity. He was instrumental in the negotiations with the firm's banke ers, cutting a deal that he credits largely for bringing the park back into the black Perhaps more important to the long-run success of the venture were his changes in marketing. The pan-European approach to mar keting was dumped, and national markets were targeted separately. This now localization took into account the differing tourists' hab its around the continent. Separato marketing offices were opened in London, Frankfurt, Milan, Brussels, Amsterdam, and Madrid, and each was charged with tailoring advertising and packages to its own market. Prices were cut by 20 percent for park admission and 30 percent for some hotel room rates Special promotions so were run for the winter months The central theme of the new marketing and operation approach la that people visit the park for an authentic Disney day out. They may not be completely sure what that means, cept that it entails something American. This approach is reflected in the transformation of the park's name. The "Baro" in EuroDi ncy was first shrunk in the logo, and the word "land" added. Then, in October 1994 the "Puro was eliminated completely the park was next called Disneyland Paris, and now Disneyland Resort Paris In 1996, Disneyland Paris became France's most visited tourist attraction, ahead of both the Lovre Art Museum and the Eiffel Tower. In that year, 11.7 million visiton (9 percent increase from the previous year) allowed the park to report another profit. access from the first day, and it has been visited by its of Japanese who wanted to capture that the preved the mate US certainment experience. Disney took the entire US. theme park and planted in Japan. I worked because of the least to Disc character Schools have field trips to meet Mickey and friends to the point that the Disney experience has become and in Japanese life. In the book Bland as Holy Land Ulviy of Tokyo professor Masako Notoji wrote: "The opening of Toyo Dis Deyiand was, in retrospect, the greatest cultural event in lupen der ing the "808" With such acce, is there a wonder that Disney thought it had the right model when it went to France The Tokyo Disney constitutes a very are cause is at the member of Visitors has not decreased since the opening THEME PARK EXPANSION IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY With the recovery of Disneyland Paris, Disney embarked on an ambitious growth plan. In 2001 the California Adventure Park was added to the Anaheim complex at a cost of $1.4 billion, and Walt Disney Studios Theme Park was added to Disneyland Paris. Through agreements with foreign partners, Disney opened Disney Sea in Tokyo and Disneyland Hong Kong in 2006, and Disney opened it's first park in mainland China, in Shanghal, in 2016, ata cost of $5.5 billion. However, in 2017, the park's ll million visitors topped estimates of its first full year of operation by 10% A decade after being slammed for its alleged ignorance of Euro pean was with EuroDisney, Disney wanted to prove It had gotten things right the second time around. The new movie-themed park Walt Disney Studios adjacent to Disneyland Paris, is designed to be a tribute to moviemaking-but not just the Hollywood kind. The Walt Disney Studios blends Disney entertainment and attractions with the history and culture of European film since French camera makers helped imvent the motion picture. The park's general layout is modeled after an old Hollywood studio complex, and some of the rides and shows are near replicas of Dissey's first film park, Disney-MGM Studios. Rather than celebrating the history of U.S. Disney characters, the characters in the new theme park speak six different languages. A big stunt show features cars and motorcycles that race through a village modeled after the French resort town of St Tropez. Small details reflect the cultural lessons learned. "We made sure that all our food Venues have covered scating." said one executive, recalling that, when FuroDisney first opened the open-air rosa rants offered no protection from the rainy weather that assails the park for long stretches of the year. On the food front, EuroDisney offered only a French sausage drawing complaints from the English, German, Italians, and every one else about why their local sausages weren't available. This time around the park caters to the multiple indigenous cultures through out Europe-which includes a wider selection of sausages. Unlike Disney's attitude with its first park in France, "Now we realize that our guests need to be welcomed on the basis of their own culture and travel habits," says the Disneyland Paris chief exeo ative. Disneyland Paris today is Europe's biggest tourist attraction- even more popular than the Eiffel Tower-turnaround that showed the park operators' ability to learn from their mistakes The root of Disney's problems in EuroDisney may be found in the tremendous success of Japan's Disneyland. The Tokyo park was 2005-Bankruptcy Pending bary 2005, D Beyland Paris was spain on the wege of bankruptcy. The new park attraction at Disneyland Paris, Walt Disney Studios, featured Hollywood themed attractions such a ride called "Armageddon Special Effects based on a movie starring Bruce Willis Dopped Guests said it lacked attractions to justify the entrance price and other complained it focused in schon Americas, richer than European, filmmaking. Disney blamos other factors the post 9/11 tourism silomp strikes in France, andamer heat we in 2003. The French government came to the aid of Disneyland Paris with a state-owned bank contribution of road 5500 million to save the company from bankruptcy. A new Disneyland Paris CEO, a former Burger King elective Introduced several changes in hopes of being the Paris park back from the edge of bankruptcy. To make Discland Paris a cheaper Vacation destination, the CEO lobbied the government to open up Charles de Gaulle airport to more low.coisa. Usider direction, Disneyland Paris created as first original character ta lored for a Furopean adience: the Halloween themed 1 Homme Citrouille" or "Pumpkin Man. He also has introduced someday pass giving visitors access to both parts in place of two separate tickets. He is planning new ridetinciding the Tower of Terror and others attractions. If these changes had failed to bring in millions of new visitors, Disney and the French government might once again have been forced to consider dramatic measures Even though Preach President Jacques Chinc called the spread of American culture an ecological disaster and the French por crnment imposes quotas on non French monies to oliset the is the ence of Hollywood and officially discourage the use of English words such as "omail. Disseyland Paris was important to the French cconomy. In light of France's 10 percent employment at the time, Disneyland Paris was seen as a job creation access The company accounted for an estimated 43,000 jobs and its parts attracted over 12 million visitors a year, more than the Love Muscum and the Eiffel Tower combined. By 2008 Disneyland Paris was experiencing increases in park attendance, and the turnaround appeared to be working DISNEY'S GREAT LEAP INTO CHINA Disney's record with overseas theme parts has been mixed. Tokyo Disneyland is a smash hit with 25 million visitors a year, and Dis neyland Paris, opened in 1992, was a financial sinkhole that took a while to turn around. Disocy was determined not to make the same cultural and management mistakes in China that had plagued Disneyland Paris Dimney took special seps to make Hong Kong Disneyland cut turally acceptable Disney has learned that they can't impose the American willot Dime's version of it on another continent. "They've bent over backward to make Hong Kong Disneyland blend in with the surroundings." "We've come at it with an Ameri- can sensibility, but we still appeal to local tax one of Hong Kong Disneyland's landscape architett Desiring to bring Disneyland Hong Kong Into harmony with local customs from the beginning. It was decided to observe feng she la planning and construction. Feng shull the practice of arranging objects (such the Internal placement of furniture) to achieve harmony with one's environment. It also is used for choo ing a place to live, Proponents claim that feng shulhas effects on health, wealth, and personal relationships. The park's designers brought in a feng shui master who rotated the front gate, repositioned cash registers, and ordered boul- ders set in key locations to ensure the park's prosperity. He even chose the park's auspicious opening date. New construction often was bogun with a traditional good luck ceremony featuring a carved suckling pig Other feng shui influences include the park's orientation to fuce water with mountains behind. Feng shui experts also designated "no fire ones the kitchens to try to keep five elements of metal, water, wood, fire, and earth in balance. Along with following feng shui principles, the park's hotels have no floors that are designated as fourth floors because 4 is considered an unlucky number in Chinese culture. Furthermore, the opening date was set for September 12, 2006, because it was listed as an auspicious date for opening a business in the Chinese almanac. But the park's SOOOO wa't sure thing. The park received more than 5 million visitors in its first year, but short of its targeted 5.6 million, and the second year was equally disappointing with attendance dropping nearly 30 percent below forecasts. Many of those who came complained that it was too small and had little to excito those unfamiliar with Disney's cast of characters Disneyland is supposed to be "The Happlest Place on Earth." but Liang Ning isn't too happy. The engineer brought his family to Disney's now theme park in Hong Kong from the southern Chi- nose city of Guangxhoe on Saturday in April with high hopes, but by day's end. he was less than spellbound. "I wanted to forget the world and feel like I was in a fairytale," he says. Instead, he com plains. It's just not big enough and not very different from the amusement parts we have in China Hong Kong Disneyland has only 16 attractions and only one a classe Disney thrill ride, Space Mountain, compared with 52 rides at Disneyland Paris. After the first year's lackluster beginning. Dissey management Introduced five new attractions and added "It's a Small World." the ride made famous at the flagship Disneyland in Anaheim, California. A variety of other new entertainment offerings were due in 2008 Guests' lack of knowledge of Disney characters created a spe cial hurdle in China. Until a few years ago, hardly anyone in main land China know Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck con existed. Disney characters were banned for nearly 40 years, so knowledge of Disney loro is limited. China was the first market where Disney opened a park in which there had been no long-term relationship with attendees. It was the Chinese consumer who was expected to understand Disney, or so it seemed. Chinese tourists unfamiliar with Disney's traditional stories were sometimes left bewildered by the Hong Kong park's attractions, To compensate for the lack of awareness of Disney characters and create the mystique of a Disney experience, Disney launched memeru marketing initiative designed to the press with Discland. One of the test building upon entering the park thibita artwork and film footage of Disney story from the crt stion of Mickey Mouse through the construction of Hong Kong Disneyland. Tour groupe are greeted by a Disney bow who istro duces them to Walt Disney, deco, characters, and other background Information. Fer sample, the character Buxt Lightyear explains Tin Story and the bus Lightyee Astro ter attraction Even though there were complain about the park in and the unfamiliarity of Delaney characters, there were mique feature built with the Asian prest in mind that have proved to be wory popular. Fantasy Gardens, one of the park's original fest designed to appeal to us from Hong Kong and mainland China who love to take picture. At five ambos, photohape tourists can always find Mickey, Missie, and other popular characters who will notographs and pose for photos and videon Mulan has her own pavilion in the garden, denedes Chinese temple Mickey even has a new red and gold Chineselt to wear Restas rant boast local far, soch as Indias corrie Japanese and Chinc mango podding served in coses shaped like Mickey Mouse heads All in all, Hong Kong Disney is Chinohot. It's not so mach an American theme park Mickey Moore coming to China The atmosphere is uncomplicated and truly family oriented. It is posible to have a penale family part experience where your olda tale precedence. However, early advertising that featured the family missed its mark somewhat by featuring a family coming of two kids and two parents which did not have the impact supposed to have because China's presente couples to just one child. The error was quickly corrected in a new TV.com mercial, which the company ways was designed to forge a stronger cmotional connection with Mickey The movie and featured one child, two parents, and two grandparents together sharing branded Disney activities, such as watching a movie and giving a player sion of the mouse gifs "Let's Mickey together ways the father in the commercial, before scenes the park set to traditional Chinese mai Many other aspects of the park have been modified to better its Chinese visitors. The cast members are extremely diverse understand various cultures, and, in many speak three las guages. Signe, odio conded, and tractions are also in several languages For sample, riders can choose from English Mandarin, or Cantouse on the Jungle River Cruise Dimeyrans promotions throughout the year. For cample, the Stay and Play for Two Days promotion was created mainly to give mainland tourists a chance to per the park for a longer period of time. Because many Chinese tourists cross into Hong Kong by bus, they arrive at Dingland midday. With this promo tion. If a guest stay at a Disneyland hotel and purchases a one day ticket, the guest is given a second day at the park for free Special Chinese holiday feature attractions and decorations unique to the holiday. For the February 7 2006 Now Year hol day (the Year of the Rat). Dissed up its own hoge rodents, Mickey and Minnie, in special red Chinese New Year outfits for its self-proclaimed Your of the More The Discland Chinese New Year campaign, which lasts entil Pebruary 24, fratres a logo with the kind of visual pun that only the Chinese might appreciate the Chinese character for locknipped paddows (a New Year dition) with me as added on top. Inside the past, vendos hawk deep fried dumplings and turnip cakes. The pande down Main Street, U.S.A., is joined by the "Rhythm of Life Procession," featuring a dragon dance and puppets of birds, flowers, and fish, set to traditional Chinese music. And, of course, there's the pod of wealth, a relative newcomer to the regular Hong Kong Disneyland gang. joined by the gods of longevity and happiness, all major fig ures in Chinese New Year celebrations The Hong Kong park has been reducing its losses since opening from more than $170 million early on to $92.5 million in 2010, to $44.1 million in 2017, but still in the red. There are broader implica tions for Disney from the performance of the Hong Kong theme park than just its financial health. From the outset, executives at the business's Burbank headquarters viewed Hong Kong Disneyland as a springboard to promote awareness of the Disney name among the mainland Chinese population and cement ties with Beijing Indeed, the $5.5 billion Shanghal Disney Resort opened on June 16, 2016. Disney holds a 43 percent stake there. The new park alts- mately will be 50 percent larger than the Hong Kong park, which recently announced a $1.4 billion upgrade to be completed in 2023. Even though 330 million Chinese live within a three hour drive of Shanghai, the company will have to work very hard to repeat the successes of the U.S. and Japanese parls' attendance levels, at well over 20 million visitors per year. The most the Hong Kong park has attracted is some 6 million visitors, although Disney claims the opening of the Shanghai park has not hurt attendance levels in Hong Kong In 2017, the Walt Disney Co. announced it would buy out all other shareholders of EuroDisney (the parent company of Disney- land Paris) and invest $1.6 billion in the struggling park, which lost 858 million euros in 2016, including a ono time asset-related charge. In a bit of rare good news, gross revenues were up 3 per cent in 2017. Meanwhile, in Asia, the billionaire chief executive of Disney's main rival in China, The Wanda Group (which acquired AMC Theaters in the U.S. in 2012). predicted that his company's dozens of local theme parks will win out over Disney's Shanghai park. "The fronzy of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck and the en of blindly following them has passed." QUESTIONS 1. What factors contributed to EuroDisney's poor perfor mance during its first year of operation? What factors con- tributed to Hong Kong Disney's poor performance during its first year? 2. To what degree do you consider that these factors were (@) foresecable and (b) controllable by EuroDisney, Hong Kong Disney, or the parent company, Disney? 3. What role docs ethnocentrism play in the story of EuroDis ney's launch