They have mixed advertising, travel, and Disney Institute to the highest opportunities. The Walt Disney Corporation has used radio, video, and printed media to advertise their business to obtain a leadership role in the industry advertising. They use these media outlet to promote their theme parks, hotels, and business institutes to draw millions of fans and business executives every year. The theme parks draw people from all over the world because of their original buildings, themes, and characters that entertain and turn the oldest of age to the youngest of heart.
The Walt Disney Corporation is a high point of travel opportunity to all of its visitors that travel from across the world to visit. They are a trip destination for world travelers and the value visitors that are escaping the cold winter weather or want to
get relief from the everyday doldrums. Disney has made the travelers experience an opportunity for a value packed trip destination. Disney promotes their locations using a state of the art multimedia distributions network. Walt Disney has become associated with a great family yearly event capital.
Disney has taken advantage of their brand name to become a new professional business, using their Disney Institute according to The Walt Disney Company (2005). The Disney Institute in know for “experience the business behind the magic" of our core business strengths: Leadership Development, Quality Service, Customer Loyalty, Organizational Creativity, and Teambuilding” stated by The Walt Disney Company (2005) website. This institute takes advantage of it name to allow a new business opportunity for company to experience the Disney success story of this great company.
The Walt Disney Corporation has utilized it name and brand institution to promote their theme parks, hotels, and businesses. Through a mix of advertising, travel, and business institutions, this makes them a true success by in powering their business opportunities.
Threats
The fourth part of SWOTT is the threats to the company. There are many threats to the Disney organization. Disney exists in a “competitive environment, which is
composed of the firm and competitors, suppliers, customers, new entrants, and substitutes. At the more general level is the macro environment, which includes legal, political, economic, technological, demographic, and social and natural factors that generally affect all organizations.” (Bateman, Snell 2004).
First possible threat is, there are many laws and regulations that Disney must abide by. “The Government can affect business opportunities through tax laws, economic policies, and international trade rulings.” (Bateman, Snell 2004). Some of the agencies that regulate laws are: “the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). These agencies all have the power to investigate company practices and take legal action to ensure compliance with the laws.” (Bateman, Snell 2004).
The next possible threat is the economy. When the economy is down, it is less likely for tourists to visit theme parks like Disney. The economy can be a huge threat for Disney at times. “The economic environment dramatically affects companies’ ability to function effectively and influences their strategic choices. Interest and inflation rates affect the availability and cost of capital, the ability to expand, prices, costs, and consumer demand for products. Unemployment rates affect labor availability and the wages the firm must pay, as well as product demand.” (Bateman, Snell 2004).
Another area that affects or threats the corporation is social issues and the natural environment. “Social trends regarding how people think and behave have major
implications for management of the labor force, corporate social actions, and strategic decisions about products and markets.” (Bateman, Snell 2004). Disney is aware of social changes and adjusts its entertainments and prices accordingly. They change the some of the characters and show productions according to the latest Disney movie’s out at that time. They also provide package deals when purchasing tickets for more than one entertainment location.
Another area that pertains as a threat to the Disney organization is the competitive environment. This includes rivalry among existing competitors, the threat of new competitors, and the threat of substitutes, the power of the suppliers, and the power of the customers. Existing competitors for Disney would be other theme parks that compete for the same customer base which is adults with children. “Competitors use tactics such as price reductions, new-product introductions, and advertising campaigns to gain advantage over their rivals.” (Bateman, Snell 2004).
The last threat of the competitive environment for the Disney Corporation is environmental uncertainty, and how it affects the company to make decisions and execute plans. Disney is innovative and keeps up on customer likes and dislikes designing new products, scheduling productions, and develops marketing plans because timely and accurate environmental information is critical for keeping Walt’s dream alive.
Trends
Disney, Inc. has continually seeks out opportunities that would influence there future operations. The Disney organization has put its various ventures into four main
business groups: parks and resorts, media networks, studio entertainment and consumer products.
Some examples of Disney’s parks and resorts group include its cruise lines and sports teams. The theme parks division has a reliable source of income for the corporation, taking in a $7 billion from its hotels, resorts and amusement parks in 2003.
Disney's theme parks include Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disneyland Paris and Tokyo Disneyland (Disney doesn't actually own Tokyo Disneyland, but does earn hefty royalties from it). Other attractions include the Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park and Disney's Animal Kingdom (all located within Orlando's Walt Disney World Resort). The Florida Park also features the Downtown Disney Marketplace, where the company also operates a 16,000-square-foot toy store in partnership with Hasbro.
Every time Disney set there eyes beyond what the “Norm” was, the imagineers found something new to build on. In the summer of 2002 saw the opening of Disney's Beach Club Villas in Florida, consisting of 208 units spread over five "wings." The villas are "inspired" by mid-Atlantic seaside homes built in the early 20th century. Each of the studios, one- and two-bedroom villas has either a pool or garden view.
Trends show that when Disney purchased ABC, a major selling point for the deal was the acquisition of majority ownership in ABC's crown jewel, all-sports cable network ESPN. The channel is one of cable's top rated operations, has two spin-off networks (ESPN2 and ESPNews), and is providing Disney with the opportunity to take on main
rival Time Warner on a new front. ESPN's success is especially relevant considering the low to which ABC has sunk. In 1997, ESPN Magazine was launched.
Disney's 2003 media networks revenue topped $10 billion. Over the last several years, Disney has purchased partial ownership stakes in networks such as A&E, The History Channel, Soapnet, E! Networks and Lifetime Television. In October 2001, Disney acquired Fox Family Worldwide for $5.2 billion, and renamed it ABC Family.
Conclusion
In conclusion there were factors that need to be considered when running an organization successfully. To assure the success he or she must know how the five functions: Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats and Trends, (SWOTT) work for
Disney. The Walt Disney Corporation has obviously used these functions of management to become one of the most successful corporations today and is used a model for other organizational giants
Reference
Bateman, Thomas S.; Snell, Scott. 2004. Management: The New
Competitive Landscape. Retrieved from the World Wide Web @
https://ecampus.phoenix.edu/content/eBookLibrary/content/eReader
Merriam-Webster Online Dictionaryam, Retrieved October 20, 2005. Available: [Online].
Retrieved Oct. 18, 2005, from
The Walt Disney Company, Disney Online. Retrieved October 19, 2005.
Available: [Online]
Thomas S. Bateman, Scott, (2004). Management; The New Competitive Landscape. Chapter 4, Managing, [University of PhoenixE-Book]. ISBN: 0072538651. Retrieved October 20, 2005, from University of Phoenix EResource, MGT/330-Theory, Practice, and Application, Web site:
