Euro Disney

Structured Assignment

Euro Disney: Failed Americanism?

Submitted by, Ansu Sara Elias


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How do you characterize brand Disney in terms of its identity, culture, strengths and weaknesses? Identity: • Disney was famous for providing the fantasy experience / ‘quality entertainment’ through their parks • They provided fun with the help of the Disney cartoon charachters • They has their own culture and was keen in spreading the same to every other parks of them Culture: • The culture of the French was not properly considered by Disney as they were absorbed in the Amerian culture. • It shows that the market study, if done, was not proper • The French prefered taking long time in dining and the restaurants even if they offered american food was all take aways, which the Americans prefered. There weren’t any place to comfortably sit and have food. • They guided the employees to follow the dress codes and personal grooming related to the American culture. • The organization was not able to understand that the French use travel operators to plan and book tickets for their tours Strengths: • Even when there were problems in the French land, Disney was able to attract large number of customers from around Europe due to its brand name and the image of being the park which offers ‘quality entertainment’ Weakness: • The park pricing was too expensive for the European middle class family to come and enjoy during their long holidays • The rides were named in English • The park was following the American culture, offered mostly American food and also didn’t serve wine or any alcohol in their premise as it was not considered ideal for a family picnic place. • The attitude of French towards the ‘Americanism’ • The French didn’t like the concept of vacationing on a place where there is only fantasy and no education. • The main resistance towards Euro Disney was not due to anti-American attitude but because they were imposing the American culture on French.

Asian School of Business

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Elaborate on Disney’s venture outside the US. What was its positioning strategy in these countries? Venture outside the home country was in Japan. In Japan the Walt Disneys universal appeal worked in setting up and running of the park based on the American culture, ie, the home culture is being transported to all the subsidiaries (ethnocentric apporach). The Japanese were ready to accept American culture in the Disney because of its universal appeal. The park in Japan was in form of a franchise relationship. The main people associated with the running of the park would have been the Japanese. And so the cultural issues would be less compared to the owned one in the case of Euro Disney.

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Analyze the opportunities and limitations for Disney to expand in Europe? Opportunities: • The tourism sector in the France was increasing, that was the reason that made Disney to zero in at France for putting the Euro Disney in the European region. • The government provided support to the business and this helped in setting up the park. The park funded for the electricity and infrastructure of the country which helped them in getting discounts on land and transportation infrastructure. • The vacation time taken by the European people were long compared to the American counterparts Limitations: • Cultural difference between the two countries • Peoples perception about American organizations coming to the French which would affect their culture • In the EuroDisney they didn’t give much considerations to the French choice in food or beverage. The hotels inside the park were serving mostly American food and did not serve any wine. And also the hotels were offering take away which were prefered by the Americans where as the French prefered spending more time for having food. • The Europeans took long vacation by arranging it with a tour operator as this helped them getting discounts rather than paying for the tour the full amount. But the entry to the park was by buying the ticket from the park itself • These made the people think that they were imposed with American culture.


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Euro Disney: Failed Americanism? • 4.

Even if the people spending time on vacation was high their spending was low as compared to the Americans

What have been the strategies of Euro Disney since its inception: do you think they were appropriate? If yes, how? If no, why so? The strategies put forward by the Euro Disney from its inception was not appropriate. The following are the reasons: • • •

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Euro Disney was set up not as a franchise, Walt Disney opted for direct investment in this case to reap most of the profits, by reducing third party, unlike their other properties. Euro Disney was able to set up by giving showcasing ‘false competition’ to the government that after setting up it will create job opportunities for 30,000 people. The advertising and marketing strategies for the EuroDisney was same as that for the American marketing as ‘quality entertainment’ which mainly focused on fun and adventure. But the European did not want to spend large amount of money just for fun and entertainment. They wanted the park to be focusing some educational aspects as well. American culture was imposed to the employees and the park infrastructure, like for employees were following dresscodes, not allowed to drink wine during lunch etc. and for the infrastructure part the rides were named in english, the hotels served American dishes, no wine was allowed inside, the hotels were take aways which made the Europeeans uncomfortable as they prefered spending long hours for having food. Price was another major factor that affected the tourists. It was a huge amount for a European middle class family. Visitors were unwilling to pay the money. Most of the tourists will not spend more than one franc.

All these strategies are not appropriate considering the European market. The cultural differences should have taken into consideration. This could have been done by joining with a European firm. The feeling that the culture difference will not affect the sales of the park has lead Euro Disney into a debt of $1 billion in a years time. The coca-cola incident in 1933 would have given them an idea on how the French think about the American and how could Disney improve its strategies inorder to survive in the place inspite of the ‘Americanism’ concept.


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“When you have success, it’s natural that you want to replicate it”, Cocquet, executive VP, Development & External Relations of Disneyland Paris stated. “we thought why not in Europe? Europeans watched Disney movies, bought Disney products and went to Walt Disney world in Florida. If it worked in Tokyo, it could work in Europe.” Debate on the reasons for Disney’s success in Tokyo and its failure in Europe. The culture in Japan was not much of problem for the EuroDisney as the Japanese would like to follow rules. But the success in all levels will not from one place will not help in getting success in all other places. This is what happened when they entered France. The cultural issues took into place at that time. Disney’s success in Tokyo: • The park is run as a franschise and so the people heading the franchise will be Japanese the concepts will be Japanese but they will be following what is told by the head office • The Japanese culture was following the rules and orders which was similar to that of the Disneys’ rules • The Japan are ready to buy products from Americans in the field of entertainment or any other as they consider themselves as a third world country compared to America • Japanese were also interested in the fun experiences and entertainment during vacation than educational kind of aspects • They had a short term for vacationing and so they were ready to spend large amount for entertainment • The presence of Japanese people for guiding the people in the park helped people feel that even if the ambience was that of American culture they had people of their origin to guide them. This made them feel at home in an alien place Disney’s failure in Europe: • Park was run by the parent company and so they implemented American concepts into the park (Ethnocentric approach) • America and French had contrasting cultures and so the Frenchs’ attittude towards the American business becomes a major hurdle • The French has high respect to their language as compared to English so when the rides were written in English they were not able to accept it and also the hotels serving only American food all made the French react to the park authority. • The vacation concept for French was that the place should provide fun and education than just fun alone. It should also help their children achieve some knowlegde during vcation. • The park pricing was very expensive for the European middle class family to enjoy during their long holidays


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Euro Disney: Failed Americanism? •

The main resistance towards Euro Disney was not due to anti-American attitude but because they were imposing the American culture on French • The Europeans loved to get reductions or coupons while purchasing but the Euro Disney was not providing any such activities. 6. Compare Disney’s culture with French High culture. Disney was following American culture, the culture of their home country. Both the French and American culture were very different. • • • •

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In case of food, Americans prefered fast food where as French wanted to take long hours to eat the food and they take delight from every moment of cooking. Dinner time is an important family gathering for the French. Americans do not prefer drinks during a family entertainment period, where as for French wine is an integral part of their liquid intake. And also the Europeans prefered cooking food for themselves during the vacation to reduce the huge amount spend on it. In case of the theme for marketing and advertising, the American strategy was to attract people based on the concepts of ‘quality entertainment’ and fun filled experience. But for the French they need some educational aspects also relating to the fun experiences. The vacation for Americans are less and it is planned and booked by themself where as for the Europeans they go for long tours and they prefer it to be done through tour operators which helps them in getting discounts and other offers. So providing tickets in the park counter was not welcomed by the French. The vacation time for the Americans are short but for the French it is a long vacation. The money spend by an average middle class family for entertainment is huge in case of Americans where as for Europeans they do not spend much. Americans used strict guidelines to follow for their employees, where as for the French counter part they prefer laid back kind, ie, not much guidelines to follow. Americans are straightforward and objective, highly explicit and positive and believes in quality of work where as French believe in quality of life, they believe in theories, abstraction and paradoxes makes them happy Americans are obsessed with time where as for French they are more formal and does not give much importance to time.


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“Ten years ago, we didn’t understand the right balance between what was Disney culture and what was really the multicultural basis of the park. We thought at that point the Disney will overcome all.” (page 6, para 6 of the case study). Do you manage or leverage cultural differences? Highlight the distinction between the two, state the importance of leveraging on cultural differences. To manage cultural difference means getting things done by the others through orders or such similar procedures. Leveraging means aligning the cultural differences to make it an advantage for both the parties. The importance of leverage is that it helps in having a synergy between the two culturally different units of the organization. So the companies should be focusing on leveraging than going for managing. In the case of Disney, they were managing their subsidiaries and was making all their subsidiary follow the culture of their home country. Incase of Japan, as they were open to the American culture this would not be a major issue, but still the subsidiary in Japan was a franchised one and the Japanese were there in the major positions to take care of certain problems and so the Japanese culture was also considered. But in case of EuroDisney, it was owned and run by the parent company, and so the major roles were handled by the people from the parent company. And thus strategic decisions were mostly focused on the American culture. So Disney must shift their strategy of managing the subsidiaries to leveraging on the subidiaries.

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“You don’t create an American park in foreign country, you use your know-how to build an American-style park in the heart of a European culture.” (page 6, para 7 of the case study). How do you position an iconic brand in a country with a strong national culture? The ‘quality entertainment’ park concept is an American concept. The concept of entertainment can be thus copied to a new culture. But the aspect of entertainment is different for different culture so for the European culture a mix of entertainment and education has to be included when thinking about the word entertainment. In case of food, the hotels in the park were offering take aways and served American cuisine this could have been made to European cuisine and also not take aways as the Europeans prefer spending time for having food.


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Euro Disney: Failed Americanism? Any company when planning to go global has to face this situation of how to position the product which will be acceptable by the population. Advertisement in India gives focus on family values and cultures and so the positioning of certain products should be related to that. For eg, Coca-Cola ad campaign in India shown now say “Open Happiness” which says about the celebrations, it says about togetherness while celebrating. And that ad shows celebrating with friends and family which is what Indians prefer. 9. Do country perception really affect business prospects? Why or why not? Country perception does affect business prospects. When an organization becomes global the people in the other market compare the new product with the country of origin. If the country at that point of time has a bad phase then the people might think bad about the company and this will affect the sales. Here in this case the American culture of explicity is being showcased where they are trying to make their subsidiaries do like what they follow. So the emotions towards America will be a guiding or pulling factor for the French to visit the park India does not import any products of from places where child labour is used. The people will think that if they buy the product then they are promoting child labour and so the sales will also get affected. This will affect the particular business. 10.

“The Americans took what was done in the past and implemented it here. They brought the techniques. Disney has what we call ‘Savoir faire’ or the know-how of certain things like animation, creating the magic, etc. but there was no market study at the beginning and if there was, it was largely inefficient.” (page 2, para 5 of the case study). Elaborate on the due-diligence process a company should follow before entering into a new market or a country. Before entering into a new market the company must study about the market conditions, culture, political stability and business prosperity in that country. Even before thinking all these the company must think again on whether they must go to a new market. If the answer is yes, then the market study of the new place has to be done thoroughly. This helps in understanding the feasibility of the new decision. The company on deciding to move on to a new market must check what all competencies are required to enter and stay for long in the new market. They also has to consider government rules and regulations in that country. The internal and expernal environmental analysis should also be considered. The company also has to look into the company culture and whether this culture will gel with the culture of the company and if no what all strategies have to be implemented to make the company gel with the culture of the country.


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Euro Disney: Failed Americanism? Then from the study about the market the details about the customers, their behaviour and their preference also needs to be taken care of. And also what the cusomter thinks our product to be to find a positioning strategy.

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What are the revival strategies taken up by the Euro Disney to adjust to the European environment? Can Euro Disney succeed with these new strategies? The revival strategies taken up by the Euro Disney to reduce the cultural gap is as follows: • • • • • • •

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The first strategy came up was the introduction of wine in the park. Within two years time they changed the name from Euro Disney Resort to Euro Disneyland. And later in the same year to Disneyland Paris. The maps in the park were written in 6 European languages: Dutch, English, French, German, Italian and Spanish Advertising campaigns focused on educational experience than merely a fun experience The pricing was revamped by introducing more discounts and promotional prices, and also seasonal pricing They also started working along with the tour operators and this helped in increasing traffic They also started a new theme park that showcased work that went behind the camera in making movies. This was both educational combined with fun ride, explaining European culture, history of animation, cave painitings, magic lantern etc. Fantasyland had charachters from European mythology The rides were named in French Multilingual employees were hired

With these new strategies the park was able to achieve a culture that was more close to European culture. And this helped in increasing traffic towards the park. By focusing more on certain strategies like more marketing efforts based on the country specific ideas will help in getting more traffic. 12.

What strategies would you suggest to make Euro Disney a successful venture? The strategies that I would suggest is that: •

Getting feedback from the visitors on the improvement and also on what all changes are to be incorporated helps a lot for the park. Because the


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visitors are interacting with the park games and other aspects, so they are the one who can give a proper feedback about the improvements Give equal preference to most of the cuisines in hotels by making the different hotels serve particular cusine which is not served by another inside the park. This helps in attracting people from all the countries. A week or month has to be considered for celebrating, for eg, Easter, which increases the traffic and at that time more promotional offers can be made.


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Euro Disney

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