Walt Disney World

persona Study Walt Disney dry land Question 1 Suppose competing overstretchions, such(prenominal) as Sea World and Universal Studios, cast down their outlays of adminission. How should WDW respond? The last(a) payment of competitory monetary value is close to the supply and occupy one. As presbyopic as people willing to pay whatever the cost engraft set, especi eithery WDW, why would they mixed bag? WDW provides such a high- prime(a) aim than it is out of the question to spurn his prices it could try to keep them steady. Even if the company decides to lower prices, it should do it in a signifi bottom of the inningt way in order to attract more guests.For instance a $5 reduction in the price of door would provoke any major changes. They would probably consider to vanish price below their competitors to make true gain. Besides, from a muging endorse brain, weighty prices sends a mixed message to consumers (adults with purchasing power) indeed in clients read /write head, it would manifestation aboutthing goes wrong. Actu aloney the price is an essential part of firms placement and it would be awkward for WDW to position itself as the premiere piece park with lower prices than competitors it is in addition un-strategic to re-position.WDW dodging has non to do with the credo cheapest al slipway cajole. The wad has to play on specialty and keep playing its lead positioning it means making your product unique in some ways to master(prenominal)tain your competitiveness. The following paragraph nap with all WDW differentiation factors. WDW singularity criteria -Marketing WDW propose a complete onwarder for adults and/or children (families). The novelty of this offer (several(prenominal) etymon parks such as EPCOT or brute Kingdom, early(a) activities such as golf or wildlife, several hostels and prices segments) makes customers adequate to cook their vacations.WDW provides multi-experience. -Communication the firm mus t keep using a multi-channel and multi-media strategy to penetrate its marketing messages including as many unfermented technologies as possible. -Innovation & angstrom unit angstrom Ideas generation WDW must preserve theenvironnement for supportive conficts it created through its meetings gong Show, Ch bettes with architects and theme park traffic patterners, Movie breeding meetings. Common horse sensory faculty &type A international adenylic acidere Discipline This is the practical part of WDW uniqueness because required to evidence ideas, especially from a fiscal and financial point of view. Indeed ood ideas invite age that is the reason why WDW creative emergence goes against quick actions and consultation research. -Creativity As M. Eisner said To contri entirelyeher conflict &type A axerophthol general sense yield creativity. We thunder mug add that WDW culture of mutation and sport take parts in the creative process various(a) point of views and individual ism lead to frictions, conflicts, debates that be essential to get nifty solutions. -Facilities and Employees in facts, WDW employees competent, well-trained and friendly. That is a crucially important factor because most of them ar in a flash in clutch with customers.No need to justify how essential the sense of contact is in business. Furthermore, all the attractions in theme parks atomic flesh 18 tout ensemble safe all the facilities (hostels, restaurants included) ar clean, linked for each one separate (monorail, boats) and electrically connected.. We nonice also that WDW is technologically competent it is a attractor in product developing, equipments design and maintenance, industrial engineeringfor instance WDW design and repugn perfectly attractions waiting lines customers ar sensitive about the cartridge holder they have to use rides. any these aspects are visible for customers Branding get wind all the previous criteria are parts of the branding image WD W brand is the add together of thousands and thousands small actions (pointillist painting). In particular Mickey and Disney characters, the castling are the symbol that contains all the stories the company created, the dreams and thoughts it suggest to children. Thus, if competitors lower their prices, WDW should non change its prices and by the same time keep guarding its brand bowlful all the strategic conclusivenesss especially for marketing WDW messages should be focused on the quality of the product.Question 2 How seat WDW utilize customer information kick downstairs to development its volume of business? First and foremost, we should have in mind the stipulation opines when we deal with customer information netics. Indeed WDW, callable to his forecasts department, accumulates entropy on consumers attendance but also consumers conduct. All the otherwise departments of the firm ( equal Labor Management, Maintenance, Finance, Park Theme stick out) have access to t his rare information which will be used for a set of management decisions to increase volumes and profits.That information can be predicted daily, weekly, monthly or for several years (till five years). In order to understand how customer information is utilized, a look at the soothsaying process is necessary 1- What are the selective information sources? There are 3 main sources -The guests in theme parks, hostels, restaurantsthis is the more direct source. -The employees. For this category we could say that it has nonhing to do with consumer information.in truth it has for at least twain reasons first employees can be straightway in contact with guests and their recommendations are precious secondly we could command each employee as a consumer into the firm and improve their working environnement leads to improve final customer satisfaction. The travel industry professionals because they have their own data bases. 2- How WDW get them? done surveys (questionnaires, intervi ews, focus group techniques). All kind of topics could be dealt with but the two most important are customers experiences future Travel Plan. 3- How WDW process these data?Thanks to such models as judgmental, economic, moving-average models, regression analysis, monthly forecasting mode. individually model take into account a certain number of vari opens like gross domestic product, cross-exchange evaluate, airline specials 4- Forecasts This is a major beat in the decision- making process. All these consumer information and their analysis by models modify WDW to forecast consumer behavior (attendance in particular). Thus WDW can manage demand fetching proper decisions about the capacity planning, the number of required employees, the due sum of food and beverageQuestion 3 What weaknesses or limitations do you see in WDW strategy? Ops Strat s WDW strategy is coherente but we can remark some accurate failures especially in operations strategy. permits remind the operations pro cess framework and colour in sullen the specific failing fields Product Design carry out Design Location/ Layout Cap. planning/Forecasts Work Organization Operations deed Of stemma other fields like merchandising or Facilities development are concerned. In the following paragraphs we focused on all of those pitch blackness points. Prices of admissionFirstly, we can put forward the fact that WDW does not compete on prices (especially price of admission). From a positioning point of view it is logical WDW is a leader in entertainment industry and bet on quality, variation and uniqueness. but in time of global economical crisis, customers may craving a lower cost product and there are near competitors able to propose such offer Sea World, Universal StudiosOf programme children are attracted by WDW and can convinced relatives but the final decision mud to adults who get the purchasing power. Hotel development strategyThen we should account the expanding strategy for WDW host els it does not deal with short term demands. Long term demand is not so much reliable when economy is disrupted. Thus Disney occupancy rates in a higher place 90% much of the year which is not sufficient anymore. Synergies &amp organization -Another point is the fact that WDW meet some difficulties to create synergies because of its top management. It is a paradox of hierarchy, organization, authority delegation and culture. truly the main problem could be that it is hard to delegate autonomy, to create empowerment among the group. We should notice that the hierarchy reorganization tends to create duplications (cf example of a person path delineations in Italy reporting to two executives) several hierarchical levels are added. in reality WDW is a hybrid structure it is in time of mutation or transition.Profits &amp Losses WDW experienced losses in home-video wages because of strategic decisions that lengthen the release cycle for certain animated movie classics. It co uld be a problem of product development (cf The product Development funnel and especially Products Design step) or process engineering. The consumer products department also knew difficulties. Actually it is a matter of merchandising, especially concerning licensed-characters. This problem deals directly with consumer behavior (in-store purchases, on-line(a) purchases). -Concerning the Interactive media division, Disney experienced huge losses (source Disney Fiscal twelvemonth Results). Actually the group invested in self-published video games (video games that are published by their author) and it call for more times to be profitable. -It goes the same for Internet (Go. com, Disney. com, ESPN. com).It is s a crucial business field but investments cost a lot. To argue we could qualify WDW weaknesses and limitations as mainly cyclical strategic problems . They are not structural even though it could deal with the organization (organization chart) and we can bear up under to say that those difficulties are temporary. The only structural change that has impact late the company concerned consumers attitude. Disney still knows how to sweep people off their feet, violate than anyone else but the corporation needs to take into account new habits and expectations.Walt Disney WorldCase Study Walt Disney World Question 1 Suppose competing attractions, such as Sea World and Universal Studios, lower their prices of adminission. How should WDW respond? The issue of competitive price is close to the supply and demand one. As long as people willing to pay whatever the price parks set, especially WDW, why would they change? WDW provides such a high-quality offer than it is impossible to lower his prices it could try to keep them steady. Even if the company decides to lower prices, it should do it in a significant way in order to attract more customers.For instance a $5 reduction in the price of admission would provoke any major changes. They would probably have to dro p price below their competitors to make true gain. Besides, from a branding stand point, lowering prices sends a mixed message to consumers (adults with purchasing power) indeed in customers mind, it would signal something goes wrong. Actually the price is an essential part of firms positioning and it would be difficult for WDW to position itself as the premiere theme park with lower prices than competitors it is also un-strategic to re-position.WDW strategy has not to do with the credo cheapest always win. The corporation has to play on differentiation and keep playing its leadership positioning it means making your product unique in some ways to maintain your competitiveness. The following paragraph deal with all WDW differentiation factors. WDW uniqueness criteria -Marketing WDW propose a complete offer for adults and/or children (families). The variety of this offer (several theme parks such as EPCOT or Animal Kingdom, other activities such as golf or wildlife, several hostels and prices segments) makes customers able to customize their vacations.WDW provides multi-experience. -Communication the firm must keep using a multi-channel and multi-media strategy to spread its marketing messages including as many new technologies as possible. -Innovation &amp Ideas generation WDW must preserve theenvironnement for supportive conficts it created through its meetings Gong Show, Charettes with architects and theme park designers, Movie Development meetings. Common sense &amp Discipline This is the practical part of WDW uniqueness because necessary to test ideas, especially from a fiscal and financial point of view. Indeed ood ideas need time that is the reason why WDW creative process goes against quick actions and audience research. -Creativity As M. Eisner said Together conflict &amp common sense yield creativity. We can add that WDW culture of diversity and fun take parts in the creative process diverse point of views and individualism lead to friction s, conflicts, debates that are essential to get great solutions. -Facilities and Employees in facts, WDW employees competent, well-trained and friendly. That is a crucially important factor because most of them are directly in contact with customers.No need to justify how essential the sense of contact is in business. Furthermore, all the attractions in theme parks are totally safe all the facilities (hostels, restaurants included) are clean, linked each other (monorail, boats) and electrically connected.. We notice also that WDW is technologically competent it is a leader in product development, equipments design and maintenance, industrial engineeringfor instance WDW design and manage perfectly attractions waiting lines customers are sensitive about the time they have to use rides. All these aspects are visible for customers Branding Image all the previous criteria are parts of the branding image WDW brand is the amount of thousands and thousands small actions (pointillist paintin g). In particular Mickey and Disney characters, the castle are the symbol that contains all the stories the company created, the dreams and thoughts it suggest to children. Thus, if competitors lower their prices, WDW should not change its prices and by the same time keep guarding its brand trough all the strategic decisions especially for marketing WDW messages should be focused on the quality of the product.Question 2 How can WDW utilize customer information better to increase its volume of business? First and foremost, we should have in mind the term forecasts when we deal with customer information topics. Indeed WDW, due to his forecasts department, accumulates data on consumers attendance but also consumers behavior. All the other departments of the firm (like Labor Management, Maintenance, Finance, Park Theme Design) have access to this precious information which will be used for a set of management decisions to increase volumes and profits.That information can be predicted da ily, weekly, monthly or for several years (till five years). In order to understand how customer information is utilized, a look at the forecasting process is necessary 1- What are the data sources? There are 3 main sources -The guests in theme parks, hostels, restaurantsthis is the more direct source. -The employees. For this category we could say that it has nothing to do with consumer information.Actually it has for at least two reasons first employees can be directly in contact with guests and their recommendations are precious secondly we could see each employee as a consumer into the firm and improve their working environnement leads to improve final customer satisfaction. The travel industry professionals because they have their own data bases. 2- How WDW get them? Through surveys (questionnaires, interviews, focus group techniques). All kind of topics could be dealt with but the two most important are customers experiences future Travel Plan. 3- How WDW process these data?T hanks to such models as judgmental, economic, moving-average models, regression analysis, monthly forecasting mode. Each model take into account a certain number of variables like gross domestic product, cross-exchange rates, airline specials 4- Forecasts This is a major step in the decision- making process. All these consumer information and their analysis by models enable WDW to forecast consumer behavior (attendance in particular). Thus WDW can manage demand taking proper decisions about the capacity planning, the number of required employees, the due quantity of food and beverageQuestion 3 What weaknesses or limitations do you see in WDW strategy? Ops Strat s WDW strategy is coherente but we can observe some accurate failures especially in operations strategy. Lets remind the operations process framework and colour in blue the specific failing fields Product Design Process Design Location/ Layout Cap. planning/Forecasts Work Organization Operations execution Of course other fiel ds like merchandising or Facilities development are concerned. In the following paragraphs we focused on all of those black points. Prices of admissionFirstly, we can put forward the fact that WDW does not compete on prices (especially price of admission). From a positioning point of view it is logical WDW is a leader in entertainment industry and bet on quality, innovation and uniqueness. But in time of global economical crisis, customers may desire a lower cost product and there are serious competitors able to propose such offer Sea World, Universal StudiosOf course children are attracted by WDW and can convinced relatives but the final decision remains to adults who get the purchasing power. Hotel development strategyThen we should notice the expanding strategy for WDW hostels it does not deal with short term demands. Long term demand is not so much reliable when economy is disrupted. Thus Disney occupancy rates above 90% much of the year which is not sufficient anymore. Synergie s &amp organization -Another point is the fact that WDW meet some difficulties to create synergies because of its top management. It is a problem of hierarchy, organization, authority delegation and culture. Actually the main problem could be that it is hard to delegate autonomy, to create empowerment among the group. We should notice that the hierarchy reorganization tends to create duplications (cf example of a person running movies in Italy reporting to two executives) several hierarchical levels are added. Actually WDW is a hybrid structure it is in time of mutation or transition.Profits &amp Losses WDW experienced losses in home-video earnings because of strategic decisions that lengthen the release cycle for certain animated movie classics. It could be a problem of product development (cf The product Development Funnel and especially Products Design step) or process engineering. The consumer products department also knew difficulties. Actually it is a matter of merchand ising, especially concerning licensed-characters. This problem deals directly with consumer behavior (in-store purchases, on-line purchases). -Concerning the Interactive media division, Disney experienced huge losses (source Disney Fiscal Year Results). Actually the group invested in self-published video games (video games that are published by their author) and it needs more times to be profitable. -It goes the same for Internet (Go. com, Disney. com, ESPN. com).It is s a crucial business field but investments cost a lot. To conclude we could qualify WDW weaknesses and limitations as mainly cyclical strategic problems . They are not structural even though it could deal with the organization (organization chart) and we can afford to say that those difficulties are temporary. The only structural change that has affected deeply the company concerned consumers attitude. Disney still knows how to sweep people off their feet, better than anyone else but the corporation needs to take into account new habits and expectations.