Trimester 2, 2011
Assignment 1: Case Study Analysis - Euro Disneyland
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Source: Luthans, D. (2008) International Management: Culture, Strategy, and Behavior, 7th Ed, New York: McGraw Hill.pp229-238
The chosen case describes Euro Disneyland’s difficulties in France. The topics relevant to this case include cross-cultural values and dimensions and their practical implications for cross-cultural communication and negotiation. The case also suggests how culture impacts on organisation, leadership and teams.
Objectives: The objective of this assignment is to analyse cross-cultural differences and their impact on international business collaboration. The case has been chosen to give you the opportunity to analyse the cultural values of different cultures and to assess and apply this knowledge from the perspective of a consultant, advising the parties how they could have mitigated some of the cross-cultural problems they encountered. It is important that you support your analysis and recommendations with theories and concepts covered in the course and use theories and concepts from the course to support any recommendations that would improve cross-cultural business collaboration.
Specific Tasks:
Issues to be discussed in the case should include, but need not be limited to the following:
1. Using Hofstede’s cultural dimensions as a point of reference, what are some of the main cultural differences between the United States and France? 2. In what way has Trompenaars’ research on organisational culture helped explain cultural differences between the United States and France? 3. In managing its Euro Disneyland operations, explain three mistakes that the company made? 4. Based on its experience, discuss the three lessons the company should have learned about how to deal with diversity?