The Disney Difference
Guyette Luster
MGT 301
17 March, 2013
Module 2: Case Application “Managing the Magic” Assignment Page 121 (1-4)
1. What is the Disney Difference and how will it affect the company’s corporate, competitive, and functional strategies?
Answer: The “Disney Difference” is Disney’s marketing strategy that has basically kept the brand afloat throughout the recession years. Disney has been able to market well by staying with a large amount of products and services to add value to the brand. The Disney Difference will affect the corporate strategy (Coulter, DeCenzo, & Robbins, 2011) since they are expanding into Hong Kong and have already organized an amount of funding they will need to finish the project. The Disney Difference will affect the competitive strategy (Coulter, DeCenzo, & Robbins, 2011) by staying with the times. Disney was once viewed as just a child-loved place. With the future ventures that Disney has decided to invest in, the company should do very well in its category and stay very competitive in nature. The Disney Difference will affect the functional strategy (Coulter, DeCenzo, & Robbins, 2011) by the amount of marketing and research they have invested in as well. Customer service will also be researched. Surveys and customer reviews could play a role in the functional strategy. 2. What challenges do you think Disney might face in doing business in Russia? How could Iger and his top management team use planning to best prepare for those challenges?
Answer: Expanding into Russia is a very uncertain challenge. The brand has done very little with Russia but the management team has already used planning to delve right in. They have planned to start with televised Disney programming (Coulter, DeCenzo, & Robbins, 2011), a planning strategy that is very specific, but flexible. Television programming can be pulled if they do not do as well as planned so they really are not starting out huge. Another way Disney can plan with their
MGT 301
17 March, 2013
Module 2: Case Application “Managing the Magic” Assignment Page 121 (1-4)
1. What is the Disney Difference and how will it affect the company’s corporate, competitive, and functional strategies?
Answer: The “Disney Difference” is Disney’s marketing strategy that has basically kept the brand afloat throughout the recession years. Disney has been able to market well by staying with a large amount of products and services to add value to the brand. The Disney Difference will affect the corporate strategy (Coulter, DeCenzo, & Robbins, 2011) since they are expanding into Hong Kong and have already organized an amount of funding they will need to finish the project. The Disney Difference will affect the competitive strategy (Coulter, DeCenzo, & Robbins, 2011) by staying with the times. Disney was once viewed as just a child-loved place. With the future ventures that Disney has decided to invest in, the company should do very well in its category and stay very competitive in nature. The Disney Difference will affect the functional strategy (Coulter, DeCenzo, & Robbins, 2011) by the amount of marketing and research they have invested in as well. Customer service will also be researched. Surveys and customer reviews could play a role in the functional strategy. 2. What challenges do you think Disney might face in doing business in Russia? How could Iger and his top management team use planning to best prepare for those challenges?
Answer: Expanding into Russia is a very uncertain challenge. The brand has done very little with Russia but the management team has already used planning to delve right in. They have planned to start with televised Disney programming (Coulter, DeCenzo, & Robbins, 2011), a planning strategy that is very specific, but flexible. Television programming can be pulled if they do not do as well as planned so they really are not starting out huge. Another way Disney can plan with their
References: Coulter, M., DeCenzo, D., & Robbins, S. (2011). Pearson Custom Business Resources. Boston, MA: Pearson Learning Solutions.