Walt Disney Research Paper

Walter Elias Disney as an Entrepreneur Founder of Walt Disney Co.
Table of Contents Page
List of Materials
Introduction
Opening Summary
External Influences
History
Key to Success

List of Materials
External Influences
Competitor Comparison table

Introduction
I have admired Walt Disney’s cartoons and motion pictures, he is not only a good artist but also a great entrepreneur. The reason why I admire Walt Disney is because he did what he liked, he has a good strategy on how to transform a dream into reality. He is a really good innovator “I believe in being an innovator” Walt Disney
One other reason why I admired him is the way he worked
“A man should never neglect his family for business.” Walt Disney
Opening Summary
Walter Elias Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966) film producer, director, Screenwriter, Voice Actor, Animator, Entertainer, international icon and Philanthropist and above all a great entrepreneur.
He is one of the best known motion picture producers in the world and the founder of The Walt Disney Company having annual profits of $3.3bn. for 2009.
The Disney World Resort is the largest and most visited recreational resort in the world, innovatively designed by Walt Disney.
He created the world’s most famous fictional characters including “Mickey Mouse” still showing on the media.

“Pictures still speak the most universally understood language.”
Walt Disney

The original hand painted picture which appeared in Walter Disney Productions. A picture is worth a thousand words, the one above expresses how much Walter loved his characterless, and this passion was the key to his success in transforming dreams to reality.

External Influences – Animation Industry
Opportunities
 Operate a niche market having great talents and ideas
 Resorts worldwide
Threats
 Competitors entering the market

Fig. Walt Disney Company Competitors by Diversification.
History
The man behind the mouse and founder of Walt Disney Co. was born in Chicago, Illinois, on December 5 1901. Walt as a child had an interest in drawing and art as well as acting and performing. He had mouse pet in Kansas city which he the Mickey mouse character. Whilst working at a train station he was most interested in trains.
Teenager
At the age of 10 Walt Disney moved to Kansas City with his family.
Disney dropped out of high school at the age of sixteen to join the army, but the army rejected him because Disney forged his birth certificate to show that he was underage.
He joined the Red Cross, driving an ambulance whilst world war 1.
He worked as a cartoonist for a local newspaper
Walt Disney used $250 from his war time earning to purchase the equipment to start his business
He was a chain smoker and hence died with lung cancer
He left world by December 15 1966 ten days after his sixty fifith birthday

Walt wanted to diversify so his dream of opening an amusement park Disneyland opened in 1955 and Walt Disney World came true which enabled growth.
Disney had taken his wife’s decision (his former employee) to naming his mouse “Mickey” instead of Mortimer
He invented a 3 dimensional effect motion camera which enabled him to create animations.

Walt Disney loved children
Daddy never missed a father 's function no matter how I discounted it. I 'd say,"Oh, Daddy, you don 't need to come. It 's just some stupid thing." But he 'd always be there, on time. http://www.justdisney.com/walt_disney/biography/long_bio.html

How Disney Achieved Success
Disney said “always remember that this started with a dream and a mouse”. He thought beyond his time spending nights in his studio eating called beans as he had given up his apartment, he pushed his sales, he followed his dreams building amusement parks.
The innovation of the 3 dimensional motion camera meant he was an innovator and his storylines would mean that he was creative.
Great Imagineering
“Imagination, creativity, novelty and sensitivity qualities are needed to develop a new product or service and bring it to the market.”
http://www.springerlink.com/content/p363h72024v556nt/
Walt Disney is famous for his imagination skills being used in his productions, The company also has a imaginations department where they recruit individuals with innovative imagination skills. Using these skills have made both the entrepreneur and the business successful.
Walt Disney have innovated his own strategy for his production as shown in fig. below.
Room 1 The place where dreams were dreamed, ideas were spun out, no restrictions, no limits - just every sort of outrageous creative hunch or idea was freely developed Room 2 Here the dreams from Room 1 were co-ordinated and the story board created as events and characters fitted into sequence. (The idea of the story board - now ubiquitous - was a Disney invention)
Room 3 The "sweat box" - a small room under the stairs where the whole crew would critically review the project to date with no holds barred. The process was safe because it was the project not a particular individual that was being criticised. http://www.wiredportfolio.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/DisneyPaper.pdf The idea of the Walt Disney was not only a dream but a competitive strategy “Something that I can keep developing and adding to.” Walt Disney

I have been up against tough competition all my life. I wouldn 't know how to get along without it.
I love Mickey Mouse more than any woman I have ever known.
I 'd say it 's been my biggest problem all my life... it 's money. It takes a lot of money to make these dreams come true.
It 's kind of fun to do the impossible.

Advice to other Entrepreneurs
Walt Disney’s strategy as an entrepreneur is “The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.” http://www.evancarmichael.com/Famous-Entrepreneurs/614/Inside-The-Magic-Kingdom-How-Disney-Achieved-Success.html This Shows us that Disney has invested a lot of time in his career and therefore one should invest time in order to succeed.

Fig. Creativity & Productivity Strategy http://lateralaction.com/articles/walt-disney/
The Dreamer
• What are you trying to make or achieve?
• What excites and inspires you about it?
• If you could wave a magic wand and do anything you like – what would you create? How would it look? What could you do with it? How would that make you feel?
The Realist
• What resources do you need to make this happen – people, money, materials and technology?
• What’s your plan?
• What obstacles will you face? How will you get round them?
The Critic
At critical stages of the project, step back from your work and ask yourself:
• How does this look? What about the big picture? And the fine detail? How do I feel when I examine it?
• How would it look to a customer? A user? A member of the audience? The client? An expert in this field?
• Is this the best I/we can do? What would make it better?

The fig above is Disney’s creativity strategy, Having created this strategy is also innovated creativity as it belongs to Disney.

“If you can dream it, you can do it.”— http://www.entrepreneur.com/growyourbusiness/radicalsandvisionaries/article197528.html

Disney died in 1966 but his legend lives on.

References
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvaBBNeRBPU&feature=player_embedded#