Walt Disney is known for being one of the world's leaders in family entertainment and one of the most valuable brands in the world. In 1992, Disney decided to expand its efforts to open a Disneyland theme park in France, later known as EuroDisney. However, as we will soon learn, having a big name and a successful past may not be enough to succeed outside of one's home location. As we know, international marketing focuses on efforts to use the right marketing principles to satisfy the needs and wants of different people residing across international borders. Factors such as culture, marketing and operational errors have been crucial in EuroDisney's potential global success. Due to its past successes in Florida, California and Tokyo, the management has been very persistent and determined to build and add another entertainment and theme park to their huge empire beyond international borders, regardless be the price. Disney's European journey began with a dream of a fairy tale that would soon come to an end. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayThis journey begins in 1987, when the agreement for the creation and operation of the first Disneyland in Europe was signed. The Parisian site was chosen from 200 potential international sites; including Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece. The original EuroDisney concept was introduced by Walt Disney as a way to pay homage to the gardens and castles of France that inspired Walt for his architectural designs of the original Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Even with the poor winter weather in France, management was easily swayed in choosing the country by incentives offered by the French government, such as impressive data on regional demographics and France's strong overall tourist attraction, a factor considered crucial to France's success. the future success of the park if it wanted to attract large numbers of visitors. Disney was ruthless in its strategy, buying up all the surrounding land so there was nothing to gain for outsiders. This did not go over well with local farmers, as Disney did not gain the local support it needed to meet its vast expectations. Nonetheless, Disney was simply convinced that it had just signed its next biggest financial victory, with its high prices and wishful thinking that the project would sell the park. But Disney overlooked and grossly miscalculated how much Europeans would be willing to spend for a day at EuroDisney. Disney's high prices for a stay at one of their 7 on-site resorts were incredibly high for a family visiting EuroDisney, with prices on par with some of the most expensive hotels in all of Paris. For example, a night at the Newport Bay Club, the largest of EuroDisney's resorts, can cost between $110 and $380 per night, while a high-end hotel in Paris can cost between $340 and $348 per night. This left some families with no other option than to spend the night in a cheaper hotel in the capital. A family of four would easily spend $600 to guarantee a magical time at the resort. At that time, it was ironically cheaper to book a plane ticket and hotel to Disney World in Orlando, Florida, making EuroDisney an unattractive and expensive vacation. This initial decision to open a theme park in France only showed promising early results for management, but thecompany could not have been more wrong with the tactics they used. April 12, 1992 was an exciting day for Disney Corporation, it was the planned opening day of EuroDisney. Guests were warned in advance of heavy traffic due to Disney's expected new opening day, but to much dismay, Disney did not meet its attendance projections that had previously been made from successful openings in California, Florida and Tokyo. Disney expected its opening day attendance to be around 400,000 guests, but by midday there were only 25,000 guests, an incredibly low number compared to previous Disneyland openings. These projections also fell short during the first year of opening, where it was hoped to attract 11 million visitors, but only managed to attract 9.2 million visitors. In the few months leading up to the opening, Disney had recruited, hired, housed and trained nearly 12,000 cast members for its new theme park, hiring only bilingual and trilingual employees. The company had a set of standards that it strived to use that had worked in the United States and Asia, giving Disney the arrogance to think that Europe was no different. Disney has a well-established corporate identity in America, which it perpetuates by training its employees to educate them about the company, while also learning what they can expect from their employment within the Disney Corporation. They also taught cast members about Disney's philosophy on integrating hospitality with show business, as well as explaining the company's importance and emphasis on teamwork and leadership. Disney did not do a good enough job communicating with the cast, imposing “Disney culture” on the local culture. This ensured Disney's American philosophy that what they taught the actors was the "right" way, instead of encouragement from management to adapt the actors to French culture. The actors also had to adapt to get used to working longer hours than in any other French workplace. In the United States, Disney's busiest day of the week was Friday, which allowed the company to assume that the same days would replicate the equivalent activity in Europe, missing the ball when Monday was the day the busiest and not having a sufficient number of staff to take over. pace, forcing exhausted employees to work even longer hours than promised. With Disney's busiest season of the year being summer, the company ensured that cast members worked during this time, contravening traditional French employment practices including employee leave and overtime pay. were generally granted during these summer months. Disney wrongly hoped that its traditional American employment practices would translate effectively to the French workforce, but this thinking was shortsighted and led to a backlash against the company. The French press and legal authorities criticized Disney for banning cast members from arguing with guests, smoking, eating and drinking in public, as well as the strict dress code that was enforced. Disney was accused by the media of trying to "rewrite the French labor code" by imposing strict grooming requirements to achieve the clean-cut, all-American look that Disney had incorporated into its previous theme parks. These requirements were such that they defined the size of your nails, the color of your hair, aa blanket ban on facial hair, a ban on colored stockings, and a "proper underwear" policy. French workers at EuroDisney called the imposed dress code "repressive" while being a "clumsy policy directly transposed from the United States, poorly integrated into French culture." Faced with this cultural gap in employment standards in France, nearly 1,000 actors left EuroDisney in the first three months. Those who remained failed to live up to Disney's lowest standards for guest relations, disappointing guests with their "not-so-magical" attitudes. The prospect of EuroDisney in France was the subject of much controversy and disagreement, which proved true during its first year. opening with major operational and marketing challenges. Disney noticed its shortcomings within the first two weeks of opening, with French visitors nowhere to be found at the theme park. The company believed in the concept of trying to sell an American product in Europe while trying to adapt fragments of the park to French cultural tastes. They viewed EuroDisney as “American imperialism” and believed it would encourage unhealthy American ethnocentrism in France. Disney advertised EuroDisney poorly, worsening local French sentiment by using pomp and size, an all-American concept imposed on European soil, rather than promoting the variety of rides and attractions located within the park, ruining essentially the magic that Disney is proud to offer its guests. . A former Disney executive expressed his opinion: “We were arrogant – it was like we were building the Taj Mahal and people will come on our terms. » Disney also failed in its advertising efforts, making the mistake of using methods. that the company had used to attract consumers in the United States. EuroDisney has been criticized for using its advertising campaigns to target children rather than adults. These advertisements were displayed showing Mickey and Pluto introducing the rides and parades that awaited them in the park. The advertisements themselves are considered successful in the United States because most adults visited Disney resorts as children, having prior knowledge and memories of the theme park, its characters, and the amenities offered. But Europeans' knowledge of vacation customs was absent, because most European adults associated Disney with magazines, movies, and toys, not vacation travel. Unlike the United States, theme parks were not yet established in France, forcing Disney to think outside the box in order to gain the buy-in it needed to make EuroDisney the success it was striving for. so much becoming. The arrogance displayed by Disney, proved insensitive to French culture due to Disney's ethnocentric approach to food and beverage throughout the park. Leaders had already been told that Europeans do not eat breakfast, pointing out that most people make do with a croissant and coffee in the morning. As a result, Disney has decided to scale back its breakfast services at its restaurants, primarily serving only coffee and croissants. Come to find out, everyone showed up wanting a full, sit-down breakfast. “We were trying to serve 2,500 breakfasts in a 350-seat restaurant. » One of Disney's biggest offenses to the French was their decision to ban alcohol in the park. While banning alcohol has been a long-standing Disney policy, this decisioncaused an outcry by banning a drink that the French fit perfectly into family life. This assured the French, who view wine as an important part of daily life, that Disney was just another American company insensitive to French culture. Considering itself a strong negotiator, Disney was nevertheless convinced that its success was assured in France. To be successful as a business in France, the company must fully understand the market it is trying to obtain while also fully understanding French taste. Disney could have avoided more than half of the problems they caused themselves by doing enough research into French culture. Disney has proven that it has learned from its previous mistakes in France, while preparing for the opening of Disney's new Disneyland park located in Hong Kong, China. The company was adamant about not making the same cultural and management mistakes it initially made when opening the park in France. Disney knew that Mickey's magic wasn't enough to reign in success as once thought in Paris, so management made sure to go above and beyond what they knew guests expected in Hong Kong, participating in the project to appeal to local tastes. To achieve this, the company thought it best to rely on one of the ancient Chinese practices to help them during the implementation of the new plan and construction. This practice is commonly called feng shui, which allows objects to be arranged to ensure the proper flow of energy, which Disney desperately needed. With this in mind, the entrance gate to the park has been rotated, cash registers have been repositioned and rocks have been placed to promote stability whilst ensuring luck does not flow out the back. Two of the five feng shui elements being water and fire, many waterfalls have also been strategically placed throughout the park to aspire to wealth and good fortune, and "fire-free zones" have been placed at locations privileged to balance the remaining elements. One of the most telling examples of how Disney reclaimed its new home territory through feng shui was when the company decided to set the opening date for September 12, 2006. In the United States -United, no company has dared to schedule an opening nearby. the terrorist attack of September 11, still heavily deplored today; but for the Chinese, September 12 appears as an auspicious date to open a business in the Chinese almanac. It showed China how, for the first time since Paris, Disney was willing to put aside its American disparities when it came to Chinese cultural differences and tastes. After almost a decade of EuroDisney being condemned for its ignorance and lack of knowledge of European traditions. It was time for Disney to make sure they got it right the second time around. EuroDisney decided that its next big move would be to capture the history of French culture like nowhere else. The new Walt Disney Studios added to EuroDisney combine Disney entertainment and attractions with the history and culture of European cinema. The new cinema homage theme park was modeled on an old Hollywood studio complex, with rides showing large stunts of motorbikes and cars racing through the village modeled after the French resort town of Saint-Tropez. This was a big step forward for EuroDisney, which had initially been accused of not being French enough for its French theme park. Disney also learned that they had to integrate not only France, but also other.