Executive Summary
American businesses make assumptions about the transferability of their business, management, marketing, economic and structural models of organizing which frequently fail to take into consideration cultural differences. An example of the consequences of such an approach to intercultural business practice can be found in the Disney Corporation's recent Chinese venture, now called Disneyland, Hong Kong. Lack of cultural sensitivity and the negative infiltration strategy used by the Disney Corporation resulted in a great loss of time, money and reputation for which the corporation has only recently begun to compensate.
After examining many struggles in Japan and France, especially in France, this paper examines how the strategy Disney used when entering China, a crucial venture for Disney’s success worldwide. Did Disney learn from the mistakes it made in Japan and France and implement those strategies in China? It is the primary aim of this paper that the initial losses experienced by the Disney Corporation in Tokyo, Paris and Hong Kong may have been prevented if only its representatives had known then what they know now: that organizations are not distinct, separate entities capable of functioning outside their physical, social and cultural environments. This calls for a different approach to Disney’s international business strategy , one which begins with the most basic aspect of human organizations, namely effective, meaningful, communicative interactions between people.
1. The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the second largest media and entertainment corporation in the world, after Time Warner, according to Forbes. Probably most noted for its cartoo ...