Case Study: Euro Disney

Indubitably, moving an organization into the international market is a complicated process. Moreover, global expansion has challenges that must be overcome such as the economic, legal, political, social and cultural barriers. In the case of Disney, the greatest challenge was how to handle the cultural differences (Ferrell, Hirt & Ferrell, 2009). Euro Disney, later named Disneyland Resort Paris, cost almost four billion dollars to build and is jointly owned by a consortium of sixty banks and the Walt Disney Company. Less than two years after opening Euro Disney ran out of cash and had to borrow one-hundred and seventy-five million dollars just to keep the theme park open (Spencer, 1995). One would think that this enhanced version of Disneyland

While staying true to its message the park had to embrace the local culture. Therefore, Disney hired consultants to assist with the layout of the Hong Kong theme park and eliminated the fourth floor as the number four is culturally believed to be bad luck. Even with this attention to detail, the first years have been rough with low attendance and protestors raising social and cultural objections. One major complaint is that the theme park was too small, but expansion plans should take place over the next decade (Ferrell et al., 2009). Disney has launched various marketing initiatives to raise awareness of and to spark interest in Hong Kong Disneyland and runs promotions throughout the year to attract guests. In addition, Hong Kong Disneyland has modified aspects of the park to better suit the Chinese visitors as well as certain park elements, rides and festivals have been created just for the Hong Kong park. Subsequently, these implementations have made Disneyland one of the top three attractions in Hong Kong (Miller, 2007). References

Ferrell, O., Hirt, G., & Ferrell, L. (2009). Business in a Changing World. (7th ed.)

Miller, P. M. (2007). Disneyland in Hong Kong. China Business Review, 34(1),