Question:

Questions to the Case Study 'Hong Kong Disneyland'

1. What aspects of the global environment are most important for Disney to consider whenexpanding their Parks & Resorts business segment internationally? Which of the FiveCompetitive Forces seem to be most important in each of the three foreign locations (Tokyo,Paris, Hong Kong)? How would you rate the Five Forces in the Hong Kong tourism industry?

2. What are Disney's core competences (strategic assets)in general?(Hint: be a little broaderwith this and consider Disney's symbols and heritage from founder. Also, remember that theirvision is "To be the happiest place on earth"). What are the core competences for the Parks &Resorts business segment? Are these competences easy to transfer geographically?

3. Based on the sequence of three foreign entries (Tokyo, Paris, Hong Kong), evaluate ifDisneyis following a relatively incremental or a relatively radical approach to internationalexpansion? What are the risks versus benefits of this approach for the successful leveragingofDisney's core competences? Would you recommend a different approach to internationalexpansion?

(The following sub-questions will help you evaluate how incremental orradical their approach is):

a. (Where) Why didDisney select Tokyo, Paris, and Hong Kong for internationalexpansion? How similar/different are these countries with/from the US(in terms ofculture, language, geography, market size, economic development, consumer base,political or economic risks, etc.)?Is there any natural progression from low distance to high distance in this sequence of entries?

b. (When) Considering the timing of the three foreign entry decisions, what is Disney'srelative rate of foreign entry -fast or slow? Does it give enough time for Disney to learnfrom each entry and leverage that knowledge in the next entry?

c. (How) What type of entry strategies (wholly-owned subsidiaries, mergers andacquisitions,alliances and joint-ventures) is Disney using in each of the three cases? Isthere any natural progression from low commitment/low risk/low control to highcommitment/high risk/high control?

4. What is Disney's strategy for international expansion -global,multi-domestic, ortransnational? What are the trade-offs (benefits vs challenges) associated with this strategy? Isthis an appropriate strategy for Disney to transfer their core competences?

5. In what ways is their 'Americana' approach to attracting foreign customers differentfrom/similar to their international strategy? Is this 'Americana' approach consistent withorcontradictory totheir core competences? Does it help or obstruct Disney's international expansion? Would you recommendthat Disney continue to use the'Americana' approach,discard it, or use it differently?

6. Why did Disney experience the problems early on in Hong Kong (including the New Yearholiday fiasco)?Would you qualify these problems as major? Would you have done anythingdifferently?

7. Integrating knowledge from strategic management andinternational business, and building onyour answers to the above questions, how would you chart Disney's international expansion strategy from the start? Identify key problems in their strategy and propose alternatives.