Running head: GLOBAL MICKEY CASE STUDY 1

Global Mickey Case Study

Name

Institution
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Summary of Disney Case

A new theme park was established in California in 1955 after an idea from Walt Disney.

The main idea behind Disneyland was to come up with a place where both the children and

adults would go and enjoy themselves. The company ventured into the internalization policy and

made theme park their major operation. Since it was first launched, it has enjoyed immense

success. Tokyo Disneyland has emerged as the most successful tourist attraction in Japan.

Through the success, the company has been able to venture into so many foreign markets.

However, the success did not proceed as expected when they were operating in European

countries such as France (Mahoney et al., 2011). Through this, the company was able to make

mistakes which helped them to learn. They were able to learn about how they should have dealt

with diversity that they were experiencing throughout their operations.

Cultural Differences between US and France

France and United States cultural difference can be explained through having deep

insights into the Hofstede’s four dimensions which entail power distance, masculinity,

individualism and uncertainty avoidance index. Power distance in France is measured at 68

which mean it is a society that prefers a fair degree of inequality to run its existence. Power is

centralized on geographical location, the government and companies. On the other hand, the

power distance in US is at 40 meaning that equality is highly embraced in the United States. The

other dimension is individualism. This is the extent of interdependence a society will have to

maintain between its citizens. In France, it is 71 meaning that it is a very individualistic society.

One will, therefore, take care of his/her affairs and that of their family. On the other hand,

United States is one of the most individualistic societies in the world as compared to France. The
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third dimension is masculinity. France with 34 score is a culture which is based on feminine

which is indicated by the social welfare system which the country enjoys and the quality of life.

United States on the other hand has a score of 62. Therefore it is a masculinity driven society

with the highest individualistic drive in the world. Finally is uncertainty avoidance which entails

dealing with the future we never know. In US, it is below average since most people do not

accept new ideas, the willingness to experience something different and innovative goods. On

the other hand, France is a society that has planned itself and don’t like surprises.

Explain corporate cultural difference between United States and Hong Kong

Corporate cultural differences between Hong Kong and United States can be analysed

through the use of Trompenaars model of differences in cultures. The first dimension entails

universalism Vs Particularism. The culture of United States is more of universalism whereas that

of Hong Kong is particularism. In US people are treated as the same. The rules established are

given the first priority. In Hong Kong, relationships are considered more important than the

rules. The second dimension is Individualism Vs Communitarianism. In United States, the

culture of individualism is highly regarded as they believe the outcomes in life are as a result of

the choices made (Packman and Casmir, 2018). In Hong Kong, the culture of helping each other

for a quality life is paramount. The third one entails neutral vs effective. United States is more of

a neutral culture as people do not share their feelings. In Hong Kong, people are effective and

share their emotions. Finally is Achievement Vs Ascription. United States culture is based on

achievement to earn status. In Hong Kong, the culture is Ascription as people are given status

based on who they are.

Mistakes made by Disney during Euro operation

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One of the mistakes that Disney did was that it misunderstood the culture and customs of

the French when it comes to drinking wine. The French considered the drinking wine meal a

right that was given to them by God. The second mistake was that Euro Disney had dressed

Antoine like a cowboy and he was saying Howdy which has one of the letters ‘h’ that the French

find very hard to pronounce. This led to confusion and misunderstanding. The third mistake was

that Disneyland used their USA model of business since it had been successful in Tokyo. The

model made it difficult for other cultures to supersede the American park theme.

Describe the lessons Disney would have learnt about diversity

The first lesson that Disney learnt about diversity was that the company was able to use

the Sam layout in the every country rather than changing it based on each country. Countries

have different way of doing things. Disneyland will enjoy the support of these countries as they

will feel more comfortable in terms of customs and cultures. The second lesson is that they took

much equity in Disneyland Euro than they did in Tokyo. When it Tokyo, the realized a net profit

of $703 million so they thought that the same would happen to other parts of Europe. Disney

should not have assumed that for all the other foreign countries. Finally, the company was

overconfident as they were diversifying and this hurt them at the end. During the preopening

events they suggested that people should not leave. At the end of the day, it was a complete fail.
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References

Mahoney, D., Trigg, M., Griffin, R., & Pustay, M. (2011). International Business: a managerial

perspective. Pearson Education Australia.

Packman, H. M., & Casmir, F. L. (2018). Learning from the Euro Disney experience: A case

study in international/intercultural communication. Gazette (Leiden, Netherlands), 61(6),

473-489.