Disneyland Hong Kong Success Factors - Assignment Example

DISNEY LAND HONG KONG SUCCESS FACTORS - A CASE STUDY The success factors adopted by Walt Disney have been unique in that when the company built itsfirst theme park in Florida it was a totally new idea which entailed creating entertainment complexes based on themes which were initially derived from characters in comic books. The concept was continually expanded and its various nuances adapted to the dominant idea of the time, location and the means to make profit. Today Disney Land has become a house hold name the World over and has been consistently making good profits. Hong Kong Disney land offers the same experience as the original Disneyland in California which have been suitably adapted to the local environment. It is located conveniently and easily approachable. Spread over an area of 310 acres, it includes a number of theme parks and also two theme hotels. (http://park.hongkongdisneyland.com). The eight success factors which have been identified for Disneyland will be observed with reference to Disneyland, Hong Kong as follows:- (a) Originality of Concept. Originality of concept implies providing novelty to the visitors at all times. Disney has continuously strived to provide original concepts and ideas. To boost up its summer visitors, the summer pass concept has been introduced by Disney Land Hong Kong; in addition it has continuously innovated to provide new rides, new plans for passes and also added environmental friendly attractions such as the Autopia electric car in collaboration with Honda the Japanese car manufacturer. (b) Geographic Location. Geographic location would imply locating the park near a city with well off people which is also a major tourist destination. Disney Land Hong Kong is ideally achieving this as it is an affluent location with a large number of tourists including those going to and coming from Main land China. Hong Kong is one of the most prosperous cities in the area. Over the years it has become the hub of business as well as tourism. The opening of main land China has implied that it is the gateway as well as outlet to it. Thus there are a large number of visitors to Hong Kong due to its geographic location which in turn benefits, Disney Land Hong Kong. Similarly Disneyland is located in the most affluent locations in the World, California, Paris, Tokyo and others. (c) Integrated Services. This implies a multiplicity of services as food, boutiques, parades, rides and so on are combined so that the customer gets the benefit of all these at one location. Disney's integrated services are its key asset. It integrated services in Hong Kong include, hotels, weddings, meetings and other events. (http://park.hongkongdisneyland.com). The hotels provide dining, guest rooms and other facilities. (d) International Expansion. International expansion entails gradual growth of the company to increase the number of destinations, a strategy which has been successfully followed by Disney land. Thus its destinations are spread across all continents. (destinations.disney.go.com). Disney Land Hong Kong is a part of this overall international expansion plan of Disney company and has well fitted in its globalisation scheme. (e) Innovation. Innovation implies constantly creating new ideas and exploiting new concepts to develop new theme parks adapting to the requirements of time and situation to attract more number of people. Disney is the epitome of innovation. Disney Hong Kong has introduced Autopia, a car ride attraction which is powered by electricity the first of its kind in all the Disney Lands, as other parks have been using gas powered cars. It has also introduced Stitch Encounter based on 2002 Walt Disney animated Lilo and Stitch show. This is an interactive show offered in multiple languages, English, Cantonese and Putonghua and the film characters are said to talk back to the audience members immediately on response. It has also introduced the UFO Zone which uses water jets, mist machines to create a overall water theme. (f) Partnerships. Partnerships, implies forming alliances with a number of key brands which are permitted to use Disney land's marketability and in turn Disney land too benefits from the partners image. Disney Land Hong Kong is partnering Japanese car maker Honda, which has introduced Autopia. (g) Yield Management. Yield management implies flexibility in marketing and pricing so that prices are higher on days when more number of people are likely to visit the park, such as week ends and holidays, while these are lower on other days and times. Disney Land Hong Kong has benefited immensely from yield management techniques. The latest technique of yield management is that of two for one ticket deal and summer passes. The summer passes which are costing $450 offers to provide any number of visits to the pass holder till 30 September. There were a large number of passes sold in early August and has said to have led to increase in the number of visits to 10,000 in one week beginning of August. Disney Land Hong Kong is exploited the summer pass, as a yield management technique which has reaped good dividends. (h) B2B marketing. This involves exploiting business customers such as companies through conference facilities, meetings, incentives and events, what is known as exploiting the MICE market in Disney Lands strategy. Disneyland Hong Kong has developed a facility for meetings and has been successfully using it as a B2B marketing tool. Glocal Strategies Glocal implies to think, plan and resource globally and apply global concepts keeping in view local conditions. The glocal concept ensures a unique synergy between global and local strategies for success. The advantages of combining the global and local are obvious. Global aspects enable economies of scales achieved through standardisation of ideas, processes and products. (Griffith, 2002). The companies in different countries also share the costs thereby enabling higher profits. Thus Disney Land could adapt its practices in North America to newer areas as it expanded from Europe, to Japan and now to Hong Kong. There is also no need to reinvent the wheel so to say and one can continue to use the experience gained in one country to others easily. Theme parks however have to relate to the local culture, customs, traditions and folk lore. This is particularly important in varied countries with strong cultures and legacy such as France, Japan and Hong Kong where the people though welcoming American efficiency will not accept American characters and themes in their places of visit. As also there are a large number of places of unique national interest, in which the theme park has to fit in to be popular. This is what is known as local application to the overall global concept, which Disney Land failed to do initially in France but later adapted successfully. Another reason to think local is to beat the existing competition and overcome its dominance in the market. Since the local companies in the same business have a very good idea of the existing market, they are able to exploit the same. A global company attempting to penetrate a local market has to seek this knowledge which is unique to a particular area or community hence there is a need for localisation of strategy. Thus major global companies try to customize their products for different markets. (Griffith, 2002). This leads to better identity and greater visibility as well as sales. Local sourcing of goods is also cheaper in many cases as it cuts out the transportation costs and is undertaken by companies where feasible. (Griffith, 2002). Thus there are many advantages of adopting the glocal strategy for companies who want to expand their reach beyond their local markets. References 1. Griffith, Victoria. 2002. Welcome to Tesco, Your Glocal Superstore. http://www.strategy-business.com/press/16635507/11670. (02 August 2006). 2. http://park.hongkongdisneyland.com/hkdl/en_US/eventPlanning/weddings/overviewname=WeddingsOverviewPage (03 August 2006). 3. http://park.hongkongdisneyland.com/hkdl/en_US/help/listingname=GeneralResortFAQPage#qa0 (03 August 2006). 4. http://destinations.disney.go.com/parksandresorts/index. (03 August 2006). Read More