General Functionality of Euro Disneyland - Case Study Example

Running Head: EURO DISNEYLAND Euro Disneyland Name Institution Date ‘ Euro Disneyland  Introduction      Our contemporary world in which we live is termed the global era. Technological advancement has made men from different geographical areas to relate as they would do to a person face to face. Cultural variety has been brought about by people who come from diverse settings coming together to work thereby creating communication links around the world (Lainsbury, 2000). The advanced world pushes men towards policy formation and also creation of projects that are compatible with the current developments. This aspect was pursued by Dr Hofstede to understand how technology brought about unity in diversity. It took him a decade of researching plus many interviews before coming up with a model that is recognized internationally as a standard of cultural dimensions (Hofstede & Bond, 1984). From there he came up with dimensions of traditions that define the major diversities in culture that differentiate the united states from France.       FOUR CULTURAL DIMENSIONS OF HOFSTEDE        Power and Distance Muijen, (1999), argues that there is a degree of unfairness that is acceptable to both them that have power and them who do not have- this is the reference of power and distance. When this degree is high it portrays contention by people about their status in the structure that is balanced in its division in authority (Lainsbury, 2000). Contrary, when this degree is low the authority distribution is even and discreet within the society. Thus, each member feels equally treated as others in the public. The model of Hofstede is of much importance when used to analyze high power and distance scenario. Malaysia portrays high power and distance where only persons in high administration ate consulted and get information decisions are made at secret meetings. The case is different in France where decision making process include all people and views of haves and don’ts are listened to.       Individualism This focuses in self esteem and how everyone rates himself in the society. When people rate themselves highly they do not easily merge with one another. This is widely spread in capitalistic nations like the United States. Thus close family relations are replaced by a comparison of who is known, wealthy or has power (Spencer, 1995). This is not so with those that has low individualism as they have strong interpersonal bonds and have groupings that have high devotion in membership (Lainsbury, 2000). Corporate are regarded highly and each person assumes accountability of others well being. The state of Panama and that of Guatemala in Central America were highlighted in Hofstede’s analysis to have low individuality rates. In such a scenario a great deal of positive feedback would be received by a sales promotion that indicates payback to the society. .        Traditional male and female roles This is usually merged with individualism the societies that recognize men as the sole bread winners have a high rate of individualism than those of the contrary. In the former case men recognized roles should not be undertaken by women (Lainsbury, 2000). This is common in many places. On the contrary there are places where there is no gender segregation in matters regarding work. The root in such areas is hard work and productivity in professions (Muijen, 1999).         Universalism and Pluralism   A universal society is the one in which there exists regulations, standards and principles that its people share in common. These are considered superior to the needs and objectives of corporate and other relations (Hofstede & Bond 1984). A pluralistic state has relationship defined by the people relate to one another.  PROBLEMS THE EURO DISNEYS COMPANY FACED       Operational Errors  In general functionality of Euro Disneyland had errors in more than one area. For example, in America staff were allocated with the weight that days were given. Monday was considered a radiant day for visitors while Friday was given more weight (Muijen, 1999). The Walt Disney company had small French bus parks which angered bus drivers who had to struggle so as to fit the buses in those slots. More over the over two thousand bus operators who used to be there in peak days had to share amenities considered for fifty persons.         Staffing and Training Offices to recruit cast members of Euro Disneyland were built before opening by the Walt Disney Company. As any other company the challenge was there to house, train, and recruit cast members (Hofstede & Bond 1984) profession fairs that are liked in Europe were used in this recruitment. This was made hard by the high necessities of Walt Disney Company (Muijen, 1999). Since Euro Disneyland had French and English as their certified languages there was a requirement of verbal communication with hope of visitors coming from all over Europe specific preference was given to trilingual applicants. This also was a cost increment to the process. RESOLUTIONS TO THEIR PROBLEMS: \       Culturally Sensitive Leadership Eisner who was the chief executive when Euro Disneyland was started noted that they were forming a foreign venture by America whose pay had not been witnessed in France (Lainsbury, 2000). He has from that time learnt appreciation of French norms and values of life as opposed to focusing on financial position of America gains and losses rather than the recognition of French culture.       Americanized French Management Robert Fitzpatrick was the highest executive in French Euro Disney land. He was an American. The dormer city councilor of Baltimore was considered better French than the French by the top office of Disney. The reasons behind this were one his wife was French, two he was twice awarded by the French government and also he spoke French with fluency.      Protecting French Language and Culture The common language used before and after the beginning of Euro Disneyland was English. However, the Americans came to learn that for effective communication with the locals messages had top b e culturally encoded to French. This brought with it the feminine culture of hospitality, working together and reduced levels of trauma even in group judgment that were dominant in France. The situation saved the need of basing on material and financial achievements (Muijen, 1999). For communication to be relevant the report from consumers is useful. This is to show consideration to what is preferred and expected by their customers who were French Disney currently allows wines to be sold at all over Disneyland Paris Results. This paid so well since once their preferences were showed consideration the French slowly started to cope with the exceptional behavior of the Americans in the park.             THREE MISTAKES THE EURO DISNEYS COMPANY MADE. Though their determination was without question there were miscalculations that Walt Disney Company made which were both strategic and financial in nature. There was also wrong judgment that the nineteen eighties boom would last when they used assets to pay off their creditors (Hofstede, 1984 also the reliance of borrowed capital was high when the rate of return on capital was indeed rising. Also the believe that they had ability to change some European behavior was a costly miscalculation.       Budget Breakers It was Walt Disney Company’s plan to build an advanced and up to date theme park. For this to be achieved construction costs that go hand in hand with such a venture had to be ignored when building a remodel (Spencer, 1995). This made Eisner the chief executive to make late changes of enlarging the Euro Disneyland’s debt (Hofstede & Bond 1984). He placed wood fire places (Hofstede, 1984) during inception and removed to stair cases of steel .       The Walt Disney Company planned to construct a modern state of the art theme park. This objective could only be realized by building a remodel without placing much concern of the construction expenditures associated with this venture (Spencer, 1995) Michael Eisner, the head Executive official of the Walt Disney Company, planned several last-minute structure alterations to enlarge Euro Disneyland's debt (Hofstede & Bond 1984).  He for example ordered extra dozens of wood fireplaces for Euro Disneyland during its inception despite extra construction and maintenance costs (Hofstede, 1984).  Another instance of an Eisner budget breaker was his resolution to eliminate two steel staircases from Euro Disneyland's invention land. He wanted them removed as they blurred a sight of the Star Tours ride. It was estimated the expenditure to eradicate the staircases was roughly three thousand dollars.       Real Estate Market       The Walt Disney Company executives concerned in the development of Euro Disneyland put policy measures to avoid the errors they made in previous ventures. One mistake was allowing other corporations to put up lucrative hotels close to their theme park like at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, where the Walt Disney business owns only fourteen percent of the entire hotels. The other error was in letting another company possesses a Disney theme park, as in Tokyo, Japan, where Disney just gathers royalties from an immensely money-making appeal (Spencer, 1995). Thus, in France the Walt Disney Company purchased far extra land then it required in order to eventually build seven hundred thousand square meters of office room (Hofstede, 1984).  This was a seven hundred and fifty thousand square meter business park thousand five hundred apartments and three thousand time share apartments (Spencer, 1995).       Conclusion       Globalization has been appreciated in the recent times. Hoftede study have highlights some dimensions of culture that describe cultural differences between United States and France.  These levels are the basis for success for an international or multinational organization such as Disney. Some errors and mistakes in the daily operations of Disney can be checked by a critical review of the cultural dimensions. Hofsted has contributed significantly to the analysis of market viability and operations of organizations including Disney. Hofstede analysis is an important tool for cultural analysis.   Reference List Hofstede, G. (1984). Cultural dimensions in management and planning; Asia Pacific journal of management; Springer Hofstede, G. & Bond, H. (1984). Hofstede's culture dimensions; Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology. Lainsbury, A. (2000). Once upon an American dream: The story of Euro Disneyland. Muijen, J. (1999). Organizational culture: The FOCUS questionnaire; Journal of Work and Organizational. Spencer, E. (1995). Euro Disney: What Happened? What Next?; Journal of International Marketing.   Read More