Operations Management at Disneyland Paris Resort - Essay Example

Disneyland Paris Resort Table of Contents Question 3 Question 2 4 Question 3 6 Question 4 7 Reference 9 Question The Disneyland is one of the most recognized amusement parks in the world. The theme park was founded in the year 1923 by Walt Disney. The Walt Disney Company aimed at producing unparalleled entertainment experiences for people based on its fun-filled environment, joy-rides, creative studio entertainment and quality restaurants. Disneyland basically emphasized on recreation and entertainment of children, teens and families. The main purpose of the Disneyland Company was to satisfy the visitors and provide them good experience in order to retain them in the business. Disneyland mainly targeted the children because it could help the company to increase the footfalls. Children are not allowed to go by themselves by their guardians hence, the company received more visitors and the business had a profound effect in the company’s profit. The primary objective of Disneyland Paris was to attract the citizens of Europe to the large amusement park without facing any political disturbances (McCrie, 2011, p.7). The Disneyland Paris incorporated some changes in their theme park in order to attract the local visitors. The theme park consisted of the American cartoon characters along with a flavour of the French culture. Restaurants and snack bars had seating arrangements because the French preferred to sit and relax while dining. The Disneyland Paris also aimed at reducing long queues by providing diversion for people; for example, additional studios and theatres near the rides. Since Disneyland concept in Europe was new and it was an American theme park, the company decided to hire most of the French as staffs. The quality of service was improved on a high scale and the visitors were taken care by the staffs with high level of courtesy. The operations management of Disneyland played a crucial role for the benefit of the company. The management department enhanced the quality of service and the restaurants. The staffs were taught to be very polite to the visitors because it was the only key to attract more customers and increase the revenue of the company. Since Disneyland Paris was a mega project established in Europe, special approaches were required to be taken in order to develop a positive reputation in the market. The staffs and the management of Disneyland Paris were able to create a courtesies environment in the work culture. The rides and the characters of Disneyland also played important role to gain the attention of visitors (Murthy, 2009, p.92). Overall the standard operating procedure of Disneyland was based on providing optimum quality service to the customers and maintaining the supply chain of the company appropriately. Question 2 The Disneyland Paris gained tremendous success in the initial phase due to its different theme and amusing environment. However, the theme park had some limitations due to which its demand fell down from 1992 to 2006. Disneyland was an American theme park which was established in Paris in the year 1992. Initially the theme park gained many appreciations because it became an important place for recreation and fun for children and family members. The Disneyland Paris footfalls had undergone downfall due to several mistakes that the company made after opening. The management of Disneyland failed to adapt the local culture of the French which affected the business drastically. First of all the company did not have proper arrangements to fulfil the French needs. The characters of Disneyland also had American trends and the staffs had American uniforms which were not preferred by the local people (Loch, 2007, p.21). Secondly, the themes of Disneyland had a classic touch of the American culture which reduced the interest of local people. There were various shows that used the voice and appearance of the American celebrities and the French people were unknown to them. Apart from the Disney characters there were some rides that proved to be unsuccessful, such as Indiana Jones and The Temple of Peril. These two rides were initiated in the year 1993, in order to gain maximum attention of people however people did not love them much because they were American implementations in the park of Paris. There were several other rides that people felt monotonous because they were quite common in other local parks of the country. The dining and lodging arrangements were also made in American style in order to maintain the originality of the park however it discouraged people. The French attitudes towards the American culture were different and people did not find it worth to visit an American theme park because it was not of much interest for them. Since Disneyland was an amusement park for children and family members hence, it did not support consumption of wine or alcohol in the place. This factor stopped them from participating in the Disneyland Paris Park and the restaurants of the campus. The reason behind failing to adopt the local culture can be explained with the help of the Gaps Model of Service Quality. According to the model there are five types of gaps which affect the service quality (Jones, 2012, p.81). Knowledge gap had limited the management and staffs from knowing the customers’ expectations and it plays an important role in reducing footfalls. Service design and standard gap of Disneyland also affects the business because it does not have appropriate designs and standards. The service performance gap has also affected the company’s business because the company was not able to deliver high quality service standards. Communication gap in the strategic management of Disneyland has resulted in the difference between performance and promises. Finally, the difference between customers’ expectation and the service available in Disneyland for local customers has also resulted in poor strategic management. Since public perception plays important role for a business like Disneyland therefore, the entire project had to face debt because the theme park failed to meet the local culture. Question 3 In order to develop the company’s reputation, Disneyland Paris should incorporate some important changes in the operation management. According to the simple model of control Operation of an organization depends on interventions, plans and appropriate monitoring of staffs. The model will discuss the method that is required to be implemented in the strategic operation management of Disneyland (Panneerselvam, 2006, p.21). First of all, the company should do a detailed analysis on the visitors’ responses and act accordingly. Appropriate planning and control is required to attract more customers to the American theme park. The operation management division should initiate some activities for the guests and make them comfortable and happy. People of France generally avoid over-crowd and waiting in long queues. In order to make the visitors amuse the management should try to arrange more ticket counters and reduce the formation of queues for tickets. There are already some changes that Disneyland incorporated in their work culture i.e. establishment of diverge entertainment shows in order to reduce the waiting time of people. However, the company did not make initiatives to introduce local shows for the people of France. Implementation of such changes would definitely increase the footfalls. The quality of service for visitors is good and all the staffs are trained properly to provide assistance to the customers. The French people have different type of accents and language. Hence, Disneyland should hire more local staffs along with some English speaking staffs because it would provide better opportunity to serve all kind of people who visit Disneyland Paris. People would be attracted to Disneyland if the consumer demand is fulfilled appropriately (Jackson, 2009, p.57). The restaurants and snack bars of Disneyland are mainly take-away counters because Americans prefer to dine while they move around or enjoy their rides. The French have different type of habits and cultures. The best way to overcome the issue is to increase the space for seating along the food-kiosk because the local people of France would prefer having American food and enjoy the site at the same time by sitting at a place. In order to enhance the operations management Disneyland Paris must implement the strategic decisions of Nigel Slack for attaining future success. The changes incorporated must be effective in each and every corner of the theme park. The cultural difference has been a problem in France; therefore the organization should adopt the local culture and train the staffs accordingly. Disneyland Paris is a mega project hence it has to focus on the long-term goals. Visitors can be increased by changing the operation strategy and by meeting the market requirements. Question 4 It has been estimated that the attendance figures of Disneyland could reduce from 11 million to 9 million. Several factors are required to be improved in order to prevent such drastic depreciations. First of all, the entire project Disneyland Paris would have to reduce the cost in order to attract more and more customers. Cost is one of the greatest factors ad it plays important role in driving customers (Mahadevan, 2010, p.12). The revenue of Disneyland Paris should also increase because increase in attendance would help the company to generate proper outcome. One of the most important factors is the risk factor that every theme park posses. In order to enhance the profitability the company must emphasize on the risk factors and make appropriate changes to reduce the risks associated with the visitors as well as the staffs. There are chances that people could suffer from nausea due to giant rides hence; Disneyland should incorporate proper medical facility for children and their family members. Disneyland should try to increase innovation of their theme park and provide more advertisements to let people know about the new innovations. Since Disneyland is an entertainment park; people would love to visit the park once or twice a year but the attendance percentage could be increased if new innovations and changes are brought to the wonderland (Slack, Brandon-Jones and Johnson, 2014, p.51). The operation strategy of an organization plays an important role in the smooth running of a business. In order to enhance productivity Disneyland must improve the operations strategy. The management and the staffs would have to be motivated to help the visitors in every way possible. The management should also try to emphasize more on the safety and security of the staffs and the people. The productivity of Disneyland is the customer attendance hence; proper initiatives should be taken to manage the supply chain. These implementations would help Disneyland to sustain and grow their business in the next 20 years. Reference Jackson, L., 2009. Operations Management. London: Sage. Jones, P., 2012. Operations Management. London: Kogan Page. Loch, C., 2007. Behavioural Operations Management. New York: Springer. Mahadevan, B., 2010. Operations Management. London: Routledge. McCrie, R., 2011. Security Operations Management. London: Kogan Page. Murthy, B., 2009. Operation Management. Stamford: Cengage Learning. Panneerselvam, R., 2006. Production and Operations Management. New York: Springer. Slack, N., Brandon-Jones, A., and Johnson, R., 2014. Operations Management. 7th ed. Harlow: FT Prentice Hall. Read More