374 CASE STUDY 2 + DISNEYLAND RESORT PARIS 1995 saw the opening of the new roller coaster, not after all to be called ‘Discovery Mountain’ but ‘Space Mountain de la Terre a la lune’, because it was decided that the new name was more exciting. Unlike its counterparts in Tokyo, Florida and California, it was not housed in a big white dome, but in a very orate Victorian futuristic style dome. Intensive marketing of Space Mountain on television channels all over Europe and the release of the popular movie Pocahontas contributed to an improvement in the resort’s financial results. In fact, the Euro Disney resort complex did announce its first annual operating profit in November 1995, helped by the opening of Space Mountain in June. In 1997 the five-year celebrations included a new parade with Quasimodo and all the characters from the latest Disney blockbusting classic, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, the ‘Year To Be Here’ marketing campaign, the resort's first Hallowe'en celebra- tion and a new Christmas parade, A new attraction was added in 1999, ‘Honey I Shrunk The Audience’, making the audience the size of a bug while being invited to Inventor of the Year Award Ceremony. This was the more modern replacement to the ageing 3D movie Captain EO, However, the planned Christmas and New Year celebrations were disrupted when a freak storm caused havoc, destroying the Mickey Mouse glass statue that had just been installed for the Lighting Ceremony and many other attractions, Also damaged were trees next to the castle, the top of which developed a pronounced lean, as did many street signs and lamp posts. Disney's ‘Fastpass’ system was introduced in 2000. This was a new service that allowed guests to use their entry passes to gain a ticket at certain attractions and return at the time stated and gain direct entry to the attraction without queueing. Two new attractions were opened, ‘Indians Jones et le temple du péril’ and ‘Tarzan le recontre’ starring a cast of acrobats along with Tarzan, Jane and all their jungle friends with music from the movie in different European languages. In 2001 the ‘ImagiNations Parade’ was replaced by the ‘Wonderful World of Disney Parade’, which received some criticism for being ‘less than spectacular’ with only eight parade floats. Also Disney’s ‘California Adventure’ was opened in California The resort’s tenth Anniversary saw the opening of the new Walt Disney Studios Park attraction, The Disney-MGM Studios at the Walt Disney World Resort, Florida, had already proved to be a major success and the original concept for the Paris studios had first been studied in 1992, shortly before the park opened. The concept, which was based on the world of cinema, seemed perfectly adaptable to the expectations of a European audience so development for the new park was started in 1997 when a small team of Disney Imagineers were asked to design it. In parallel to this, opinion leaders from the worlds of French and European cinema, culture and media were consulted about the project. R. Julienne, the famous French stunt designer, was among the first Europeans to work with Disney on the new theme park’s concept. Also in this year, Disneyland Paris was renamed Disneyland Resort Paris and the original park was also renamed Disneyland Park to accommodate the new Walt Disney Studios. André Lacroix from Burger King was appointed as CEO of Disneyland Resort Paris in 2003, to “take on the challenge of a failing Disney park in Europe and turn it around’ Increasing investment, he refurbished whole sections of the park, increased the num- bers of dancers to the ageing ‘Wonderful World of Disney Parade’ and introduced the Jungle Book Carnival in February to increase attendance during the slow months. By 2004, attendance had increased but the company announced that it was still losing money. It again renegotiated its €2.4 billion debt to the Walt Disney CompanyCASE STUDY 2 + DISNEYLAND RESORT PARIS 375 and French financial institutions. Losses were attributed partly to the costs of opening Walt Disney Studios two years earlier, just as the world theme park business slumped in the wake of the American terrorist attacks. New hotels were opened (not owned by Disney) close to the park, which meant increased competition for the park’s own hotels. ‘The positive news of 2006 was well received. As one commentator put it: ‘{WJould Disney, the stockholders, the banks, or even the French government make the same decision to go ahead if they could wind the clock back to 1987? Is this a story of @ fundamentally flawed concept, or was it just mishandled?” Questions 1 What markets are the Disney resorts and parks aiming for? 2. Was Disney's choice of the Paris site a mistake? 3 What aspects of its parks’ design did Disney change when it constructed Euro Disney? 4 What did Disney not change when it constructed Euro Disney? 5S. What were Disney’s main mistakes from the conception of the Paris resort through to 2006? some events in overview of the history of Disneyland Resort Paris 1955 1971 1982 1984 1987 1989 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2006 Disneyland, California opens Walt Disney World opens in Orlando, Florida Epcot Center opens in Orlando, Florida Tokyo Disney opens The announcement that the resort on Marne-la-Vallée had been chosen as the place to build the newest Magic Kingdom (called Euro Disney then). Construction starts with a plan to complete in five years Disney-MGM Studios Theme Park opens in Orlando The grand opening of Euro Disney resort with a cast of thousands there to meet the demand that did not materialise The second year of Euro Disney's operations. On the 12 April the castle was renamed from Le chateau de la belle au Bois dormant to the Le chateau du Gateau Stand-off with French banks over taking away some of Euro Disney's debt that had accumulated because of lower-than-expected revenues and the project going over budget. On 14 March agreement is reached with the French banks and Euro Disney stays open. The company would pay fewer royalties to the Walt Disney Company and more money from the Walt Disney Company would be invested into the resort ‘Opening of the new roller coaster proves a great success Planet Hollywood was opened within the resort The Park open for five years Disney's Animal Kingdom opened in Orlando Storm disrupts the Park’s operations Disney's ‘Fastpass’ introduced Disney's California Adventure opened in California The tenth anniversary and Walt Disney Studio opened in Paris, André Lacroix from Burger King is appointed as CEO of Disneyland Resort Paris ‘The company announces that itis still losing money and again renegotiates its €2.4 billion debt to the Walt Disney Company and French financial institutions Rise in revenues reportedreNSBUE CARGLASS®: BUILDING AND SUSTAINING A CUSTOMER-CENTRIC ORGANISATION Kurt Verweire Wim Buekens Hasselt (Belgium), end of January 2010. Jean-Paul Teyssen was surprised to find out that his colleagues of the executive team had organised a little party to celebrate his 10th anniversary as CEO of Carglass* Belgium/Luxembourg (Carglass" Belux). During the party, they presented the major achievements of the company over the last ten years, Everyone agreed they were impressive, Carglass” Belux had by far exceeded the goals set by the corporate parent, Belron® Corporation. Customer and employee satisfaction scores were at an all-time high. Revenues almost tripled over the period 2000-09, while operational profits had quadrupled. ‘Nevertheless, as Jean-Paul Teyssen contemplated the future, he foresaw some sig- nificant challenges for his company. He had built a very successful organisation on the basis of continuous improvement and had achieved performance that nobody thought was possible. His motto was always: ‘Dream big - even in more difficult times.” But with employee- and customer-satisfaction scores of 96 per cent and more, what was there to be improved? And, more importantly, how should he fight a culture of complacency? q Company background Carglass* Belux is a subsidiary of Belron‘, the world’s largest automotive glass repair and replacement corporation. Belron* operates in over 30 countries and more than 25,000 employees serve approximately 11 million customers per year. Founded in 1897 in Cape Town, South Africa, it has since grown into a global company special- ising in fixing damaged vehicle glass across the world. At the heart of the service is the company’s repair story: ‘If we can repair a windscreen before replacing it, we will?” Consisting of multiple business units operating under different names, such as Carglass", Autoglass*, Safelite* and O’Brien’, among others, each responds to the local needs, with the support of operations standardised across the group. The corporation focuses on achieving a high level of customer service in all the countries in which it is present. (For more information on Belron” refer to Exhibit 1.) ‘This case was waltten by Kurt Verweire and Wim Buckens at Vlerick Business School, Iti intended to be used as a bass fr class discussion rather than lo ilustzate either effective or ineffective handling of an administrative situation, The case was compiled from fcld research Copyright © 2013 Vierick Business Schoo!, Belgium. No part of this publication may be copied, stored, {ransmitted, reproduced or distributed in any form or medium whatsoever without the permission of the copyright owner,CASE STUDY 3 * CARGLASS®: BUILDING AND SUSTAINING A CUSTOMER-CENTRIC ORGANISATION 377, ‘Ajjob is completed every 3 seconds Exhibit 1. Presentation of the Belron® Group (Figures 2009) Source: Company information378 CASE STUDY 3 + CARGLASS®: BUILDING AND SUSTAINING A CUSTOMER-CENTRIC ORGANISATION Carglass® Belux is one of the show horses of the Belron* Group. In 2009, the com- pany employed 754 employees and had a turnover of 168 million Euro. Despite the difficult economic climate the company has grown fast in recent years. This is excep- tional, as Carglass* Belux operates in a very competitive market: more than 3,000 car dealers and more than 200 specialists offer glass repair and replacement services in the Belgian and Luxembourg market. Carglass” Belux has two main business units: Carglass* Fitting and Carglass* Distribution. Carglass® Distribution serves as the European distribution centre of the vehicle glasses for all the fitting units of the Belron® Group. Carglass® Fitting - in the remainder of the text we will refer to this unit simply as Carglass? - offers the repair or replacement services of damaged glass in all types of vehicles. This unit has 43 service branches, called ‘Customer Delight Centres, and has more than 100 mobile service vans. The company also operates one call centre, called the ‘Customer Contact Centre’, that converts calls into service appointments. Carglass"’s customers are both the motorists and the corporate customers, These corporate customers are the insurance, lease and fleet companies, whom Carglass® sees as partners. In most instances, the motorists do not pay for having the damaged wind- screens repaired since their insurance policies cover the costs. Nevertheless, as with all Belron® companies, Carglass* also has developed explicit strategies to deal with the end customer - the motorist. At the heart of Carglass"’s exceptional service proposition is the idea that conven- ience and world-class service is fundamental to success. Carglass® offers its services 24/7 and 365 days a year. The customer can choose to go to any location or have a mechanic come to them, Carglass® can repair a chip or crack but also has all neces- sary spare parts in stock for replacement. It offers a fast and good quality service with lifetime warranty. Furthermore, it liaises directly with the insurance and leasing firms so that the customer does not have to reclaim costs afterwards. In this way, Carglass” takes care of the customer's administrative burden and is able to turn a hasslesome event into a great experience q Carglass®’s core operations The vision of Carglass® is: ‘To be the natural choice and the reference in service, we will exceed expectations, by delivering a caring, unforgettable, automotive glass service experi- ence; anytime, anywhere’ The customer journey To become the natural choice and reference in the industry, Carglass* sought to understand how their customers interacted with them, before mapping the organi- sation’s processes accordingly. Like all the other Belron* companies, they mapped out “The Customer Journey’ - the process that a motorist was likely to go through when faced with the task of repairing or replacing a damaged windscreen. The customer journey consists of the following 10 steps: © Step 1: Glass on customer's car is damaged © Step 2: Customer looks for information about possible suppliers that can fix this