From: Iles, P. and Zhang, C.

, (2013) International HRM: A Cross-cultural and Comparative

Approach. London: CIPD

Chapter 3: Globalisation and IHRM Policies at the

Enterprise Level

Case Study: Disney Goes Global

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Disney-
logo.jpg

Ritzer (2005) discusses the ‘McDonaldization’ of society, where the

principles of the fast-food industry such as efficiency, consistency,
quantification, and control are universally adopted, contributing to impersonal
uniformity, with standardised products: Brazilian children sporting American-
style t-shirts and drinking Coca Cola, Saudi women applying Chanel or
Christian Dior cosmetics under their veils, Swedes increasingly eating burritos
and tacos at fast-food chains.

‘Disneyfication’ may refer to bigger, faster, and better entertainment with a

large sense of uniformity worldwide, a concept invented by Bryman (1999) to
refer to the internationalisation of the entertainment values of US mass
culture. However, when Euro Disney went bankrupt in 1994, amid criticisms
that the theme park was too American for Europeans, management made
appropriate changes to cater to local tastes and renamed the park
‘Disneyland Paris’, e.g. introducing wine and not requiring French employees
to act in such scripted ways (Matusitz & Palermo 2013).

When Disney opened a theme park in Hong Kong in 2005, it was not
successful; Hong Kong Disneyland personnel found the ‘emotional labour’
required too artificial, with objections to Disney’s refusal to let Chinese food
inspectors into the park. The attempted Disneyfication of Chinese culture
brought about significant cultural backlash; feng shui principles were not
brought into the park, and cast members (employees) were concerned about
their salary and working conditions. It has however now opened a successful
From: Iles, P. and Zhang, C., (2013) International HRM: A Cross-cultural and Comparative
Approach. London: CIPD

theme park in Shanghai (see: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-

04-26/china-s-craving-for-entertainment-drives-shanghai-disney-growth)

Questions:
1. Which is the parent country? Which the host(s)?
2. In what ways does this case indicate ‘cultural hybridization’, combining
aspects of both parent country and host country culture?
3. What ‘international orientations’ (e.g. the degree of influence exerted
by the parent country) are evident in the company’s policies?
4. What challenges for globalization does this case study highlight?