EURO DISNEYLAND

The role of Culture

GROUP - 2
 In the Beginning

• Disney’s story is the classic American rags-to-riches story

• In 1955, Walt Disney had the brainstorm of sending his movie chara
cters out into the “real” world to mix with their fans.
• Management Change –

E. Cardon Walker (CEO) & Ronald W. Miller

to
Michael Eisner (CEO) and Frank Wells
became president
Disneyland in Anaheim, California
• Disney envisioned a place where people from all over the
world would be able to go for clean and safe fun.
• The first Disneyland opened in Anaheim, California on July 17,
1955.
• Disneyland strives to generate the perfect fantasy
 Disney World in Orlando, Florida

• Disney embarked on an ambitious $1 bn. hotel expansion plan.

• This new park consists of two large

complexes:
• Future World, to show the technological
advances of the next 25 years,
• World Showcase, a collection of foreign
“villages.”
 Tokyo Disneyland
• In 5 years – half of Japan’s population had visited
it.
• Disney had no equity in this project.

Cultural differences:
• 100 public telephone booths and snacks countert
ops were placed too high for Japanese.
• Lines for attractions had to be redesigned.
• Slogans and ads written in Japanese English
• They were uneasy about a rustic-looking Westernl
and, Tokyo’s version of Frontierland

The problem: how to dispose of some 250 tons of trash that would be
generated weekly by Tokyo Disneyland visitors?
Solution: trash compactors. The Japanese proposal: pigs to eat the
trash and be slaughtered and sold at a profit.
 Euro Disneyland
• On March 24, 1987, Michael Eisner and Jacques Chirac, the French prime
minister, signed a contract for the building of a Disney theme park at Marn
e-la-Vallee.

• Location is advantageously close to

one of the world’s tourism capitals.

• Within a day’s drive or train ride of

some 30 million people in France,
Belgium, England, and Germany.
Protests of Cultural Imperialism
Disney faced French communists and intellectuals wh
o protested the building of Euro Disneyland.

• Disney launched an aggressive community relations program

• Invited 400 local children to a B’day party for Mickey Mouse
to area hospitals
• Hosted free trips to Disney World for local
Financial structure and layout of Euro Disneyl
and
• Disney kept a 49 percent stake in the project.
• Remaining 51 percent of stock was distributed through the London, Paris,
and Brussels stock exchanges.
• Disney invested $160 million to fund this project.
• This investment soared to $2.4 billion after the stock offering in Europe.
Food Service and Accommodations at Euro Di
sneyland
• Restaurants were a showcase for American foods with exception Fa
ntasyland which re-creates European fables.
• Recipes were adapted for European tastes.
 Disney’s Strict Appearance Code

• Pronunciation problems - France pron

unciation Howdy sounds like Audi

• Wearing policy-Rules
– Video presentations
– Provided detailed guide handbook

Japanese didn’t like it

 Opening Day at Euro Disneyland and the pro
blems
• Half a million visitors were expected with 90000 cars but just 25000 vehicl
e came filling just half of the parking capacity.

• Thousands of dollars spent on pre-opening ceremony.

• They were expecting impressive long traffic jams on the auto route but fail
ed to see.
Ques 1: Using Hofstede’s four cultural dimensions as a point of reference, wh
at are some of the main cultural differences between the United States and Fr
ance?
• Power distance –
– Measures the extent to which lower class of the society accept th
e ruling by the leaders of the society. i.e. unequal distribution of p
owers.
– In US, the power distance index is fairly low compare to France (m
uch greater equality between society levels.)
– Most of the supervisors were American who were not good in spe
aking French.
• Uncertainty Avoidance –
– Extent to which people feel threatened by ambiguous situations.
– The UA is much lower in America; whereas in France it is very high
.
– Euro Disneyland is determinedly American in its theme. The perce
ntage of people who visited the euro Disney shows that French pe
ople are highly ambiguous. French visitors were only 29% of total
while the expectations were 50%.
• Individualism vs. Collectivism –
– Indicate the tendency of the people to mainly look after themselves a
nd their immediate family.
– In both the countries individualism is very high.
– By imposing the Strict Appearance code like example men’s short hair
and banned beards or mustaches, French people feel insulted about t
heir traditions.

• Masculinity vs. Feminity –

– Society with the high masculinity places more values on success and m
oney.
– US has very high masculinity; on the other hand France has pretty low.
– French culture was never a priority for the Disney at When the Euro Di
sney started.
Ques 2: In what way has Trompenaars’s research helped explain cultural differ
ences between the United States and France?

• Universalism vs. Particularism –

– Universalistic countries place more emphasis on formal rules than the relationships.
– It is the belief ideas and practices can be applied everywhere without modification.
– United States is highly universalistic, they often ignore culture of different countries.
– Whereas, particularistic countries place more emphasis on relationships.
– It is the belief that situations dictate how ideas and practices should be applied.

• Neutral vs. Emotional –

– A neutral culture is one in which emotions are held in check.
– People don’t show their feelings and maintain their composure.
– An emotional culture, feelings are expressed openly and freely.
– Both US and France are the emotional countries.
• Specific vs. Diffuse –
– A specific culture is one in which individuals have a large public space and they allow other
people to enter and share the space.
– America show a strong separation between work and private life.
– A diffuse culture possesses similar sized public and private spaces.
– France has a diffuse culture where work and private life are closely linked but carefully prot
ected.

• Time Orientation –
– Cultural differences may arises due to the way in which people do their work in respect of ti
me. In sequential cultures like the US, people tend to do one activity at a time. Appointmen
ts are strictly kept, with a strong preference for following plans.
– In synchronous cultures like France, people usually do more than one activity at a time. App
ointments are approximate, subject to change at any moment.
Ques 3: In managing its Euro Disneyland operations, what are three mistakes
that the company made? Explain.

• Lack of Management –

– Walt Disney company owned high stake in Euro Disneyland which resulted in
most of the decisions taken by the American executives who did not have kno
wledge of French culture.

– 23 US employees held most of the top jobs which resulted in failure of underst
anding European way of doing work.
• Cultural Errors –
– Firstly, the policy of not serving alcohol has caused astonishment and r
ebellion in France where a glass of wine for lunch is given.
– More, it failed to provide proper customer service which were Euro cul
ture. Most of the restaurants were of American theme which were not
prepared as per habits and times of European culture.
– Disney guests faced problems of people getting too close or pressing a
round.
• Appropriate Staff –
– Disney’s demanding requirements regarding dress and appearance
and other bans caused poor union relations.
– Legalistic approach taken by the Disney also bogged down talks with g
ovt.
 Ques 4: Based on its experience, what are three lessons the com
pany should have learned about how to deal with diversity? Desc
ribe each.

• Better understandings of Euro culture –

– The Euro Disneyland management should be aware of the cultural enviro

nment of the France like the life style, habits and eating preferences.
– The company should act globally to expand the business but think locally.
• Managing workforce –
– The Euro Disney should handle their personnel department in a better way.
– Some management positions should be given to local employees in order to
get better results.

• Develop Realistic planning –

– Having no experience in European market in operating theme parks, the ma
nagement should have anticipated some problems and set backs. And based
on that the expectations regarding growth should have been more cautious.
– Until the problems facing the first phase were corrected the planning for adv
ancing the second phase should not have been allowed. Otherwise, compan
y risks would be duplicating and compounding the problems encountered wi
th its first phase.
Thank you!