WALT DISNEY COMPANY

Changing Process of Disney when Acquiring ABC

Changing Process of Disney when Acquiring ABC

Introduction

The Walt Disney Company is an entertainment services company. It is a giant in the industry with, feature film studios, theme parks, animation studios, television broadcasting, hotels and resorts, and retail stores. The Disney Company, together with its subsidiaries, is one of the world's most diversified entertainment business organizations. Disney's leading business segments consist of Creative Contents (consumer products operations, filmed entertainment activities not related to broadcasting, etc.), Broadcasting (ABC television and radio networks, etc.), and Theme Parks & Resorts (Disneyland Parks, Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, etc.). The company produces animated motion pictures, books and magazines, videos, computer-game software and live animation. Disney is responsible for distributing its products initially through its own marketing and sales channels that prevails all around the world. The company had about 85,000 employees worldwide and had annual revenues in excess of $ 25 billion in 2001. The corporate headquarters of the company is located in Burbank, California. The Walt Disney's competence of customer service enables it to be a dominant player in the theme park market. The Walt Disney Company has a well established name, not only in the US but all around the world. The generations have changed and in today's world families are more prone to have vacations. Therefore, the entertainment industry is a competitive product.

Disney has brought a vast array of radio, cable, Internet and television brands. ABC brought a broad portfolio of TV stations, while ESPN, Disney Channel and Fox Kids are some of its cable properties. Also in the media networks business are Buena Vista television, a leader in syndicated programming, and Disney Internet Group, which brings the online activities of all its businesses.

This paper discusses the change process of Disney when it acquired ABC.

SWOT Analysis

The Walt Disney Company together with its subsidiaries is a diversified entertainment company. The breadth and depth of Walt Disney's product and service portfolio provides it with considerable strength. The company's offerings can be broadly classified into four segments: media networks, resorts and parks, entertainment studios, and consumer products. A broad and diversified revenue base insulates the company from economic cycles in one industry and diversifies the company's business risks. However, strong competition is a threat to the organization that erodes the market share that the company possesses in different areas of business.

Strengths

Diversified Product and Service Portfolio

The breadth of Disney's service and product portfolio provides it with considerable strength. The offerings of Disney can be classified in to five areas:, resorts and parks, media networks , entertainment studios, consumer goods, and interactional media. The media networks comprises of radio, cable and television properties in the United States and numerous other countries around the world. The area of resorts and parks comprises of Walt Disney World Resort and the Disney Cruise Line in the city of Florida, the Disneyland Resort in the city of California and also provides ESPN facilities in numerous ...