Hong Kong and Disneyland
As Disney tried to expand their empire further into Asia, they were not at all as successful as they had originally expected. With the success of Tokyo Disney Resort producers of Hong Kong Disney were projecting the same experiences to happen in Hong Kong. By using the failures found in Disneyland Resort Paris they knew what not to do in order to achieve greater worth of the Disney name abroad. Though Tokyo and Paris are completely different cultures, the adaptation of each culture was done in two different ways, varying the overall success of both parks.
In Tokyo, Disney forfeited their rights and handed it over to the Japanese, which essentially made it easier for the Japanese to take an American owned and operated business and make it into their own. After seeing the success Tokyo had, Disney did not want to surrender their rights a second time when they moved into France. Being seen as one of the largest consumers of Disney products outside of the US, France became an ideal location for what was originally named “Euro Disney. ” However, it was not as warmly welcomed as the Disney executives had thought.
The resistance of the French government was one of the main problems in achieving success in Paris. This key failure helped in figuring out how to best open a new park in Hong Kong. The Chinese, overall, were very excited and welcoming of the new Disney Park heading into their country. As the case study pointed out “Chinese needed Disney and Disney needed China. ” Both saw the addition of a Disney Park as a way to increase revenue and tourism, and more importantly, Disney saw Hong Kong as the gateway into China.
They were able to use the Chinese government as a way to get involved with the community and immerse itself into the culture. At first this all seemed ideal, but as time progressed and the park opened, it sought problems. Like any new business, things did not go as smoothly as anticipated. During the first year the crisis of the Lunar New Year Holiday happened, decreasing park attendance and revenue by a landslide. This lapse of miscommunication affected the company tremendously, and gave the Disney Resort an overall bad name.
After apologies and reimbursements, all that could really have been done after a crisis like that had taken place appropriately. This is where it was apparent that truly understanding a culture is necessary to efficiently run a successful business, which is what Disney should have learned from their Paris location. With complaints rising about the lack of activity in the park, and the mistreatment accepted during their stay, the attendance started to decline, and consumers started to speak out against Hong Kong Disney.
The character performers started to speak out as well, which is when the executives realized they needed to not only boost their sales, but boost the overall morale of the park. In order to bring back attendance, HKD adjusted their pricing and incorporated a new promotion with the local taxi drivers, so as to create word of mouth advertising. They worked with local TV stations and travel agencies in promoting the park.
Through all the negative publicity that was received during the first year, HKD overcame their mistakes allowing for a hopeful future. It is apparent that the successfulness of Tokyo is due to the way the company is run, which is by the Japanese. It is hard for a foreign company to claim land and just hope for the best, which is clear that happened in France, and potentially in Hong Kong. Though HKD has much more support with the government then Paris, both have had difficultly in establishing an understanding of the culture at hand.
When one doesn’t understand a culture, and accidentally disrupts it, the people of the country will have a hard time forgetting the situation, which will ruin the success of the company. Through the hardships acquired in Paris, Disney should have better prepared itself for another cultural difference, accepting the holidays, and implementing different rules appropriate for each country rather then the parks cumulatively. Disney should better understand this if they plan on operating another park abroad, because it is evident that the people will speak out, especially of an American based company.
