Buzz Lightyear

Disney’s long-run success is mainly due to creating value through diversification. Their corporate strategies (primarily under CEO Eisner) include three dimensions: horizontal and geographic expansion as well as vertical integration. Disney is a prime example of how to achieve long-run success through the choices of business, the choice of how many activities to undertake, the choice of how many businesses to be in, the choice of how to manage a portfolio of businesses and the choice of how to create synergies between those businesses (3, p.191-221). All these choices and decisions are

Hightower brings broad career experience for this assignment for change. He has a professional background as a strategic manager. This position for Hightower came as a surprise. Hightower will face the challenge of being accepted as the leader to a very diverse market entrenched with managers. He cannot afford to fail in this initial stage. It will surely take away any opportunity of having any creditability. Hightower must be consistent in his actions.

The companies worked towards a culture that was more in line with team learning. Pixar had previously operated under the premise where people were given the full chance to be creative and use their ideas in order to learn from their success or failures. Disney allowed for creativity however was more micromanaged. This new cultural shift for Disney to let go of some of the control was a hard thing to do for them. Disney had initially lost some of the people with this shift in their culture mainly with those who failed to adapt to this new free-spirited environment. With Disney’s regimented culture they followed more of a top down approach within their work environment. This approach initially during the merger hindered the learning approach that Disney Pixar was trying to create. Some employees at Pixar initially had issues with the cultural clash of a free-spirited environment and the rigid environment Disney operated with causing problems with retaining the talent at Pixar. Despite these cultural clashes and differences Disney Pixar was able to pull their new-shared vision in a direction that allowed for cross-organizational collaboration and for a new culture that worked for both companies.

Managing conflict for organizations is very important in maintaining business relationships, especially ones that are profitable like that of Disney-Pixar. At the helm of the Walt Disney Company during the begging and end of these feuds was Michael Eisner and Bob Iger. Even though Michael Eisner is the one responsible for the conflict with Disney and Pixar, he should be equally responsible for trying to fix the damaged relationship. When trying to manage conflict there are several approaches that can be taken to resolve the conflict at hand: dominating, accommodating, problem solving, avoiding and compromising.

On Pixar' s August earnings conference call, Jobs said Pixar would "prefer to continue our relationship with Disney" but that there are other studios "anxious" to align with it. A confident Jobs said that "the right deal is more important than the quick deal." Yet Disney, too, has leverage because of its marketing clout, born of its position as the world' s top producer of family entertainment. Disney' s bargaining position is enhanced because it' s entitled to half the profits on the next two Pixar movies, including DVD and video rights. Disney also can use Pixar characters for theme parks and other entertainment. While Disney and Pixar co-own the five films covered under the current agreement, Disney has more clout when it comes to any sequels. According to Pixar' s 2002 10-K report, "Disney' s decision governs" if there are disagreements between Disney and Pixar about whether to proceed with a sequel, except in very limited circumstances. ANIMATED ARGUMENT If Pixar dumps Disney for Warner Brothers, Sony or another Hollywood studio, Disney probably will force Pixar to abide by the 50-50 profit split on the next two films called for in the existing contract. That would delay a marked upturn in Pixar' s profits until 2007, the year after

To answer the main question of the case, we must think of the main problems that it faces. We need to find the solution for Bob Iger. What to do with Disney: to make some improvements in the existed company to compete better with Pixar, or to make a deal with another studio? Or should he work more with Pixar, or maybe just buy the whole company?

Disney’s tentpole strategy has been fairly successful throughout the Disney Studios lifetime. Even though this strategy worked in the past it may not be the best strategy moving forward, as there are advantages and disadvantages to this strategy. One advantage of this strategy is that the tentpole films attract movie going customers that think of the movies more as an event rather than just a film they want to see.“A $200 million movie is more likely than a $20 million movie to have elements that appeal to moviegoers--to have special value for them.”, said Horn. Just as with any bet, there could also be a risk and disadvantage. If the film fails, they would both have to take the fall instead of just Disney Studios. “When our

Introduction: The Walt Disney Company is on the threshold of a new era. Michael Eisner has stepped down from his position as CEO and turned over the reigns to Robert Iger. A lot of turmoil has been brewing through the company over the last four years; many people are hoping that this change in leadership will put Disney back on the road to success. Issues began around mid-2002; when declining earnings, fleeing shareholders, and

The second factor is the economies of scale. The success of the acquisition regarding the economies of scale is questionable as the companies did not seem to work together (Zahed, 2012). Disney started developing their own computer animations, while Pixar got a lot of revenue from their six animated motion pictures. Pixar has the technology plus the creativity, and Disney has good stories plus the

Pixar is a company that has ties to other major corporations in our American culture. Pixar Animation Studios started as a part of the Lucas film computer group, which is owned by George Lucas the creator of Star Wars. However, after receiving funding from Steve Jobs the division became its own corporation in 1986. After that Disney purchased Pixar, which allowed Steve Jobs to become a shareholder in Disney also. With these changes due to the ownership of the corporation an analysis of managerial economics is overdue. What follows is an evaluate how Pixar attains balance between culture, rewards, and boundaries, what is Pixar’s organizational structure and why they have the structure they have, how Pixar’s leadership helps to create an ethical organization, how Pixar’s innovation helps the organization to accomplish its goals, how emotional intelligence helps the leadership guide the company, and how Pixar has overcome barriers to change. Pixar’s history has presented the firm with challenges and the firm has managed to overcome those challenges, anyone who plans to one day own their own business should look at the company and understand how the firm accomplished their tasks despite the presented challenges. The merger with Disney resulted in some problems for Pixar, but the merger was pursued for a reason. By merging, both firm have the potential to save time and money; there is also the potential to learn from each other.

Walt Disney Company is an expanded global company with operations in four major business segments i.e. Studio Entertainment, Media Networks, Consumer Products and Parks and Resorts. The company has a workforce of more than 15,000 employees in more than 40 countries across the globe. In addition to having a huge workforce, the firm is largely renowned for its success and profitability in all its business segments on an annual basis. One of the most important aspects that have contributed to its growth and profitability throughout the years is its compensation program. The firm has compensation programs for all its employees because of its consideration of employees as one of the major stakeholders of its operations. However, Walt Disney Company has experienced significant challenges in relation to its compensation program because of the various peer groups used in this process. As a result, the company's compensation program has significant structural flaw because of its size and complexity.

Pixar had a few alternatives besides being acquired by Disney. One alternative for Pixar was to vertically integrate forward and enable distribution of its own content instead of relying on Disney by acquiring smaller media companies. However, this would be a highly unrelated diversification for Pixar and possibly create diseconomies of scope. Pixar would also face rigorous competition from other media conglomerates like Disney, Universal and Paramount.

The current situation that Disney faces is very unique. Considering its relationship with Pixar, Disney holds a powerful set of options to choose from. My recommendation is going with the full acquisition of Pixar. While it is recommended for Disney to acquire Pixar, the merger should be done in a way that ensures a positive, sustainable relationship that maintains diversity. Through the acquisition, Disney can exclusively hold onto the talent that Pixar cultivates. Pixar and Disney both bring a value of fan base and name recognition, which can be powerful when combined. Most importantly, Disney will have control of the revenue stream for both organizations, which will prevent any polarizing negotiations, as both will be under the same roof.

This study examines how leadership, teamwork, and organizational learning can contribute in making mergers and acquisitions work. Our intention is to identify critical factors and practices needed for merger success. Our research is part of an ongoing project, and builds on previous analysis of merger success/failure in such organizations as Standard Oil, Exxon Mobile, and Time Warner-AOL. In this paper, we turn our attention to the recent merger of Pixar and Disney. In our view, the Disney-Pixar case seems to be a good example of a successful merger in progress. This is demonstrated very clearly by recent box office successes such as Academy Award

The Walt Disney Company is one of the largest media and entertainment corporations in the world. Disney is able to create sustainable profits due to its heterogeneity, inimitability, co-specialization and immense foresight. During the late twentieth century, Michael Eisner founded and gave a rebirth to Walt Disney Company. Eisner revitalize TV and movies, Themes Park and new businesses. Eisner's takeover for fifteen years had climbed the revenues and net earnings of the company. It also successfully uses synergy to create value across its many business units. After its founder Walter Disney's death, the company started to lose its ground and performance declined. Michael Eisner became CEO