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The Walt Disney Company: the Entertainment King Essay

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Maximilian Scheufler Strategic Management The Walt Disney Company: The Entertainment King[1] I. Why has Disney been successful for so long? 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 …show more content…

Furthermore, Disney had barely avoided takeover. As one can see in Exhibit 1 in (1), revenues under CEO Eisner had risen from $1,656 billion (1984) to astonishing $25,402 billion. Also, shareholder return increased dramatically. Disney’s stock value relative to the S&P500 (represent the overall performance of the stock market) went up from “1” ($100 million/$100 million) in 1984 to around “2,649” ($3,226 million/$1,218 million) in 2000. Thus, Disney under Eisner generated an amazing “26%” annual total return to shareholders (2). How did Eisner do this and how did he increase net income in his first four years? Net income increased from $93 million in 1984 to $445 million in 1987, so Disney increased its net income more than four times after Eisner’s takeover in the first four years. Much of this incredible success is due to Eisner’s tough leadership, brand management and his corporate strategies. He not only brought the company back on track, but also made sure, that Disney did not loose its sight in his own corporate values (quality, creativity, entrepreneurship and teamwork) (1, p. 4). Much of Disney’s success in the first four years under Eisner was due to the strategies of simultaneously “managing creativity” and keeping an eye on costs due to well-defined financial objectives (1, p.4). What’s more, Disney

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