Why Disney needs to work with the foreign governments where they want to open theme parks?
Working with foreign governments will help the company to excel. The government controls the policies and regulations of a country, and businesses must ensure that they obey the policies. When a company has a partnership with a foreign government, it receives adequate support. In this case, the policies are developed to support such a company. The strategy also helps to understand the government policies where businesses establish their subsidiaries. A project that the government supports is accepted by the citizens easily compared to a project that has no government support. In this regard, government leaders represent the people, and they trust them. Therefore, any decision that the government makes is respected by the citizens. Citizens couldn’t reject the HKD because the government was a major stakeholder (Young & Liu n.d.).
The Hong Kong government-financed some of the projects of the company. For example, the company developed an infrastructure to enhance its operations. The contract between the HKD and the government required the government to improve and create infrastructure while the HKD provided the plans. HKD also developed real estates and designed the structures. The developmental services were done by DKD (Young & Liu n.d.).
The company wanted to understand the culture of the people by working with foreign governments. Culture is a complex aspect that requires time to understand. In understanding the culture of a foreign country, a company should work with the people in that country. Therefore, working with foreign governments helps the company to be incorporated into the culture. This strategy helps avoid cultural conflict with the people in a foreign country (Young & Liu n.d.).
The governments developed infrastructure to support the Disney Company. There was a need to collaborate with the government so that the necessary structures could be established. For example, the Hong Kong government spent about $7 million to acquire and develop premium land (Young & Liu n.d.).
Does it help to have a foreign country as a partner in the venture? Why or why not.
Yes. Having a foreign country as a partner in the venture helped people to accept the products. This strategy also improved understanding of the culture of the products of the company. The strategy also improves the relationship between the company and the country. The government supports such a company so that it can perform well (Young & Liu n.d.).
International norms of behavior and why the Chinese do not understand them, and why is this important for a successful Hong Kong Disney?
The international norm of behavior is that a company that plans to invest in a foreign country should understand the culture of that country. The HKD established operations in Hong Kong without a full understanding of all the cultural aspects. For example, the company did not understand that the Chinese take a long time to eat than the Americans. The company created a few seats in the dining parks, and this created a lot of congestion. The company had to expand the size of the dining park to enable many people to get a space (Young & Liu n.d.).
Understanding the culture of the people is important for the company to be successful. The culture defines how people behave and provides a guideline on how things should be done. Understanding the culture will help the company avoid conflicts with the local people. Understanding the culture of the people will improve the performance of the company because appropriate products will be developed. Matching the cultural needs of the people to the products designed by a company attracts many customers (Young & Liu n.d.).
Two issues challenging Hong Kong Disney’s current operation and what I would recommend to Disney to solve those challenges?
The company has experienced challenges in working with the government. Officials from the Hong Kong government are alleged not to have transparency when working at Disneyland (Young & Liu n.d.). To solve this challenge, the company should establish stringent measures to ensure that there are no loopholes in the management process. The management team can liaise with the government to ensure that appropriate measures are established to control all transactions. The government can establish laws to protect the company.
The company also had the challenge of managing the capacity of the park. The HKD had a bad start, and the management invited about 30,000 people daily. The number was high, and the queue time was long. The park experienced a lot of pressure in managing a large number of people who were visiting (Young & Liu n.d.). I recommend that the company should do a proper analysis of any strategy before it is implemented. This will help avoid the confusion that was experienced during the initial stages of the HKD.
For its next expansion project, what country and the city would you recommend as the next Disneyland?
For the next expansion project, I would recommend that the company should establish a Disneyland in South Africa. The company has not penetrated the African market, which has high potential. South Africa has a good economy and has neutral politics. Also, South Africa is a favorite tourist destination for many people all over the world.
Reference
Young, M. N. & Liu, D. (n.d.). Hong Kong Disneyland. Web.