Introduction
Walt Disney Corporation is an American media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered in Burbank, California. The company was founded on October 16th, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio in Los Angeles (Haas & Trapedo, 2018). The diversification stems from the fact that Walt Disney has a great passion for politics and military affairs. In 1923, the enterprise began to produce shorts and advertising films.
The company also owns numerous newspapers, including the “Los Angeles Times” and the “Wall Street Journal.” These newspapers are considered to be essential sources of information by many people in the United States (Haas & Trapedo, 2018). Disney is the parent company of Miramax Films, Touchstone Television, Hollywood Pictures, and several other subsidiaries. The Walt Disney Corporation operates several businesses, including entertainment, television broadcasting, radio broadcasting, publishing, and interactive media.
Description of the Product Line Selected
Theme Park Operations
The park operations business segment within the Walt Disney Company involves designing, developing, and operating Disney theme parks and resorts. The company is responsible for creating a significant number of theme parks around the world. These include Disneyland in California, Walt Disney World in Florida, Tokyo Disneyland in Japan, Euro Disney Resort in Paris, France, Hong Kong Disneyland Resort, Shanghai Disney Resort, and Ulaanbaatar in Mongolia (Niu, 2022).
Furthermore, the Walt Disney Company is also responsible for Hong Kong Disneyland and Disneyland Paris in France. Theme park revenues were up 8% over the last quarter of 2011, to $3.1 billion (Janjua, Tabassum & Nayak, 2022). Thus, operating segments such as parks and resorts and studio entertainment were comparable to those of the previous quarter, with little to no change (excluding extraordinary items).
Products for the Theme Parks
In addition, the company operates Disney’s Animal Kingdom theme park. The park was opened in 1998 after several years of development to introduce new attractions for tourists. The products offered by a theme park include some of the most technologically advanced roller coasters, such as “Kilimanjaro Safaris- Expedition Everest,” which costs $48 per person (Janjua et al., 2022).
There are 9,000 animals worldwide, including giraffes, elephants, lions, and tigers. Disney also has two water parks, Typhoon Lagoon and Blizzard Beach, in Orlando (Haas & Trapedo, 2018). For the next five years, Disney will continue to develop new attractions at all its parks.
For example, the company is developing “Avatar” land at Disney’s Animal Kingdom in Florida, as well as gondola rides in Florida, California, and Tokyo (Janjua et al., 2022). The latter offers a romantic experience to couples over 40 years old. Disney plans to invest $200 million annually in creating new special effects, digital animation, and ride systems that replicate various sensations in the next five years. Thus, these parks allow tourists to play in the water with their friends and family since there has been a significant increase in the number of tourists visiting the water parks.
Supply Chain Management Functions
Demand Planning
Supply chain management involves the management of a company’s resources. It includes demand planning, resource planning, and management of initiatives, sales, and distribution. Demand planning involves various steps that the company must take to achieve its planned output (Hartmann, 2021). The process involves the company analyzing the market situation and understanding what customers want. The analysis assesses the demand for its products, the availability of funds, and investors’ expectations about future performance.
The Walt Disney Corporation has a well-defined list of goods and services that it analyzes in the market situation (Hartmann, 2021). The demand planning for Walt Disney Corporation focuses on future expectations. Thus, the company aims to have a clear picture of future demand, enabling it to plan its production accordingly and avoid frequent changes in the production schedule or product mix.
Manufacturing
Manufacturing involves purchasing materials and supplies, playing a crucial role in the production process. The company has facilities to purchase various materials and supplies, including raw materials such as wood, which are sourced from different locations worldwide (Hartmann, 2021). The company also uses specialized internal manufacturing machinery to produce park products.
Manufacturing within the Walt Disney Corporation involves several steps, including product design, determining the needs and preferences of management staff, selecting the optimal location for production, and establishing a manufacturing plant. Depending on the requirements, different cutting machines are used for manufacturing purposes (Hartmann, 2021). These machines include cutting machines with diamond blades and pneumatic saws. The particular machine uses saws to cut through wood and cardboard into various shapes depending on the size of the material being cut into its shape (Hartmann, 2021). Thus, manufacturing enables organizations to have a flexible manufacturing system, which facilitates more efficient operations and the smooth flow of materials from one unit to another.
Customer Service Operations
Customer service operations involve stock-taking. Stock-taking is the process of physically counting inventory at periodic intervals. The Walt Disney Corporation regularly performs this task to assess the stock’s expiry date and to gain a clear understanding of the demand for that particular item in both the short and long term (Hartmann, 2021). Lastly, packaging is also an important task involved in the customer service operations of the Walt Disney Corporation. The company packages its raw materials to prepare them for transportation from one location to another. For this purpose, the company utilizes various materials, including cardboard. Thus, the Walt Disney Corporation, through customer service operations, is capable of meeting the needs and preferences of its customers in theme parks.
Analysis
The Walt Disney Company is one of America’s most well-known media and entertainment corporations. The Walt Disney Company and its affiliates operate various business segments, including theme parks and theme park-related products. The company operates in countries such as the United States, Japan, Mexico, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, and Asia. It has over nine theme parks worldwide. These parks include Hollywood Studios in Orlando, Florida, which opened in 1989. The park features numerous attractions, including the Small World Parade, one of the most popular attractions at Walt Disney World Resort.
To ensure success, the company manages the flow of products, including transforming raw materials for theme parks. Additionally, the company also deals in theme park products, including Disney merchandise and clothing. Through the demand planning function, the company manages customer demand by forecasting and planning product supply accordingly. In the manufacturing function, it oversees raw materials and converts them into finished goods. Finally, through customer service operations, the company maintains adequate product inventory to ensure that customer needs are consistently met.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Walt Disney Corporation continues to research and develop innovations on an ongoing basis. If a particular product becomes less competitive or attractive to customers, the company tries to develop a better or more competitive product. The product innovation process supports the organization in achieving its overall business objectives and helps customize its products to meet consumers’ needs.
It maintains brand equity, which is essential for promoting the organization’s sales and income generation. The continual process of product innovation helps to maintain brand equity. Additionally, companies must continually innovate their products and services to prevent their competitors’ more attractive offerings from attracting customers.
References
Haas, L., & Trapedo, S. (2018). Disney corporation. In The Routledge Companion to Media and Fairy-Tale Cultures (pp. 178-187). Routledge. Web.
Hartmann, J. (2021). Toward a more complete theory of sustainable supply chain management: the role of media attention. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal. Web.
Janjua, P. R., Tabassum, N., & Nayak, B. S. (2022). The Marketing Practices of Walt Disney and Warner Media: A Comparative Analysis. In Modern Corporations and Strategies at Work (pp. 93-111). Springer, Singapore. Web.
Niu, H. (2022). Walt Disney Company 2021 Strategy and Stock Price Analysis. BCP Business & Management, 26, 696–702. Web.