Marketing Strategic Change in Expansion of Disneyland: Cases Study of Disneyland’S Overseas Expansion in Shanghai
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
J Ö N K Ö P I N G I NTERNATIONAL B U S I N E S S S CHOOL JÖNKÖPING UNIVERSITY Marketing Strategic Change in Expansion of Disneyland: Cases Study of Disneyland’s Overseas Expansion in Shanghai Master Thesis in Business Administration Author: Li Zhu & Dan Xu Tutor: Tomas Müllern Jönköping August 2010 Master Thesis Acknowledgements First of all, we would like to take the opportunity to thank our tutor Mr. Tomas Müllern. Thanks to his guidance and valuable suggestions, we correct our mistake on time and finish our thesis in the end. From the first meeting to the last one, you are always concern us and the process of our writing. Every time, we handed in chapters, you always provided useful opinion to let us revise the thesis better and better. We thank you for patient guiding and providing us a good opportunity in our study to learn more and more. Secondly, we would like to thank Mr. Zhang and Edward. Thank you for taking time to find interviewees of our interview. You are busy with your own job, but you still use your private time to help us. You also share your experience about contacting skills with us. Last but not the lease, we are thankful to our families and friends who were helping and supporting us during this writing period. Li Zhu & Dan Xu Jönköping University 2010 i | P a g e Master Thesis Master’s Thesis in Business Administration Title: Marketing Strategic Change in Expansion of Disneyland Authors: Li Zhu & Dan Xu Tutor: Tomas Müllern Date: August 2010 Key Words: Theme Park, Disneyland, Marketing Strat- egy, Strategic Change Abstract Problem: The international theme park industry is growing but is also facing a series of bottleneck problems. Disneyland as one of the most famous theme parks, is trying to ex- pand its kingdom to China. With the success and failure of the three previous oversea Dis- neyland, marketing strategic changes are becoming crucial and critical in the expansion of theme parks. Recognizing the elements that lead to strategic changes and generate proper strategies are preconditions of any successful expansion of theme parks, especially to Shanghai Disneyland Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to identify the main factors affecting Shanghai Dis- neyland‟s marketing strategic changes. Through the empirical study, we are going to de- scribe the strategic changes made in all oversea Disneyland and try to identify “the main drivers and motivations of strategic change for the future Shanghai Disneyland”. Method: In this thesis we have adopted the case study approach. Disneyland is one of the most famous theme parks over the world. The data was collected with the help of open ended interviews from high-level managers to ordinary employees in different Disneyland. Results: Disneyland is a successful example in its efforts to expand overseas. However, Paris Disneyland and Hong Kong Disneyland are not as profitable as expected. In the year 2012, Shanghai Disneyland is going to open. Based on the analysis of strategic changes Disney made in Tokyo, Paris, Hong Kong and Shanghai, authors will get the main drivers and motivations for these strategic changes. ii | P a g e Master Thesis Table of Contents 1 Introduction ............................................................................... 1 1.1 Background ........................................................................................... 1 1.2 Research Questions .............................................................................. 3 1.3 Purpose ................................................................................................. 3 1.4 Outline of Thesis .................................................................................... 3 2 Theoretical framework .............................................................. 5 2.1 Definition of strategy .............................................................................. 5 2.2 Strategy developing ............................................................................... 7 2.3 The PESTEL framework ........................................................................ 7 2.3.1 Global marketing environment ............................................................... 7 2.3.2 Introduction of PESTEL framework ........................................................ 8 2.3.3 The importance of accounting for the global environment ..................... 8 2.3.4 Review of PESTEL framework .............................................................. 8 2.4 Porter’s five forces framework ............................................................. 10 2.4.1 Competition within the industry ............................................................ 10 2.4.2 Threat of new entrants ......................................................................... 11 2.4.3 Threat of substitutes ............................................................................ 12 2.4.4 Bargaining power of buyers ................................................................. 13 2.4.5 Bargaining power of suppliers ............................................................. 13 2.4.6 Positioning the company ...................................................................... 14 2.4.7 Review of Porter’s five forces framework ............................................. 14 2.5 Market difference---CAGE framework .................................................. 15 2.5.1 Introduction of CAGE framework ......................................................... 15 2.5.2 Review of CAGE framework ................................................................ 17 2.6 Marketing strategy ............................................................................... 17 2.7 Strategic change .................................................................................. 19 2.7.1 Definition of strategic change .............................................................. 19 2.7.2 A theoretical framework of strategic chage .......................................... 19 2.7.3 Types of strategic change .................................................................... 20 2.7.4 The importance of context ................................................................... 21 2.8 Theme park ......................................................................................... 22 2.8.1 Definition of theme park ....................................................................... 22 2.8.2 Development of theme parks ............................................................... 23 2.8.2.1 Internationalization of theme parks .............................................................................. 24 2.8.3 The importance of theme parks ........................................................... 24 3 Methodology ........................................................................... 26 3.1 Qualitative and Quantitative methods .................................................. 26 3.2 Research Strategy: case study ............................................................ 27 3.3 Research Process ............................................................................... 28 3.4 Data Collection .................................................................................... 28 3.4.1 Secondary data ................................................................................... 28 3.4.2 Interviews ............................................................................................ 29 3.4.2.1 Interview process ......................................................................................................... 29 3.5 Empirical Analysis ................................................................................ 31 3.5.1 The Analysis Process .......................................................................... 32 iii | P a g e Master Thesis 4 Empirical Study on Chinese Theme Park Market and Disney Cases ............................................................................... 33 4.1 The theme park industry in China ........................................................ 33 4.1.1 The growth of theme parks in China .................................................... 33 4.1.2 Marketing environment of theme parks in China ................................. 34 4.1.3 The existing problems of Chinese theme park industry ....................... 36 4.2 Disney cases ....................................................................................... 38 4.2.1 Disneyland in USA ............................................................................... 38 4.2.2 Disneyland in Japan ............................................................................ 38 4.2.2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 38 4.2.2.2 Strategies in Tokyo Disneyland ................................................................................... 40 4.2.3 Disneyland in France ........................................................................... 41 4.2.3.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 41 4.2.3.2 Strategies in Paris Disneyland ..................................................................................... 42 4.2.4 Disneyland in Hong Kong .................................................................... 44 4.2.4.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 44 4.2.4.2 Strategies in Hong