Walt Disney is known for being one of the world leaders in family entertainment and one of the most valuable brands in the world. In 1992, Disney decided to expand its efforts to open a Disneyland theme park in France, later known as EuroDisney. However, as we will soon learn, having a big name and a successful past may not be enough to succeed outside of your original location. As we know, international marketing focuses on the efforts applied to use the correct marketing principles to satisfy the needs and desires of different people residing across international borders. Factors such as culture, marketing and operational errors have been crucial to EuroDisney's potential worldwide success. Due to its past successes in Florida, California and Tokyo, management has been fiercely persistent and determined to build and add another amusement and theme park to their massive empire across international borders, regardless of the cost. Disney's European journey began with the dream of a hopeful fairy tale that would soon fall apart. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay This journey begins in 1987 when the agreement was signed to create and operate the opening of the first Disneyland in Europe. The Paris location was chosen from 200 potential sites internationally; including Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece. The original EuroDisney concept was introduced by Walt Disney as a way to pay homage to the French gardens and castles that had given Walt inspiration for his architectural designs at the original Disneyland in Anaheim, California. Despite France's dismal winter weather, management was easily influenced to choose the country by incentives offered by the French government, such as impressive regional demographic data and France's overall high tourist attractiveness, a factor deemed crucial to France. the future success of the park if it wanted to attract numerous visitors. Disney showed no mercy in its strategy, purchasing all the surrounding land so that outsiders could not profit from it. This did not go well with native farmers, as Disney did not get the local support he needed to meet his broad expectations. Nonetheless, Disney was absolutely sure that it had just signed off on its next biggest financial win, with its high prices and wishful thinking that the project would sell the park. But Disney overlooked and miscalculated the amount Europeans would be willing to spend for a day at EuroDisney. Disney's high prices for a stay at one of the 7 on-site resorts were incredibly high for a family visiting EuroDisney, the prices being equivalent to some of the most expensive hotels in all of Paris. For example, a night at the Newport Bay Club, the largest of EuroDisney's resorts, can cost anywhere from $110 to $380 a night, compared to a top Paris hotel which can range between $340 and $348 a night. This has left some families with no choice but to stay in a less expensive hotel in the capital. A family of four would easily spend $600 to guarantee a magical time at the resort. At the time, ironically, it was less expensive to book a plane ticket and hotel to Disney World in Orlando, Florida, making EuroDisney an unattractive and expensive vacation. This initial decision to open a theme park in France showed nothing but promising initial results to management, but the company couldn't have been more wrong with the tactics used.April 12, 1992 was an exciting day for the Disney Corporation, it was the long-awaited opening day of EuroDisney. Guests were warned in advance of heavy traffic due to Disney's highly anticipated new opening day, but much to their dismay, Disney fell short of attendance projections previously made based on successful openings in California, Florida and Tokyo. Disney expected attendance on opening day to be around 400,000 guests, but at noon there were only 25,000 guests, an incredibly low number compared to previous Disneyland openings. These projections also fell short in its first year of opening, expecting to attract 11 million visitors, but only managed to attract 9.2 million visitors. During the two months preceding the opening, Disney had recruited, hired, housed and trained nearly 12,000 cast members of its new theme park, hiring only bilingual and trilingual employees. The company had a set of standards that it was adamant about using and that had worked in the US and Asia, giving Disney the arrogance to think that Europe was no different. Disney has an established corporate identity in America, which it perpetuates by training its employees on how to educate them about the company, while also learning what they can expect from their employment with the Disney Corporation. They also taught cast members about Disney's philosophy on integrating hospitality with entertainment, as well as explaining the business institutes' importance and emphasis on teamwork and leadership. Disney did an insufficient job of communicating with cast members, imposing "Disney culture" on the local culture. This ensured that American Disney's philosophy that what they were teaching cast members was the "right" way, instead of management's encouragement to adapt cast members to French culture. The cast members also had to get used to working longer hours than they would at any other French studio. In the United States, the busiest day of the week for Disney was Friday, allowing the company to assume that the same days would replicate equivalent activity in Europe, missing the ball when Monday was the busiest day and not having enough staff to pick up the pace, forcing exhausted employees to work even more hours than promised. Given that Disney's busiest season of the year is summer, the company ensured that cast members worked during this period, contravening traditional French employment practices in which they were typically granted vacation and overtime compensation during these summer months. Disney had a mistaken expectation that its traditional American employment practices would translate effectively to the French workforce, but this thinking was short-sighted and resulted in a strong reaction to the company. The French press and legal authorities criticized Disney for its ban on cast members discussing with guests, smoking, eating and drinking in public, as well as its strict dress code. Disney had been accused in the media of attempting to "rewrite the French labor code" by imposing strict cleaning requirements to achieve the well-groomed all-American look that Disney had incorporated into its previous theme parks. These requirements included nail size, hair color, a general ban on facial hair, no colored socks, and an “appropriate undergarment” policy. French workers working at EuroDisney described the imposed dress code as "repressive",despite being an “uncomfortable policy transposed directly from the United States, which was poorly integrated into French culture.” Faced with this cultural gap in French working norms, nearly 1,000 cast members left EuroDisney within the first three months. Those who remained failed to meet even Disney's lowest standards for guest relations, disappointing guests with their "not so magical" attitudes. The prospect of EuroDisney in France has been the subject of many controversies and disagreements around, proving to be true in its first year. opening with major operational and marketing problems. Disney noticed its flaws within the first two weeks of opening, after French visitors were nowhere to be seen at the theme park. The company believed in the idea of ​​trying to sell an American product to Europe while trying to adapt parts of the park to French cultural tastes. They saw EuroDisney as “American imperialism” and thought it would encourage an unhealthy American brand of ethnocentrism in France. Disney has poorly advertised EuroDisney, aggravating local French sentiment by using glitz and scale, an all-American concept imposed on European soil, rather than promoting the variety of rides and attractions located in the park, essentially ruining the magic that Disney is proud to offer to customers. . A former Disney executive expressed the opinion: "We were arrogant – it was like 'We were building the Taj Mahal and people will come on our terms.'" Disney also failed in its publicity efforts, making the mistake of using methods that the company had used to woo consumers in the United States. EuroDisney has been guilty of using its advertising campaigns to target children, rather than adults. These ads were displayed showing Mickey and Pluto introducing the rides and parades that await them in the park. Advertisements as such, deemed successful in the United States because most adults had visited Disney resorts as children, having prior knowledge and memories of the theme park, its characters and the amenities offered. But knowledge of Europeans' vacation habits was absent, as most European adults associated Disney with magazines, movies, and toys, not with a vacation trip. Unlike in the United States, theme parks had not previously been established in France, forcing Disney to think outside the box to gain the following it needed to make EuroDisney the success it tried so hard to achieve. proved insensitive to French culture due to Disney's ethnocentric approach on food and drink throughout the park. Executives had previously been told that Europeans don't eat breakfast, making it clear that most people run around with a croissant and coffee in the morning. As a result, Disney decided to scale back breakfast service at restaurants accordingly, primarily serving only coffee and croissants. Come to find out, everyone showed up wanting a full sit-down breakfast. “We were trying to serve 2,500 breakfasts in a 350-seat restaurant.” One of Disney's biggest slights towards the French was the decision to ban alcohol in the park. Although the alcohol ban is a long-standing Disney policy, this decision caused a stir by banning a drink that French locals integrate seamlessly into family life. This assured the French, who see wine as an important part of everyday life, that Disney was just yet another American company insensitive to French culture. Perceiving oneself as strongnegotiator, Disney was nevertheless convinced that his success in France was assured. To be successful as a company in France, the company must fully understand the market it is trying to conquer by fully understanding the French taste. Disney could have prevented more than half of the problems it caused itself by doing enough research into French culture. Disney has shown that it has learned from previous mistakes in France as it prepares to open its new Disneyland park located in Hong Kong, China. The company was adamant not to make the same cultural and management mistakes it had initially made when opening the park in France. Disney knew that the magic of Mickey Mouse wasn't enough to reign in success as it once thought in Paris, so management made sure to go beyond what they knew customers in Hong Kong expected, coming up with the project to appeal to tastes local. To achieve this goal, the company found it appropriate to use one of the ancient Chinese practices to facilitate the implementation of the new plan and construction. This practice is commonly known as feng shui, which allows objects to be arranged in a way that ensures good energy flow, which Disney desperately needed. With this in mind, the entrance gate to the park was rotated, cash registers were repositioned, and boulders were placed to promote stability while ensuring that good fortune did not leak out the back. Since 2 of the 5 feng shui elements are water and fire, many waterfalls have been strategically placed throughout the park to aspire to wealth and good fortune, and "fire-free zones" have been placed in lucky locations to balance the remaining elements . One of the most telling examples of how Disney reclaimed its new territory using feng shui was when the company decided to set the opening date for September 12, 2006. In the United States, no company dared plan an opening close to the terrorist attack of September 11th, still deeply mourned today; but for the Chinese, in the Chinese almanac, September 12 was indicated as an auspicious date for opening a business. This showed China how, for the first time since Paris, Disney was willing to put aside its American disparities regarding Chinese cultural differences and tastes. After nearly a decade of EuroDisney being condemned for its ignorance and lack of knowledge of traditional European customs, it was time for Disney to make sure they got it right the second time around. EuroDisney decided that the next big move would be something that would capture the history of French culture, unlike any other way. The new Walt Disney Studios added to EuroDisney blend Disney entertainment and attractions with the history and culture of European cinema. The new movie tribute theme park was modeled after an old Hollywood studio complex, with rides showcasing large motorcycle stunts and cars racing through the village modeled after the French resort town of St. Tropez. This was a big step forward for EuroDisney, as its French theme park had originally been accused of not being French enough. Disney also learned that it needed to incorporate not only France, but also other international countries respectfully through its characters, ensuring that the new theme park's characters spoke six different languages. Disney has placed emphasis on its characters such as Cinderella and Peter Pan, both of which originated from European tales, while now also calling.