Dennis Hightower and Euro Disney

Executive Summary

Case Study: Dennis Hightower and the Walt Disney Co. in Europe

The case study of Dennis Hightower and the Walt Disney Co. in Europe looks at the challenges of changing the company’s entry mode from one of licensing to market growth and expansion. While licensing was a fairly easy entry mode for Walt Disney, producing brand recognition and profits over nearly 50 years, the decision to build Euro-Disneyland in Paris as a joint venture with the French government, proved to be a much larger task. The licensing mode allowed the Disney affiliated companies in Europe to run their operations as they wished. While this was less of a risk for Disney, it did hinder their ability to leverage their business into other market opportunities.

In the 1980’s, Disney management looked toward Europe, as they had done in Japan, to grow their market share. To do this, they would have to take a different entry mode approach. Much had to be done. There was buy-in with their current European federation of Disney associates, partnering with the French government, hiring an executive to run the business, and finally, create the Disney culture in France.

This paper addresses four issues or questions:

• What did the business landscape of the company look like before Euro-Disneyland? What entry strategy did they choose?

• Why was Euro-Disney running into trouble?

• The Challenge of opening Euro-Disneyland

• What should Dennis Hightower do?

1. Assessment: Entry Strategy

The Walt Disney Co. entered Europe, the first area outside of the United States, in 1938. The owner, Walt Disney, traveled to Italy and entered into a licensing agreement with an Italian publishing company to sell Disney products. This would be the first step in a major European expansion. After World War II, free from the restrictions of war, the company aggressively pursued other opportunities in France, West Germany, Denmark, Belgium, Spain,...