Case Study

Case Study: Dennis Hightower

In 1984, Dennis Hightower joined Russell Reynolds and started work with Disney Consumer Products (DCP). His task with Disney was to figure out where Disney would be on a global scale. In 1994, Hightower started pondering over how to organize DCP’s products in the Middle East and in Europe. Named Vice President of DCP in 1987, Hightower took over 8 different country operations composed of publications, merchandise, books, music, and magazines. Hightower’s goal for the 8 different company divisions was unification. In 1987, DCP had 8 wholly owned European subsidiaries that operated 20 different markets. Each subsidiary had its own country manager. DCP licensed most of its products. By 1988, DCP was doing huge business… $247 million in sales with $134 million in operating income.

Problem Statements

DCP had three significant problems within the company that if not corrected, could alter the future state of the company. First, each country manager had many licenses with companies that other country managers weren’t using, making the Disney Corporation throughout Europe not as uniform. Secondly, country managers were concerned that DCP would lose some of its individuality by initiating proposed changes from Hightower. Lastly, Hightower’s hands off leadership approach had many executives concerned over the future of the company.

Problem Analysis

In order to fix these crucial problems, you have to understand why each problem is crucial to the success of the company. Each country was using many separate licensees to fulfill the products needed for DCP. For example, Spain may use 30 different companies to fulfill their magazine orders. England may use only 20 companies to fulfill their magazine orders, with only 12 of the same companies between the two. Each country would have a different feel to their product because of the differences in suppliers. The Spanish products would seem more traditional to the country, and the...