Walt Disney Case Study

SWOT and PESTLE Analysis of Walt Disney

Walt Disney Co, commonly known as Disney was established by Walt and Roy Disney, the two famous brothers in 1924, thereby becoming one of the most diversified family entertainment and media enterprise over the years. its business is segmented into 5 broad divisions, comprising of Media Network, Studio Entertainment, Consumer Products, Interactive Media and Entertainment Parks and Resorts. Headquartered in California, the company holds around 200,000 employees, thereby ranking as the 4th company in Fortune’s 2019 list of “World’s Most Admired Companies”. It is world’s largest media company, run by the most efficient team of leaders that are continuously focusing on producing quality content and keep up with the innovations and creativeness that the current generation demands, especially targeting the age group of toddlers, adolescents, teenagers and young people who indulges in animation media specially. It has partnered with Hotstar recently, thereby striving to takeover the online streaming platform by directly competing with. Netflix. In this regard, it is extremely essential to evaluate the external environment of the US and determine whether it shall be preferable for the brand to Expand its horizon in its existing market with new services.  You can get case study help if you are writing a case study on Walt Disney.

SWOT Analysis

Strength

• Having collected a revenue of US$59.43 billion in the financial year of 2018 ending on 30^th September, which is a growth of 8% from its last financial year, the brand has been financially strong ever since it was hit due to its world-famous cartoon characters, loved by all, irrespective of age groups.
• Diversified business approach of the brand catering to different areas of entertainment, majorly centering its Priority venture that is, entertainment media on television or online platforms is what has helped the business grow itself over the years.
• Brand image of Disney is incomparable and unbeatable given its decades old goodwill and popularity. Not just in terms of profit making, the brand is well known for its business ethics, Creative an innovative content, efficient team of employees and higher management, its editor has made Disney reach the position where it is today. You can hire case study writing service as well.

Weakness

• High price points of the brand and the availability of cheaper alternatives is a weakness for the brand, yet it has not toned down its cost differentiation strategy.
• It is having a limited television target audience Disney is more focused towards the age group between 1 to 15 in terms of its animation content, even though it has a variety of content for adults by virtue of its motion pictures production unit.
• Lack of digital marketing of the brand is definitely a weakness that the brand should recognise and work on it immediately to promote its business and increase its viewership and consumer base in terms of selling its merchandises to a global range of consumers.
• Even though it has a huge popularity all over the world, in terms of its famous cartoon characters like Mickey Mouse, Goofy, Donald duck, only a few first world countries are having the opportunity to enjoy its entertainment parks and merchandises. Thus, the brand is severely lacking in sourcing out its products to the consumers who demands so.

Opportunity

• It has a great opportunity of focusing on live streaming on online platforms, where it could launch its motion pictures for adult viewers, thereby expanding its target audience.
• It could prioritise international expansion of its other units like resort and entertainment parks, establishment of production houses in different locations of the world where it has a strong viewership, thus facilitating a global expansion. You should get marketing case study help.

Threat

• Threats from competitors is intense, given the growing demand of variety of online content, especially for kids, given the situation of COVID-19 pandemic which has restricted movements outside home and requires staying at home more than ever. Online platforms like Netflix are one of its biggest competitors even after it has collaborated with Hotstar.
• It lacks diversification of its content, for it barely looks forward to localization and inclusion of different cultures in its content.
• The increasing risk of piracy of content is an imminent threat to its media productions.

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PESTLE Analysis

Political factors

The political stability of the United States has contributed to the prosperous growth of the company. Even though it majorly produces Animation content for children, toddlers and young people, it has recently shared its opinion on politics back in 2011 when one of its comedians had called out on the government pointing out its conduct as a cowardly act in regard to the actions taken against the September 11, 2011 terrorist attack. it subsequently could not distribute one of its motion pictures Fahrenheit 9/11 As a result of its critical comments and opinions in context to President George Bush and the then ongoing tension with Iraq war. Apart from these minor political controversies, the company has successfully run its business in the United States, growing as a popular production house that delivers favourable content to young viewers, thus suggesting cooperation of the government as well as its different trading partners within the territory. Bureaucratic interference in the entertainment industry is not too critical for the brand to thrive its business in the country, thus giving a clear picture of conducive political environment for the business. You can use plagiarism checker tool to check the plagiarism of your case study assignment as well.

Economic factors

The Walt Disney company alone generated a revenue of $20 billion in 2018 in the US From its entertainment parks and resort ventures, while on the other hand its media networks gathered a revenue of $24 billion which includes the Disney Channel, ABC television network, Hulu and ESPN. As of 2017, the company owns an asset of $95 billion, thus suggesting a strong financial foundation and a strong economic environment of the United States that supports its business growth and development. Standard of living and purchasing power of the people are evolving with time, especially with the growing GDP of the country. Moreover, the capitalist approach of the government towards economy is a highly contributing factor towards the growth of the entertainment industry, thereby giving chance to every company that stripes to offer a profitable business and generate revenue for the government as well. You should get economics assignment help.

Social factors

The growing trend of watching animation movies among all age groups, be it toddlers, teenagers or adults is a positive outlook for the brand to diversify its content and expand its target audience, thereby increasing its consumer base. The broader and welcoming nature of the cultural diversity of the country embraces variety of entertaining content offered by the entertainment industry, especially the younger generations are more open to cultural diversification of animated content, thus helping the entertainment industry to expand its horizon in terms of putting up variety of contents without being barred by a particular culture or ethnicity. The capitalist approach of the society as well as the diverse culture of the population of the United States encourages entrepreneurship, thus boosting the entertainment industry even more. People here are strongly attached to television content as one of their common leisure interests, does making a scope for more and more entertaining contents to be launched by the brand as well as its competitors.

Technological factors

The ever so growing technological advancements supported by the country and its genius minds are a definite contributing factor to the growing entertainment industry which is getting to use the abundance of advance technologies like smart phones, smart televisions, high-end VFX gadgets and software, Tablets that are easy to carry around instead of heavy computers for video editing and content creation, et cetera. Introduction of digital platforms like YouTube, Netflix, Hotstar, Hulu, Amazon Prime, et cetera has given production houses to launch their motion pictures, web series, documentaries, podcasts easily without having to worry in terms of reaching their viewers. In addition, other technological advances have made it possible for entertainment parks to come out with new forms of entertainment and consumer engagements, thereby offering more leisure interests to the people. You can get read about Netflix case study.

Legal factors

Entertainment industry friendly laws and regulations of the United States has helped the entertainment industry grow so massively, thereby being one of the highest revenues generating industries of the world. Antitrust and intellectual property laws have been protecting the entertainment industry thoroughly from being robbed off their original content by other production houses within the country or beyond. Data protection laws are another boon to the entertainment industry, by virtue of which it has been safeguarding its valuable data and information being leaked before they are meant to be released for the public. The strict employment law, has however restricted the big corporations to exploit their employees and thereby safeguard the rights of the labours like ensuring equal pay, reasonable leave policies, regulations against unreasonable dismissal, discrimination at workplace, et cetera.

Environmental factors

The favourable weather and exquisite locations have favoured the entertainment industry to grow exponentially. However, unpredictable adverse climatic conditions like cyclones and tornadoes have been the reason for great losses of the production houses due to cancelled schedules, damage caused to shooting sets, on availability of resources.

Nevertheless, the external as well as internal favourable conditions suggests the booming growth of Walt Disney over the decades.

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