#118 A 2nd Paris for Di-Si-Ni?
Disney, or Di-Si-Ni as it is called in Chinese, might be up for another Disneyland Paris experience. At least, that is what Mr. Jianlin Wang seems to think. Last Sunday, Mr. Wang, who also happens to be China’s wealthiest businessman, gave an hour-long interview on CCTV, China’s state television. Criticizing Disney’s outdated intellectual property, the lack of a cultural fit, changing consumer preferences, and high prices, Mr. Wang lashed out pretty strongly. Of course, his opinions may be tainted by the fact that he is trying to break into the theme park business with 15-20 new locations over the next few years himself. Nonetheless, he made some interesting points in his interview. First, he poked fun at Disney’s poor choice of location. Shanghai is a huge metropolis with millions of visitors and a coastal population that has been exposed to Western tastes and lifestyles over a long period of time. However, so Mr. Wang, Shanghai is too cold in the winter and too humid in the summer to be an attractive destination for theme park visitors. For those who have followed the story of Disneyland Paris, the dangers of choosing a less than ideal location may sound all too familiar. When Disneyland Paris (then “Europdisney”) first opened, they seemed to have focused too much on the upside of market opportunities – predictions of a stable, growing economy, the upcoming opening of the channel between England and France, as well as Paris being the most popular tourist destination in Europe. What had been overlooked, if not deliberately ignored was the often nasty climate in the Paris area, as well as looming changes in the European economy and in global tourism. Mr. Wang also argues that Disney’s offering is not China-specific enough and presents a poor cultural fit with Chinese consumers’ demands. One might argue that Chinese consumers, just like consumers anywhere else worldwide, continue to be in love with everything from Mickey Mouse to Jungle Book to Frozen. True, but the Disney experience is about more than just characters and intellectual property. It is also about an entire experience and a service delivered – such as food that fits Chinese preferences, merchandise that is affordable, and friendly employees who make the happiest place in the world seem – well – happy. Again, the Paris experience should have taught Disney that all of these things do matter – from European’s distaste of overpriced fast food to labor relations and employee management that follows fundamentally different principles. Shanghai Di-Si-Ni will open to the public only mid June and the verdict therefore is still out. But it is an interesting – and expensive – experiment that we should continue to watch.
July 2, 2016 @ 8:47 am
While the verdict is still out on the Shanghai Disney Resort, which just opened its doors on June 16th, I have to believe that Disney not only learned their very expensive lesson with the Disneyland Paris endeavor, but carefully and thoughtfully incorporated such learnings into their China expansion. After all, Disney is a hugely successful company with incredibly bright individuals within the organization, so when the expansion effort into Shanghai was first discussed, the issues around location, cultural fit, and prices, among others, must have been at the forefront of everyone’s minds. Unfortunately, as Disney had discovered with the opening of Disneyland Paris, a business cannot simply transplant itself internationally in its current form and expect the same results. Ultimately, what may prove successful in one culture does not necessarily translate into other cultures, and it seems that Disney strategically accounted for this with Shanghai Disney.
First, Disney seemed to follow a more systematic approach when determining their market entry strategy for China and was clearly more prepared from a corporate readiness perspective than they were when they expanded internationally with Euro Disney (now Disneyland Paris). Factors working in their favor this time included the size and age of the company, from which more extensive experience likely lead them to be more systematic in their approach, and their international experience and overall mindset had vastly improved with a subsequent Disney Resort opening in Hong Kong since the Disneyland Paris experience. Generally, given the positive relationship between the length and time of a company’s international experience and further internationalization efforts, Disney was much more prepared for Shanghai Disney than they were when entering Europe. Moreover, with regard to motivation, Disney’s international expansion into China was highly proactive, driven by the potential for significant profitability with the growing middle class in the country. In fact, it is projected that the tourism industry in China will double by 2020, and Disney is leading a set of mega parks that are trying to capture a portion of that market share (Bloomberg News, 2016). Thus, Disney would have been remiss not to consider China as a target market in its internationalization plans.
Further, from a product readiness perspective, all indicators suggest that Disney employed a more differentiated approach with Shanghai Disney than it did with Disneyland Paris. Rather than fully standardizing its offering, Disney took several measures to ensure the stronger cultural fit within China by adapting rides and designing the park layout based on Chinese preferences and offering more local cuisine to meet Chinese expectations. Through substantive market research into Chinese preferences and an appreciation for these cultural differences, Disney took “pains to incorporate Chinese elements” into the park (Bloomberg News, 2016). Consequently, while there should be no perceived ignorance on the part of Disney, only time will tell if such efforts prove fruitful. Ultimately, there is a delicate balance between standardization and localization for Shanghai Disney, whereby Disney must standardize its offering to the extent possible, while at the same time ensuring the appropriate degree of cultural fit to capture the market.
Hence, despite Mr. Jianlin Wang’s unfavorable commentary on the resort, particularly coming from the perspective of a competitor in a highly lucrative and evolving market, Shanghai Disney appears at least in principle to be positioned much more favorably for success than its European predecessor and should not be compared so abruptly. Moreover, if there are concerns over the Shanghai location given the degree of humidity in the summer, a visit to the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, FL during the summer months might offer a new perspective on any such judgments. Regardless, while Shanghai Disney’s future is yet to be determined, I’m betting on Disney.
References:
Bloomberg News (2016, June 15). Shanghai Disney opens with fireworks, presidential nods. Retrieved from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-06-15/shanghai-disney-to-open-with-fanfare-in-race-for-tourism-yuan
July 2, 2016 @ 3:38 pm
Culture is one of the most impact factors of globalization; enterprises must considerer the new market place culture before introducing any product or service, and the potential customers needs and wants. As the blog post mentions, one of the most successful enterprises that misunderstood the culture before to its introduction to a global market was Walt Disney Company as it was represented to its introduction to the Shanghai market.
First, Disney incorporated the history and European roots with some traditional Disneyland characters, the combinations of traditional American icons with European flavor destroyed the American spirit of the theme park – The main attraction of the experience. Also, the resistance of the French employees to the strict dress codes and grooming rules were negative factors; Disneyland Paris employees viewed it as an “attack on the French sense of individual liberty and dignity.”
In other words, culture and global leadership are elements that must work together to increase the probability of success. The right global strategy must identify, understand, and recognize attitudes, languages and business infrastructure in different cultures at the same time in order to be successful in the global market. On the other hand, Shanghai Disney confronted culture problems as well. Disney didn’t adapt the theme park to the local cultural sensitivities as it was demonstrated by the unsuccessful first weeks after the big opening doors to the Chinese people. Adapting to local cultures must be incorporated into the core values of the globalization strategy. Companies must “Think global, act local,” indeed, technology has shortening distances, the market is a true global village but if enterprises want to become successful they must adapt their offering to the local tastes and demands in order to succeed.
All the factors mentioned above show the importance of understand culture, and human behaviors in any globalization efforts are key elements of any success. Cultural is one of the factors that play great influence on consumer behavior. Consequently, companies need to generate strategies that are customized and adapt to the needs of these segments of the population before to launch into global markets.
July 4, 2016 @ 1:20 am
With the expansion of the global economy, the cultural expansion has become one of the most important ways to benefit from the globalization. Introducing the company to a new market could be profitable and challenging depending on the preparations and the market awareness. For the corporate readiness, Disney has become a mature corporation for many years with the successful systematic developing and expansion strategies. By implanting six Disneyland parks around the world before Shanghai, Disney has successfully built up a world famous icon with all the famous cartoon and movie characters.
In terms of product readiness, I believe Disney has a lot of advantages on the political and economical aspects. The local government should be welcomed for such a big project as it can bring more jobs and tax income. In addition, it is known to all that the amount of middle class has been keeping increasing in China. The purchasing power of Shanghai’s local consumers is relatively high among the world. However, the biggest problem, which also has been mentioned in the article, is about the social problems that may occur. I agree with Mr. Wang’s opinion about the culture fit thing and clearly Disney company has overstated Chinese customers’ attitude toward pricing. This is the most fierce problem that has been discussed in the first week of Shanghai Disney’s opening. The pricing strategy is not acceptable by most customers as they can not accept prices for food or small accessories that are much higher than they normally paid outside the park. Moreover, I believe the Paris Disney failure has not drawn enough attention for the Disney marketing team to consider the environmental problems. Shanghai is located at the place where the weather is humid in the summer terms and cold in the winter season, this will be not doubts to affect the tourists choices when come to Shanghai.
Furthermore, on the cultural aspect, Disney is representing a different culture from Chinese culture not matter how to sugarcoat it. Children are familiar with Micky Mouse somehow and all the famous character from the Disney movies. There will still be a time limits when people are getting tired of the new culture and products. With the expensive costs to go to the Disneyland, what the company should consider is how to transfer the Disney trip to a normal spend instead of luxury spend for the middle class people and how to maintain the novelty value of the new culture when facing the Chinese people.
July 4, 2016 @ 1:39 am
Before discussing Disney strategy, I would like to point out their background between China government. Since 1990, Mr. Zhu, who is China former prime minister, would like to Disney to expand to Shanghai. In addition, this thought is earlier than Hongkong. However, because the GDP and many other economic issues, this plan has been waiting for 26 years. During this period, Shanghai does not give up Disney, they prepare a big area just for Disney reserve zone and only allow people to plant crops or ecological forest in this reserve zone. Until 2009, Shanghai Disney get prove from thousand times negotiations. At this time, Shanghai GDP per person already over 11 thousand, which is 6 times much than 13 years ago.
Disney is successful when they enterprise in China. They concentrate not only their professionality but also intercultural issues. First of all, China is absolute good market, biggest population around the word and standard GDP per person both can prove it. Then, Disney decides to find a local company Shendi as a local guide, in order to connect Chinese people easier. Then, Shendi company is a very powerful company in a local company, it spends over 20,450,650,000 RMB as registered capital, in order to set up Disney Land, Disney has 43% share, Shendi has the rest of 57% share. However, about the management share, Disney has absolute great 70% share. In addition, this approach is different with Tokyo Dis. Tokyo Disney is an authorized operation, which means Disney did not make much profit from Tokyo.
Even though Disney already set their half a foot in China, it still has space to forward. As global and cooperation company, there are many potential risks could stop Disney. Special for a market that has long history and different culture.
July 4, 2016 @ 6:57 am
They Disney shouldn’t have entered China. The “western culture” of Disneyland theme parks threatens China’s heritage and should be challenged by building alternative attractions based on popular Chinese stories.
When I talk to my friend from China about this I just want to ask her about her opinion. She saied “Anyone who’s actually been to a Chinese theme park will know they are miserable places. It seems they have no concept that the attractions are only a small part of the overall experience”. The most Asians do have grown up with Japanese anime figures, like Doreamon for example. So its rather misplaced and strange to have such a prominent Disney Park in China. Mr.Wang Jianlin is correct. He is Chinese, he has every right to promote and prefer Chinese theme parks over western imported ones. There is nothing wrong with that. Disney originated in the United States, and if people want to go to Disney, they should travel to America. It has no business in another country. I think this respect for Chinese culture.
July 5, 2016 @ 2:53 am
Globalization has become one of the most debated subjects of recent times. Culture is one of the most important factors of globalization. Cross-cultural core competence is at the crux of today’s sustainable competitive advantage. Introducing your company to new regions is an important strategy for growing your business. If company offer a product or service that sells successfully in their existing market, and want to success in other regions or in export markets, they should take into account the new region culture.
Shanghai Disney has much advantages on political and economical aspects. But it lack of cultural fit. Mr. Jianlin Wang criticize that Disney is lack of a cultural fit, and high price. I think The theme park of Disney Shanghai did not fit the local culture. For example, Shanghai Disneyland passed on the attraction “Toy Soldiers Parachute Drop” based on the little green plastic U.S. Army soldiers in “Toy Story,” but this attraction are fare poorly in China. Shanghai was opened as a commercial port in 1843, Shanghai, became one of the first cities that were exposed to western thoughts and fashion. Thus, Shanghai became “A melting pot of Eastern and Western cultures. As the world’s most populous nation, the number of Chinese middle class is increasing. Even thought Shanghai has the most middle class number and is the biggest purchase power city in China, the food in Shanghai Disney has bad reviews both on price and quality. The Chinese elements here are very superficial. Such as Peking duck pizza, even thought it looks very Chinese, but the taste is not Chinese and it’s too hard to chew. What’s more, the price of the food is high for the middle class to afford. Disney’s offering is not China-specific enough and presents a poor cultural fit with Chinese consumers’ demands.
The key success elements for a company to enter other regions is understanding the local culture and consumers’ preferences. Therefore, Shanghai Disney should understand the essence Chinese culture, not just like Chinese.
July 5, 2016 @ 9:47 am
Shanghai Disney opening on June 16, 2016, but in fact, Shanghai Disney opened since May 7. They let limit 20,000 people come in to the Disney land and test their feeling and experiences. There are some negative comments coming after May 7, but more and more positive comments coming after June 16 that Disneyland took an official activity for opening.
I don’t think Shanghai Disney would become the second Paris Disney. Like we know the Pairs failed reasons are weather and cultures. Mr. Wang said Shanghai is hot in summer and cold in winter not good for visitors, but I don’t agree with him. To build a new Disneyland, they should consider the economic and demographic. Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou are the most developed coastal cities in china. Why Disney not choose to go to Beijing or Guangzhou? For weather, Beijing and Guangzhou more and more hot than Shanghai at summer, and also Beijing and Guangzhou colder and colder than Shanghai at winter. Shanghai is a young and fashion city, also Shanghai people accept foreign culture and trends fastest in CHINA. I think Disneyland choose Shanghai to open the Chinese market is a good start.
For culture, Beijing is a political and cultural center in CHINA. People who are living there more like go to the bookstore or have an afternoon tea in the Palace Museum. And Happy Velley that China’s first theme park chain brand is successful in Beijing. How about Guangzhou? In Guangzhou, Disney has a strong competitor “Chime Long”. I had been to Chime Long Park in 2014. My Chime Long experience is really good, although the animation techniques and customer interaction aspects could be improved, but Chime Long not bad than foreign park.
Shanghai Disney has a lot of new technology and first time. They add many Chinese unique elements for Chinese customers. Chinese twelve zodiac is the most important culture in CHINA. Shanghai Disney finds twelve famous Disney animal figures equal to Chinese twelve zodiac. An interesting point for Shanghai Disney is Chinese people crazy to buy the special Chinese gift in Disney store. I have many friends went to Shanghai Disney just want buy the store gifts!! It’s really cute and different gifts compare with other countries.
For controversy, most negative comments for Shanghai Disney are around the price, but I think the Chinese magazines and social media exaggerated the impact of ticket price to Shanghai Disney. For example, Chime Long Park sold CNY 380 for day ticket, and Shanghai Disney sold normal price is CNY 370 and holiday price is CNY 499 day price. I asked and did researches with people how to think the price for Shanghai Disney. Many Chinese think that a higher price can improve a more comfortable environment for them. I think Shanghai Disney price not low for everyone can visit, even not low for many Americans in America. Many families and children go to Disneyland in a special day or get a reward.
On the other hand, I think the Shanghai Disney’s food and hotel price has a little high, and the food styles are too American styles. Chinese people like the noodle and rice, but I read all Shanghai Disney food menus, I think they can add more Chinese food. While, good news is Shanghai Disney agree customers take their own food, juice and fruit to come in.
Shanghai Disney has just start, I keep my positive opinion for it and I don’t think Shanghai Disney would become a second Paris Disney.
July 6, 2016 @ 6:36 am
With the growing popularity of globalization, different cultures have begun to penetrate each other. More and more multinational companies was looking for larger international market. However, they should consider many factors before they entry the new market. At first, culture is an unavoidable problem. As we know, Disneyland is a product of western culture. Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Snow white, all of them are the protagonist of western fairy tales. To be frank, most Chinese people do not understand their stories, which is difficult to arouse Chinese people sympathy. I think that they can add more Chinese elements, such as Chinese legend, Chinese mythology and so on. It will be to meet the needs of Chinese people.
Then, the position is another important factor for the company. Shanghai is an international metropolis, thousands of tourists come to here for traveling every day. Most of them are westerners, who can very well accept the Disney culture and enjoy the fun of Disney. Sometimes they even be able to lead the Chinese people to accept this new culture. In terms of weather, Shanghai’s weather is very bad sometimes, but better than Beijing. Shanghai is not cold in winter comparing with northern China, and is not hot in summer comparing with southern China. At last, price is a big problem in article. Actually, I do not think the price of ticket is expensive. CNY 370 is not a big money for Chinese people, because most of Chinese people will go to Disneyland once a year. It’s just like a short trip to the Chinese people. CNY 370 is for a short trip, which is not expensive.
In conclusion, Shanghai Disneyland can not be the second Pair Disneyland, because the culture is totally different. When entering new markets in the future, we have to change themselves to adapt to the new culture, change themselves to meet the new culture. For example, there are many kinds of American style Chinese food in America, and many kinds of Chinese style America food in Chinese KFC and McDonald’s. We need to change our product and style to meet new customers’ needs in order to be successful in new market.
November 6, 2016 @ 10:55 am
I would like to expound this case from my opinion using Hofstede’s cultural dimensions in order to state the cultural differences that Disney should clearly have thought of before introducing their theme park to Shanghai. Firstly, I want to present the official scores Hofstede attributed to China and France.
Power Distance: France (68) China (80)
Individualism: France (71) > China (20)
Masculinity: France (43) China (30)
Now I would like to focus on two of these four dimensions, the Individualism as well as the Uncertainty Avoidance.
When you have a look at the scores of Individualism in both countries, there is definitely a huge gap between them. China is a highly collectivist culture where people act in the interests of the group and not necessarily of themselves, whereas France with a score of 71, is shown to be an individualist society where one is supposed to take care of oneself and one’s family. Thinking about Disneyland Paris, the first thing I could possible think of is a family having a great day together, taking pictures and making memories. Maybe I am wrong with that (if so feel free to correct me), I think Chinese are more “We”-conscious and like being in bigger groups. I don’t really know if the Disney Resort Shanghai or Disneyland Paris offers this, but in my opinion it would be a great idea to have group-tours through the Resort. So if someone is alone or wants to come alone to the Resort, they aren’t actually alone as they have their guided tour with several different people.
The last cultural dimension shows that these two countries totally differ concerning their Uncertainty Avoidance. In China, they have a low Uncertainty avoidance whereas in France they have a high one. The French do not like surprises. Structure and planning are required.
When thinking about that UA in France, they normally should have considered every possible cultural difference, as they usually do not want to take risks. Instead, they adapted their theme park just superficially. I absolutely agree with Linyin Zhang’s statement when it comes to food. Even though you may think that “Peking duck pizza” is very Chinese, in fact it is not. Disney should have done more research on the habits and preferences of Chinese people. Though the theme park itself is the attraction, the food they are offering plays a crucial role. Think about a family visiting the Disney Resort Shanghai who had a car ride of two or more hours. The first thing after an exhausting car ride and before starting a great day is to eat their favourite meal, as this day is exceptional. I personally think that it is a little bit disappointing when finding out that the great Disney Resort does not offer the food you’d like to eat. Moreover, you need to consider that China has many different theme parks. Besides them having a lower price, they offer their guests exactly what they want, as they know their visitors’ demands.
Furthermore, the average income of the Chinese needs to be considered. Since the ticket for Disney’s theme park is already more expensive than the one in other theme parks in China, Disney needs to think about the price range of the merchandise. On the one hand the French culture wants to avoid risks e.g. the risk of not selling merchandise, and on the other hand, they offer merchandise that nobody can pay for. They should not sell it cheap, of course not – would not fit the image of Disney. At least they can make it affordable. It is much better having happy children leaving the theme park with their favourite toys instead screaming ones because their parents could not afford it to buy them something.
To conclude I just want to say that Disney does a great job with these theme parks they have. They just need to adapt some points to the Chinese culture in order to get a win-win situation. Fortunately, things like food, group tours and prices can easily be changed; they just need to listen to their customers.
March 15, 2017 @ 10:17 pm
Hi everybody,
it is common knowledge that Disney’s attempt to replicate Disneyland (Anaheim ,CA) 2.0 was everything else than a success. They were so blinded by their success in the United States that all they could see were opportunities and overlooked the challenges and threats. They couldn’t see the enormous cultural differences between America and France. The whole point about Disneyland is that it is supposed to be the happiest place on earth and the crucial point to this promise are the employees. You would never see a frown in the face of one of Anaheim’s employees. You can more or less command them to be happy. But this does not work with French people. They are happy when they are happy and grumpy if something is bothering them. This is not good or bad, it is just a part of their culture.
Regarding the Disney Resort Shanghai, I think that the business was not implemented perfectly. However, they learned from their mistake in Paris and adapted a little bit more to the local culture. After all Bob Chapek, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts statet that “Our financial results during the first 100+ days of operation have exceeded our expectations, and guest feedback has been extremely strong, establishing a solid foundation upon which to grow,”.
After all one has to ask the question: what does Disney want? Maybe they don’t want to assimilate to every country. Maybe it is part of their plan to bring some aspects of American culture with them wherever they go.
June 14, 2017 @ 5:13 am
I don’t disagree with Mr. Wang about how high the influence of the seasons is on park visits. However, due to Shanghai being a huge city with a population of 24.15 million and lots of traffic volume, I would like to argue that between its citizens and tourists Disneyland Shanghai should have a significant amount of visitors even during colder seasons. And even if he is right, and the weather is too humid in the summer and too cold in the winter, the other half of the year might be maxed out on capacity, making enough money for that location to still be profitable at the end of the year. Also, it is an effort for Disney to expand globally, in this case China. Since there already is a theme park in Hong Kong, Disney had to find another city, not too close to Hong Kong and is exposed to many visitors. Hong Kong is in the very south of the country. Looking at these facts, many cities that do have better climate for a theme park were eliminated due to their close proximity to Disneyland Hong Kong. In my eyes, Shanghai seems to be the best city to build another park in (in China). Going further north means even colder weather and possible fewer months of visitor exposure.
Disney faced many challenges when its theme park entered Paris. However, I blame a lot of those issues to Europeans little to none exposure to theme parks prior to Disneyland. Sure, weather plays a role, but as has been proven, the theme park is now successful and visited by many, the weather however hasn’t changed.
I strongly agree with Mr. Wang on his point that touches culture. I also believe that it is important for Disney to conform to the likes of the Chinese as they will be the most visitors. They should be able to eat the food they prefer and be able to purchase merchandise.
A few of my thoughts:
In order for Disney to wave a higher volume of visitors during off-seasons, they can have different themes for its visitors. For example, Halloween, Chinese New Year, and whatever other traditions might make more people come to visit.
I believe that eventually Disney will have to evolve in the subject of technology. It used to be a place of innovation; people were impressed with what they saw. However, nowadays, Disney is not using mind blowing technology (which is so important nowadays) for visitors to admire. But the way I see Disney in the future is that it is going away from physical rollercoasters and other rides to it all being virtual. I picture cinema-like facilities that can fit more people than the rides, are indoor and provide 4-D experiences. If this change (or similar) is happening, the concern of the seasons would be completely eliminated.
July 9, 2017 @ 9:20 pm
From my point of view it’s a really pity that Disney opened up again a fun park without carrying out to less market research – at least it seems to be like this!
Hofestede’s cultural dimensions (https://geert-hofstede.com/united-states.html) show that there are big differences in the dimensions: power distance, individualism, long term orientation and indulgence. With this knowledge in mind you have to consider the cultural differences between the US and China and would probably realize that you can’t open a Disneyworld with the original concept. If you open up such a fun park you have to adapt e.g. the prices, the opening times and the attractions to the demand of the locals even though they probably love the Disneyworld in California. But you have to keep in mind, that they are just on holiday in the UK and that’s not enough to make such a big investment just to open up new markets and go with the trend internationalization.
July 20, 2017 @ 11:09 pm
Shanghai Disneyland is not another Paris. Unlike the setbacks that marred the opening of Disneyland’s opening in Paris, Disney has anticipated the culture gap and geography as they prepare to open their largest theme park in Shanghai. The 400 hectare park and $5.5 billion dollar investment reflected Disney’s corporate readiness to meet the expectations of its desired Chinese customers (South China Morning Post, 2016). To ready the theme park, Disney and its partner, Shanghai Shendi Group, took precautions to bridge the culture gap between Chinese and American culture. Developers also clearly defined their target audience of upper middle-class families.
Jianlin Wang, who is developing his own theme parks in China, criticized Disney, stating that Disney’s high prices, the culture gap, and Shanghai’s already-westernized population made for a poor fit. Disney has responded by making specific changes to Shanghai Disney to appeal to Chinese culture. Notably, the company replaced the Main Street that reflected American history from the early 1900s with A Garden of Twelve Friends, which include Disney-fied Chinese zodiac characters (the Tiger, for instance, is Tigger) (Makinen, 2015). In case the visitors do not know who Tigger of any of the Winnie the Pooh characters are is, a “Mickey Avenue” will contain backstories of Disney’s older characters (Makinen). This product placement selectively promotes Disney characters like Tigger, Pluto (the Dog), and Thumper (the Rabbit) within a Chinese context. Other traditional Disney rides also incorporate Chinese tastes: the shopping centers resemble Shikumen-style architecture from Shanghai, while new restaurants, such as Wandering Moon Teahouse serves Chinese meals, and the castles have older Chinese design elements (Makinen).
Disney also narrowly selected their target audience. The placement of the park in Shanghai is not coincidental, as Shanghai is a world city with a higher standard of living. The theme park’s high prices (including $56 admission [Maddaus]) project an elitist image that appeals to China’s rising upper middle class, which is expected to reach over 100 million people by 2020 (South China Morning Post). Indeed, Disney justified its Shanghai location; the three-hour radius surrounding Shanghai contains a population equal to the United States, allowing Disney to tap into that market (Maddaus). Disney officials also noted that nearly half of the visitors to the older Hong Kong Disneyland came from mainland China (Makinen). The two separate theme parks are projected to grow in separate ways, with Hong Kong developing traditional theme park rides, such as an Iron Man-inspired adventure, while Shanghai Disneyland remains “authentically Disney and distinctly Chinese” (Makinen). While Jianlin Wang claims that Shanghai’s bad weather may drive visitors away (perhaps to Hong Kong Disney!), Disney is positioned to recoup their loss during good days, in which they have a target audience of hundreds of millions of people in the Shanghai region.
Catering to Chinese social norms included more live entertainment such as local acrobats from Wuhan and choreographed by Li Xining (Pagaran, 2016). These acrobats appear in Disney-themed shows, such as Tarzan and Pirates of the Caribbean. These shows further blend local culture within an American context and can appeal to residents who will appreciate Disney’s recognizing local talent, to American/foreign visitors, who can enjoy this “exotic” performance within an American theme park. Shanghai Disney further combines Asian and Western values, such as the revered status grandparents and the elderly have in families by providing picnic areas that are easily accessible for elders and families, and more seating in restaurants because Chinese visitors “linger longer over meals” (South China Morning Post). While the theme park does not serve shark fin soup because of protests from environmental groups, Disney reports that nearly 70% of the option menus are Chinese, such as eel over rice and Peking duck pizzas (Pagaran, 2016). While the sight of Donald Duck and other Disney mascots performing Tai Chi exercises may provoke amusement and laughter, the image symbolizes Disney’s determination to co-opt every aspect of Chinese culture to promote their theme park.
In November 2016, less than six months after its grand opening, Disney Shanghai already welcomed four million visitors (Maddaus). While the theme park’s numbers may be impressive, the greater feat is Disney’s impact on Chinese culture. By exposing new audiences to the entire Disney canon, from the Aristocrats to Zazu, Disney’s marketers are poised to expand the brand image to a whole new world of millions of customers.
References:
Maddaus, G. (2016). Shanghai Disneyland’s huge early numbers vindicate a big gamble. Retrieved from http://variety.com/2016/biz/asia/shanghai-disney-profits-big-numbers-1201923826/
Makinen, J. (2015). How “Chinese” will Shanghai Disney be? Retrieved from http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-how-chinese-will-shanghai-disney-be-20150715-story.html
Pagaran, M. (2016). How Shanghai Disney Resort is appealing to China’s middle class. Retrieved from http://disneyexaminer.com/2016/06/20/how-shanghai-disney-resort-is-appealing-to-chinas-middle-class-disneyland-culture-authentically-disney-distinctly-chinese/
South China Morning Post. (2016). How Disney made sure Shanghai Disneyland doesn’t put off Chinese visitors. Retrieved from http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/1988450/how-disney-made-sure-shanghai-disneyland-doesnt-put-chinese
August 5, 2017 @ 5:19 am
Mr. Wang’s criticism about the opening of Disneyland in Shanghai is understandable to some extent. He was basically worried about the corporate readiness of Disney and its fit to the cultural environment in China. However, I think Disney has made a lot of efforts to ensure that the company can fit the culture. Firstly, Disneyland has made a lot of preparation and adjustment to ensure that the entire project can be well operated with the amount of 5.5 billion USD invested in the project of construction (MAO & HE, 2010). Of course, Disneyland is a large corporate that has sufficient capacity to operate such a grand project in China and have the ability to eliminate risks. The fact that Mr. Wang criticized about the cultural fit, it is not understandable. Shanghai is the most internationalized city in China, and therefore it is expected that the Shanghai residents have already got good understanding about the Disneyland and its related cultural implications (Matusitz, 2010). Besides, it is also possible that those people who go to Shanghai Disneyland have been to other Disneyland amusement parks in the world (Richburg, 2011). This is the reason why I think Mr. Wang’s worry about the cultural issue in the Disneyland project. Shanghai is actually an ideal location for Disneyland. Economically speaking, Shanghai is one of the cities in China that is of high GDP, which shows that the local consumers can afford to go to Disneyland (WU & FENG, 2013). For Disneyland, the consumer capacity guarantees the revenue and profits. A commercial project like the Disneyland amusement park has to bring sufficient revenue, and the positive perspective in the profit making in Shanghai shows corporate readiness. Shanghai attracts a lot of international travellers as well, which shows that this Disneyland in Shanghai will become another reason why the customers live in the neighborhood countries will visit Shanghai. As a matter of fact, Disney intends to target the specific group of customers that are especially interested in the service of Disneyland and are able to afford to pay for the service. The idea of establishing the service for Chinese market might be too broad, considering that China is a country of a lot of differences in terms of income and living habits (Du, 2016). Disneyland does not intend to construct this Shanghai amusement park for the entire China, but focuses on some of the customer segment. Shanghai residents are interested in providing more entertainment for children to grow their intelligent as well, which is another reason why they are interested in purchasing the service from Disneyland.
Moreover, Disney also provides the 3 months time to pre-open the service and to ask tourists and travellers to test the service and see if there is improvements to make. Disneyland also adjust some of the offering according to the customer feedbacks soon after. The initiative that the Disney has taken in testing the service before officially opened to the public again shows the determination of Disneyland to improve the service quality.
When looking into the project construction, Disneyland chose Shanghai Shendi Group as a partner to participate to eliminate the cultural gap (Du, 2016). Disneyland has been through the important process of selecting the Chinese partner, which shows that the top management has conducted good thinking in the project.
Meanwhile, the criticism that Mr. Wang has given on the Disneyland project; might due to the fact that he has the interest in developing his own amusement parks in China. His opinion might only represent his own understanding about this project. When people criticize about the corporate readiness, it is more important if they given evidence to support their opinion. Mr. Wang does not have sufficient experience of creating amusement parks though he is very wealthy in China. Mr. Wang is confident that he should be able to provide better service and quality of amusement projects in China for the Chinese customers, however so far there is not supporting evidence to show that.
To conclude, even though Mr. Wang Jianlin’s comments on the Disneyland in Shanghai are negative, it is still possible to oppose his comments through evidence of the corporate readiness of Disneyland through social, cultural and economic aspects.
References:
Du, J. (2016). Opportunities and challenges for Shanghai Disneyland–A stakeholder analysis. Handbook Event Market China, 229.
MAO, R.-z., & HE, J.-m. (2010). Research on Shanghai Disneyland’s Impact on the Industrial Development of Shanghai Disneyland’s Surrounding Areas——Based on International Experience [J]. East China Economic Management, 5, 003.
Matusitz, J. (2010). Disneyland Paris: a case analysis demonstrating how glocalization works. Journal of Strategic Marketing, 18(3), 223-237.
Richburg, K. B. (2011). Disneyland project in Shanghai spotlights forced evictions in China. The Washington Post, 25.
WU, W.-z., & FENG, X.-g. (2013). The Review on Foreign and Domestic Research on Disneyland and it’s Implication to Shanghai City. East China Economic Management, 2, 028.
February 3, 2018 @ 7:24 am
It’s easy to assume that nearly everything Disney does is a success, with their enormous following and loyal consumers. I wasn’t aware that EuroDisney was considered unsuccessful. Growing up, I always thought that all the parks were a hit. While it’s been two years since Shanghai opened, it’s still too soon to determine if it’s a failure or not. Culture plays such a huge role when going international, as there can be make or break differences. Disney is such an influential and powerful corporation, I feel they could decide not to adapt in the countries they expand, and they could still be successful. I’m surprised however, that they didn’t factor location as much as they should’ve considering what happened with EuroDisney and the impact of weather on park attendance and business. Entering the international market involves a balance of standardization and adaptation and I think Disney has been reluctant to adapt to local culture, which has ultimately hindered their success overseas. Certainly Disney has remained successful in their endeavors, but they can do better by doing extensive research, defining their goals and standards for measuring risks and benefits, and providing a framework for the projects they have in mind.
September 30, 2018 @ 5:51 pm
The original Disneyland in Anaheim is known for being the “happiest place on earth.” The guests experience has been their top priority from day one, allowing children and adults to enter a fantasy world of make-believe and magic. As someone who has visited the theme park more times than I can count, I can understand the emotional connection consumers make with the brand and the immense opportunity this has created for Disney to capitalize on spreading the magic internationally. While Wang is asking the right questions, I’m not as dubious about Disney’s foray into China. As noted above, Wang is a direct competitor of Disney Shanghai.
As we review the steps of systematic internationalization, Disney seems to have checked all the boxes for corporate and product readiness. It is their target market selection and entry mode strategy that is most under scrutiny. We know it is best to standardize as much as possible, and only adapt as much as needed. Yes, Disney has had a few kinks to work out in order to find that sweet spot of standardization vs. adaptation when they established theme parks in Japan, Paris and Hong Kong over the years. And while they definitely stumbled with Disney Paris by not taking well enough into consideration the political, economical or social adaptation pressures they would encounter in that market, they did alter their ethnocentric strategy to a polycentric one over time and have been able to keep all their international parks open, with varying degrees of profitability. Disney Imagineers have been able to alter the marketing mix to fit each foreign market, customizing important nuances of the Disney brand in each park. For example, Main Street at Disney Tokyo is covered to be more in-line with Japanese shopping centers and updated the Alice in Wonderland ride to be featured more prominently at Disney Paris to better appeal to nearby British tourists. The adaptation list that the Imagineers considered goes on and on, which I find immensely intriguing as a Disney enthusiast.
Yes, Disney stumbled in Paris, but why does Wang not mention Disney Tokyo or Hong Kong, which opened before and after Paris? As Disney turns to Shanghai, Wang’s points raised regarding cultural fit and affordability are valid. Yes, Disney will have to find that sweet spot once again, but it’s clear they are approaching it strategically and proactively. Disney did not achieve their mega status without having a clearly defined corporate and international strategy, plus they have more than a few strong advantages to aid their efforts in Shanghai. First off, scale. According to Statista.com, China makes up 29% of the Asian population base. If they can tap in to even a fraction of that market, they will be in a good position. Statista also notes that Disney Parks dominates world theme park attendance every year, as they own 9/10 of the most visited theme parks worldwide and make four times more revenue than their closest theme park competitor, OCT Parks China. Secondly, Disney Shanghai is a joint venture with the government controlled Shanghai Shendi Group, which presents China with a strong interest in seeing Disney succeed in their home market.
January 6, 2022 @ 6:09 am
These articles are interesting to read in hindsight after being able to assess the data ourselves five years later. In 2020, Shanghai Disneyland brought in 5.5 million visitors and has been a tremendous success since its doors opened. Given what we knew regarding Mr. Jianlin Wang, it seems clear now that his statements were very much out of his own self interest. Disney knew they could rely upon the fact that Shanghai had a long-term exposure to Western culture and that ultimately, to quote The Field of Dreams, if they built it, they would come. They, of course, being park visitors. Thanks to meticulous effort from market researchers, Disney knew that they could establish a major landmark and tourist destination thanks to similar observable data. For one, Mr. Wang’s claim regarding weather can be easily disproven in the States alone, with Disney World in Orlando driving massive summer attendance numbers despite its brutal humidity and unforgiving conditions. That said, I do not think Wang was inherently incorrect, I just think he severely misunderstood the influence of the Disney brand. The lifeblood of Disney culture is fostering a cult-like fandom that does not discriminate. Ultimately, only time will tell for Disneyland Shanghai as they are only 5 years into the business, however if there is one thing Disney hates doing its shutting down and admitting defeat.
January 18, 2022 @ 6:42 pm
Though the climate might be a source of negativity for Disney Shanghai, they still have a large following of people who are willing to brave the weather. Most places around the world do not have the same climate that California has. If Disney only put their locations where the weather was sunny most of the year, many continents and countries would go without. Even Disney World in Orlando, Florida has extreme heat and is humid most of the year. The fact that Shanghai is in a westernized coastal metropolis that gets millions of visitors each year seems like a great business opportunity for Disney. I disagree with Mr. Wang and his opinions about Disney Shanghai. I think he is biased because he plans to open his own theme park locations in similar cities to Disney. Disney had been open in other Asian cities with similar climates and experienced great success. Disney knows that they must find a balance with the culture in Asia in order to appeal to their consumers. They have accomplished this in other cities such as Hong Kong.
January 30, 2022 @ 9:21 pm
Globalization is such a debated topic, and when it comes to Disneyland, arguments are all over the place. Launching any service in another country always requires ample amounts of work. While the argument remains that you must customize any product to the location you are launching it in, this would get a little complicated when it comes to Disneyland. Disneyland is about the world in Disney and customization becomes a little more complicated at that time. I think Disney should accommodate in terms of the foods they serve and their merchandise, but I don’t think there is anything else that could be done.