The Walt Disney Company Please responds to the following: •The Walt Disney Company is in the following businesses: theme parks, Disney Cruise Line, resort properties, movie, video, and theatrical productions, television broadcasting, radio broadcasting, musical recording and sales of animation art, Anaheim Mighty Ducks NHL franchise, Anaheim Angels Major League Baseball franchise, books and magazine publishing, interactive software and internet sites, and The Disney Store retail shops. Based on the above list, determine whether or not Walt Disney’s lineup reflects a strategy of related diversification, unrelated diversification, or a combination of related and unrelated. Explain your answer and be prepared to justify the extent to which the value chains of Disney’s different businesses seem to have competitively valuable cross-business relationships. Disney uses the related diversification strategy. The related diversification strategy is when the new venture a company begins is related to the current business.
Disney began there company as a cartoon animation company. After Walt Disney became successful in the television and movie industry he ventured out into the amusement arena. These businesses are related because Walt Disney found a way to incorporate his animated characters into the theme park and branded it the most magical place in the world. Even the sport teams are related to the movie company , that Walt Disney created the Anaheim Mighty Ducks and Anaheim Angels Major League franchise have movies created based on the sport teams name “ The Mighty Ducks” and “ Angels in the outfield. All the entertainment ventures that the Disney Corporation has ventured into are all tied to the creation of the movie company. The books and magazine companies, musical recording, sales and animation art all appeal to Disney core audience. Disney uses cross marketing to promote all there venture therefore creating a loyal brand. By Disney connecting its business ventures allows the business ventures to increase in sales revenue and therefore turning a greater profit. A good example of how Disney uses related diversification is “ Hannah Montana. Disney created the “ Hannah Montana “ character for a show and later created a campaign that marketed Miley Cyrus as a recording artist where she performed at Disney World. Hannah Montana also had action figures, movies and CDs. Since diversification is a form of growth strategy Hannah Montana proves how Disney operates and ties all its business ventures into each other. I think this is the smartest possible way to diversify your business because you already have created a loyal fan based therefore it will make it easier for consumers to try the new product.