The Euro Disney opened the very first park in Paris in 1992. This is created from the blue print of Disney California. Euro Disney tried to sell the American way of holiday, so a few years later Euro Disney suffered from their debts, and there was the rumor that the Euro Disney would be close because of the bankruptcy. Actually, the Euro Disney did not get enough visitors and had a financial problem so that they needed to talk with the bank for help. At this time the Saudi royal family, which now owns 38% of shares, invested $350 million on Euro Disney and saved it from the bankruptcy.
Also, their American way of management did not work well in Paris, so within one year, about 25% of Euro Disney's workforce, which is approximately 3,000 people, had quitted their jobs because of unacceptable working conditions.
In terms of food and restaurants, Euro Disney did not allow any alcohol in the park, however, people in France usually drink wines for their every meal, so people did not like it. In addition to alcohol, the Euro Disney made a lot of food stand and fast food shops in the park rather than the restaurant because that was the common way in American amusement parks. However, many French people prefer to take a seat in the restaurant and take longer time to eat and enjoy, many visitors concentrated in the restaurant and long line for restaurants disappointed visitors.
As an advertising, Euro Disney advertised their park emphasizing on the size of the park and the money they spent for the construction rather than telling the attractiveness of the park, those were not appealing to the French. Rather, some French people were mislead to the idea that Euro Disney was arrogant.
In the USA, many people stay at the Disney Resort for three days at average. Thus, Euro Disney expected customers to stay as long as the American people do, but actually, the stay was shorter than it expected.
As a first step to adapting the local, Euro Disney was subjected to the change of the name, and now Euro Disney changed the name from the "Euro Disney resort" to "Disneyland Paris," aiming to wipe out the negative impression on "Euro Disney Resort," and get the local people's attention.
As I wrote above, Euro Disney met a lot of misunderstanding of the French market and got a lot of debts. It is still burdened by as much as $2.20 billion and that is 15 times its gross average earnings. The magic of Disney seems to have a universal excitement, but even one of the most famous company in the world cannot ignore the concept of cross cultural marketing. When a company tries to expand into a new country or region, a company needs to conduct a research to understand the cultural environment, such as folkways, norms, and taboos, because those cultural differences affect consumers reactions.
Sources:
http://www.businessinsider.com/euro-disney-announces-1-billion-crisis-plan-2014-10
http://www.123helpme.com/disney-in-tokyo-and-paris-view.asp?id=164635
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disneyland_Paris#1995_turnaround
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