Company Motivational Profile Paper

Introduction

Walter Elias Disney arrived in California with $40.00 in his pocket, dreams, and a short film called Alice's Wonderland. His bother Roy was already in California with only $200.00 in his pocket. Together they borrowed another $500.00 dollars and started making animations from Roy's place. Walt had a dream of selling his Alice's Wonderland series to a distributor as a pilot. N October 16, 1923 he signed a contract with a man named M. J. Winkler to distribute his Alice's Wonderland series, and that marks the beginning of the Walt Disney Company. The company was first known as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studios, but Walt's Brother who was his equal partner in the company suggested they change the name to the Walt Disney Studio.

Walt's first character was not Mickey as most people think, but a rabbit named Oswald. Unfortunately Walt had sold all his rights to the distributor and after making 26 Oswald cartoons, Walt found out when he tried to borrow money for the company that the distributor had sold all of his characters. This was a hard lesson, and Walt never forgot it. Walt's wife was the one who came up with the name Mickey for Walt's next and most famous character. Walt wanted to name him Mortimer. The synchronized sound film had recently premiered and Walt decided to fully synchronize his sound. Steamboat Willey opened at the Colony Theater t rave reviews n Nov 18, 1928. Mickey Mouse was a hit, and thus an empire began.

Product and Service Offered

Walt Disney started his product and services business almost by accident. A fellow kept hanging around Walt's hotel room waving $300.00 at him saying he wanted to put Mickey Mouse on paper for school children; because he and Roy always needed money he took the opportunity and that was that was the start of Disney's consumer product business. Mickey Mouse was n everything imaginable; dolls, dishes, tooth brushes, radios, figurines, lunch box, and everything else. In 1930 the first book and the first comic strip of Mickey Mouse was published. Unlike other Studios executives Walt Disney saw that televisions were a good thing and in 1954 he released the Disney anthology series, featuring the first television series David Crockett. It remained on air for 29 years, making it the longest-running prime-time series ever. Walt Disney was always looking for his next adventure, and he found it in amusement parks. He would always take his kids to parks, and zoos, and carnivals, and he would always find himself sitting on a bench somewhere because they had nothing for grownups to do. Walt thought that there should be a place that they whole family could have fun together, so on July 17, 1955 Disneyland opened. It is a place today where millions of visitors from all over the world come to enjoy themselves as a family. After Walt passed away Roy who was older than Walt took over the reins and showed that Disney was still a powerhouse. Through films like the Love Bug in 1969, and the Aristocrats in 1970 Disney proved that it was still on top. 1969 was also the year the educational subsidiary was started. Before Walt Disney died he purchased 28,000 acres of land in Florida with the intentions of starting a new theme park, Roy was determined to honor Walt's wishes, and on October 1, 1971 Walt Disney World was opened. It had a Disneyland like theme, but offered hotel, campgrounds, golf courses, shopping villages, and a moon rail connecting them all. Roy died just two months after making his brother's final dream come true.

10 years after Roy's death the EPCOT center was opened in Florida on October 1, 1982. By this time the business was being run by Card Walker, Dunn Tatum, and Ron Miller; all of whom were trained by Walt and Roy Disney themselves. Disney's Splash Mountain and Caribbean Beach Resorts opened in 1988. In 1989 Disney introduced three more distractions Disney MGM Studios Theme Park, Pleasure Island, and Typhoon Lagoon. In merchandizing Disney opened numerous successful Disney Stories. Disney formed other highly successful adventures such as Hollywood Records with music ranging from rap to movie sound tracks. Hyperion Books which sells children books, and in 1991 they acquired a Hockey Team. Other adventures by Disney included are their Home Sites which expects to house 20,000 families, and a one time the California Angels but sold them in 2003. The biggest event for Disney was in 1996 when they acquired Capital Cities/ABC. It cost Disney 19 billion at the time which was the second largest acquisition in US history. The transaction brought with it 10 TV stations, seven daily newspapers, ownership in the cable networks, ESPN. ESPN alone is worth the acquisition price, and scores of other businesses.

Financial information for the last five years

Motivational Strategies

Walt Disney mission at its simplest form is to make people happy. At Walt Disney Company they are committed to a standard of excellence in every aspect of our business and in every corner of the world, ethical and responsible conduct in all our operations respect for the rights of all individuals and respect for the environment.

Organizational Structure

Disney and its subsidiaries and affiliates is a leading international company with media enterprises and five business segments which include the following: Media Networks, Disney Interactive Media Group Studio Entertainment, Disney Consumer Products, and Parks and resorts.

Decision Making Strategies

Disney has always been guide by four core principals, to Dream, to Believe, to Dare, and to Do. These concepts are the foundation of the 10 management principles that are at the heart of Disney's strategies. Walt Disney has been credited with starting this strategy, and it has remained enforce until this day. The first management principal of Disney is t "Make everyone's Dream Come True." It outlines the importance of allowing members of the organization to dream and develop their creative talents. The second principle, "You Better Believe It", stresses the importance f a clear understanding of what the company's basic beliefs are and the core values of the company. Third is one of Walt Disney's secrets to success. The third principal of Walt Disney's secrets to success is "Never a Customer, Always a Guest. Walt Disney believed that everyone coming to Disney should be treated as a guest not a customer. More than any place else this was shown in how complaints to the company where handled. Walt Disney felt that how he solved guest problems sparked innovation. The Fourth

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