PARADOXES

1. Paradox of logical and creative thinking

Logical: Logical thinking is based on formal way of thinking and taking decisions based on disciplines and precisions. The decision and thinking process is based on valid principles and arguments. In logical process the decision making is vertical which is that decision is taken from top to bottom.(Wit and Meyer,2005).After considering the success of Tokyo Disney land a logical decision was taken by Walt Disney to create Euro Disney .The two options which emerged for Disney land included: Barcelona and Paris. The option of building Euro Disney in Barcelona was that it had a better climate throughout the year. On the other hand, Paris had a key economic and infrastructure as well as the backing of government helped them to build Euro Disney in Paris. This was a logical decision which was taken by the management of Walt Disney based on the key facilities available in Paris. This decision was logical and sensible because Europe has been always a strong market of Disney movies, toys, books and comics. Moreover, Roughly 16 million people lived within 160 km radius of the propose site which clearly shows that this was a logical decision to built Euro-Disneyland in Paris. In assessing the location, criteria for Euro Disney included: Euro Disney should be built close to high density population zone with the relatively high level of disposable income, high local tourist density, availability of qualified labor, accessible transport, sufficient land to permit decision and necessary infrastructure such as water and electricity. Based on logical thinking Walt Disney took decision in order to boost attendance by changing the parks name from Euro Disney land to Disney land Paris. The park was developed in a way which adapted French and European culture. Some of the adaptions which would attract French and European visitors includes: Cinderella lived in French inn and snow whites home was in Bavarian village. Where the other attractions were unique to Euro Disney that they have changed one of the land from Tomorrowland to Discovery land. Creativity: While diagnosing strategic problems, organizations need to think creatively. De Bono refers to creativity in a way that it is a lateral thinking. (Wit and Meyer,2005) The creative thinking of Euro Disney managers includes that they came with an idea to built new attractions such as video screens, movies and other entertainments and redesigned the existing facilities. Climate compelled Disney to generate complex design which suited the climate of Paris. Euro Disney saved cost up to FF 550 million by introducing flexible labor agreements, they introduced more part timers and gave jobs to students in the peak season.

2. Paradox of deliberateness and emergence:

Deliberateness (planning):

Creating strategy can be a fascinating as well as frustrating thing. Deliberateness planning is about acting deliberately and thinking before carrying out a plan. (Wit and Meyer,2005).Walt Disney entered into an agreement with the government of France for the creation and operation of Euro Disney. Furthermore, Euro Disneyland SCA also signed an agreement with French railway which was a planned agreement and the objective was to provide fast train to Euro Disney land and create 30,000 jobs in France. By developing theme park in Paris, Euro Disney land would be capable of achieving a high level of capacity utilization, even with much lower penetration rates than those achieved by Disney California and Florida themes park. A strategic planning step which Euro Disney planned was to adapt such a design so that attendances at the park do not drop and remain at a constant level throughout the year. The CEO of Euro Disney Bourguignon was optimistic that the company would start getting operating profits in 1995 as planned. The key decisions which were to be taken by Euro Disney had been planned as follow by Bourguignon: to cut admission costs to boost attendance by about 800,000 visitors, to reduce costs of Euro Disney. Euro Disney financial planning and projections were made by consultants Arthur D. Little who were a financial firm. These were a part of long term planning for Euro Disney. A restructuring plan was announced for Euro Disney in 1994, which Walt Disney entered into agreements with Euro Disney and the lenders of Euro Disney so that debt, equity lease can be provided to Euro Disney.
Emergence (Planning):

Emergence planning is when there are no plans or people divert from the original plans but the approach is strategic. (Wit and Meyer,2005).The efforts to boost attendance included a strategy to change the name of Euro Disney to Disney land Paris which was an emergent step and diverted from original plans. There was a confusion that whether Euro Disney is an American culture or French culture which was later clarified that its very much an American culture and its basically about the Americans.

3. Paradox of Control and Chaos:

Control and Chaos: Paradox of control talks about the power of a manager or a leader within an organization to give directions, impose orders and control activities. (Wit and Meyer,2005).Disney controls its human resource management and operational management through a highly systemized operations which acts as a great success for Walt Disney. The CEO of Euro Disney was Philippe bourguignon. The CEO was in charge for the Euro Disney and major decisions were to be taken by him. Euro Disney chose to retain its management control over the

operational activities of Euro Disney. Moreover the management company was responsible for running the Euro Disneyland SCA. It also had the right to sell the land to the third parties. Senior managers argued for the closure of Euro Disney land. Another case was when CEO postponed the phase 2 of the development plan but the senior management had been urging CEO bourguignon to go ahead with the project which shows lack of managerial power while CEO had the executive power at the top.

4. Paradox of market and resources:

Markets:
SWOT analysis is a tool to check environment and market. A firm going into a market needs to analyse SWOT tool which matches the organizations objectives. The swot analysis for Disney: Walt Disney is the pioneer of theme park concept and they are the market leaders in highest Disney merchandizing retail store in US. Walt Disney provides unique experience to the visitors and customer satisfaction is guaranteed by facilitating them with their trained employees in highest level of service and safety. This is proven by the fact that Disney enjoys the highest level of attendance than any other theme park in the world (2 million people visit Disney land annually). All this is because of their established brand name with strong financial backing and experience. By 1990, Walt Disney World had become the largest centre of hotel in USA with about 7,000 rooms. The weakness of Euro Disney includes, recruiting policy of Disney created different problems and issues for Disney, such as their employee hand book The Euro Disney look provides a storm of protest. As a result, during the first 9 weeks of operation thousands of employees left Disney. Furthermore, negative comments relate to frustration with long periods of waiting and line high cost of admission harmed Disney quite a lot. Moreover, the people could not yet figure that whether Euro Disney is going to American park, French park or European park. Despite good visitors numbers during the summer Euro Disney profitability would fall far below expectations because of expected visitor target was not achieved and company was not able to achieve cost efficiency and resulted in FF 1.7 billion lose. Due to high prices the European prefer to go to Disney Florida rather than Euro Disney land. In addition, Europe has always been a strong market for Disney movies and strong demands for toys, books and comics of Disney, which generated about 1 quarter of revenues from Disney licensed products. Each year 2 million people visit Disney land all over the world. Due to the above facts, Disney saw an opportunity in European market and in 1984, they decided to enter the European market. Furthermore, the feasibility planning showed that the Disneyland if launch in Paris will enjoy key economic, infrastructure advantages, high tourist turnover, market potential and support from French government. Moreover, European received sustainably more vacation time than USA workers. Another factor was

the competition was not intense with very few large theme parks directly threaten Disneyland. This will be an opening for Walt Disney to float their shares in London and Paris. While entering into the French market climate was a major problem for Euro Disney land to carry their operations. France with different culture perspectives and events such as MUNICH BIERFEST, the PAMPLONA Bull running festival, ADINPURGH cultural festival, and Dutch Tulip festival posed a threat since they attracted the potential customers of Euro Disney land. French intellectuals saw American cultural with a hostile attitude (Antagonism), there were wide spread nationalistic sentiment seeing French language and culture as treated by global Hegemony of the English language. French media intelligentsia viewed the park (a cultural Chernobyl) a horrifying step towards world homogenization. What is more, France has always been independent in terms of foreign policy and they were unwilling to accept USA leadership and world affairs, as a result, euro Disney became a focal point for anti-Americanism fuelled by multiple issues such as Farmers protesting US farm policy. Moreover, human relations management posed further cultural challenge; there were negative comments on Disneys practice regarding rules of the employee handbook. General confederation of Labor warned Disney saying those regulations were an attack on individual freedom. Further opposition was shown with a demonstration of local residents, a train strike and terrorist bomb attempted to disrupt power to the park. When Disney announced to enter into the French market, a number of competitors such as, ASTERIX and BIG BANK SCHTROUMPH decided to open their gates to compete with Disney and they created severe challenges to Euro Disney land. These competitors were the financial disaster for the Euro Disney land in first year of operation with FF 1.7 billion lost. There were concerns that visitors number would drop significantly especially during winter months. Resources: For a firm, utilization of resources to its full strength is very vital. Resources are essential for any organization. The Euro Disney has utilized its resources as follows: Walt Disney Company granted to Euro Disneyland SCA a license to use any present or future Disney intellectual and industrial property rights incorporate in Disneys attractions and facilities and made available to the company for Euro Disney. These included the Walt Disney name, the Disney characters and the proprietary technology in theme park attractions. Moreover, Disney offered a wide range of unique resources including magic kingdom hotel, camping ground and entertainment restaurant, shopping complex, sport facilities, 18 hole championship golf course, two junctions nearby motorway, drinking water supply, distribution system, storm drainage, sewers, solid waste treatment and telecommunication networks. The key factor attracting Disney to Paris was market potential, high capacity utilization even with much lower market penetration rates then Disney California and Florida theme parks. Moreover, there were very few large theme parks could directly compete with Disneyland.
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Disney seeks a unique opportunity in Paris and they decided to design a park which would incorporate adoptions of French and European culture. French government support was unique resource for Euro Disney as it provided financial inducements included 4.8 billion in loans and favorable tax rate 34%. Furthermore, Disney selection and training were closely modeled on Disneys US approach. In addition, European aversion to queuing resulted in the provision of video screens, movies, and other entertainment for guests waiting in line. Disneys strong brand name enhanced its reputation and is one of the basic core competences. Disney success can be traced to the control of the environment to create unique experience for the visitors; these include training employees, highest level of service, safety, occupancy of high level of customer satisfaction, forecasting visitors level on daily basis, minimizing frustration of crowd and waiting, continual renewal, investment in new attractions and heavy promotions. In addition, Disneys no-alcohol policy was adjusted by allowing wine and beer to be served at Festival Disney. In order to improve the recruitment process, a Euro Disney branch of Disney University was opened and recruitment of 10000 employees began in September 1991.

5. Paradox of Globalization and localization:

Walt Disney is an international firm which looked into global markets and from the case study it is obvious that they have gone global. Their behavior is acting globally as they started operating in Tokyo and the success in Tokyo admired them to go into a new market in Europe as it was a strong market for them. Finally, Paris was chosen as a destination. In 1984, an important decision was taken by the management of Walt Disney for the development of European theme park and commenced feasibility planning and site selection. Walt Disney acts as an coordinated federation, as the subsidiaries have close relationship with Euro Disney. Most of the Core competences, technologies, and processes are developed by Walt Disney to Euro Disney land. A license agreement was granted by Walt Disney to Euro Disney to use intellectual and property rights such as Walt Disney name, characters and technology. Leher McGovern Bovis Inc (LMB) was responsible for the construction of Euro Disney land. The location Paris was chosen because it provided government backing as well as strong infrastructure of. Paris had strong rail networks, air links and a major tourist destination which provided a competitive advantage. Paris provided a large consumer market with high population (over 10 million) and also provided expansion opportunities for the park in future. By starting the operation in Europe, Disney would be capable of achieving a high level of capacity utilization, even with much lower market penetration rates than that of Disneys California and Florida theme parks. Dealing with the local customers Euro Disney made some operational improvements by cutting queuing time by 45% through new attractions and new designs and also to change the name from Euro Disney to Disney land Paris to attract customers and to respond to customer
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needs. Moreover, Disney plays a vital role in controlling the environment by creating a unique experience for the visitors and this controlled is achieved because Disney recruit systemize operations management and human resource management. Furthermore, Disney emphasizes on customer satisfaction is achieved through sophisticated methods of forecasting visitors on daily basis and careful design of park to minimize the frustrations of crowds and waiting.