Culture and Organization: MacroMicro with The Walt Disney Companys Attempts at Internationalization

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Culture and OrganizationMacro/Micro withThe
Walt Disney Companys Attempts at
Internationalization
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David Lettermans Top Ten Rejected New Names for
Euro Disney
From the Home Office in Wahoo, Nebraska... 10.
Euro Disaster 9. El Biggo Mistake-o 8.
Never-Never-Profit Land 7. La Veal de Guys in
Big Smelly Costumes 6. Gumpworld 5.
Beaucoup de Crap Americain 4. Johnny Depp's
Hotel of Destruction 3. Boutros Boutros-Goofy
2. Have-You-Forgotten-We-Saved-Your-Ass-In-The
-World-War-Two-Land 1. Ooh-La-Lame
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CULTURE IN CONTEXT
Transformation Process
Culture
Input
Output
Organizational Group Individual
Environment Resources History
Task
Formal Organizational Arrangements
Individual
Feedback
From Nadler Tushman, A General Diagnostic
Model for Organizational Behavior
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The Embeddedness of Your Organizational Culture

• National (?)
• Institutional
• Departmental
• Occupational
• ___________??

Whats shared whats not?
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RESEARCH QUESTION
How does culture affect internationalization and
technology transfer?
Key problem uncertainty concerning whether a
firms products, resources, or capabilities will
continue to be aligned in new cultural
environments.
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ORGANIZATION-ENVIRONMENT FIT
Environment Population Ecology (Hannan
Freeman 1977, 1989 Aldrich 1979)
Institutional Theory (Meyer Rowan
1977 Zucker 1979 DiMaggio Powell 1983 Scott
1987)
Managers Fit Theory (Lawrence Lorsch
1967 Thompson 1967) Resource Dependency
(Salancik Pfeffer 1977 Pfeffer Salancik,
1978) Organizational Responses to Threats
Failure (Staw, Sandelands Dutton 1981
Meyer 1982Haveman 1992 Powell 1992)
International Business (Ghoshal Nohria 1989
Bartlett Ghoshal 1989 Prahalad Doz
1987 Kogut Zander 1992)
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IMPORTANCE OF CULTURAL ENVIRONMENT
under-theorized organizational playing
field is international - tenfold increase in
FDI in US over past 10 years - doubled US
investment abroad strategic intent of
internationalization - increased complexity
of what is transferred products -- whole
systems of management nature of markets
- interconnectedness of global markets
- dynamic
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GLOBAL VERSUS MULTIDOMESTIC STRATEGIES
Hi
Benefits of Global Integration
Lo
Lo
Hi
Benefits of Local Responsiveness
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Disneys Internationalization Strategy

• Tokyo Disneyland Global Integration (?)
• 125 million visitors since opening
• 8 out of 9 visitors are repeat customers

• Euro Disney Local Responsiveness (?)
• Net loss 87 million

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The Ten Most Visited Amusement Parks
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Euro Disneys Central Location
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RECONTEXTUALIZATION
Evolution of meaning within new cultural
environments
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CROSS-CULTURAL RECONTEXTUALIZATION
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SYSTEM OF SIGNIFICATION
Signifier
Signified
Sign

• Signifier Acoustic (mental) Imagesound of a
  word, script of a textMickey Mouse, Cowboy,
  Disney University
• Signified Concept or MeaningAll-American Boy,
  Rugged Individual, Militaristic boot-camp for
  Disneys cast members
• Sign Associative total of the Image (signifier)
  and its Meaning (signified)

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RECONTEXTUALIZATIONS OF THE DISNEY FORMULA
Products
FRANCE
US
JAPAN

• SouvenirsCustom

Low Sales Child-rearing moves
High Sales Materialist norm
Highest Sales Senbetsu Gift-giving needs

• Mickey MouseImage

Low Profile Minnie, Boop
Disney Symbol All-American Boy
High Profile Kawaii-- Mickey Minnie as Best
Couple

• CowboyImage

Carefree Independent
Rugged Individualist John Wayne
Team Player Rawhide Karaoke
Practices

• PersonnelManagement

Invasive
Hypernormal
Normal

• ServiceOrientation

Abnormal
Hypernormal
Cultural Norm

• Crowd Control/Queuing

Totalitarian
Efficient
Paternal/Social
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SOURCES OF POWER INFLUENCE

• Field Power
• Institutional
• Legal
• Demographic
• Educational
• Business
• Structure
• Interfirm alliances
• Cultural
• National Local
• Historical
• Linguistic

• Arena Power
• Venture Structure
• Subsidiary, IJV, etc.
• Organizational structure
• Formal
• Informal
• In-group cultural ties
• Home office ties
• Interpersonal
• Centrality, Criticality
• Expert
• Language

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Your Project Teams