Shanghai Disney Expansion Project - Assignment Example

Shanghai Disney Expansion Project Name: Course: Tutor: Institution: Date: Question 1: Market Planning As Sashittal and Tankersley (1997, p. 8) argued, strategic market planning is a strategic management function that involves aligning the organizational goals with consumer needs and wants. In this regard, organisations involved in the marketing function and willing to exert their influence both in the short and long term periods, they should apply market planning (Martinsons and Hosley, 1993, p. 48). The application of this approach enables organizations align their goals with consumer wants. I would encourage the application of the approach for the proposed Disneyland Shanghai theme park. One of the approaches through which the proposed venture could apply the strategy is through aligning its pricing needs with the consumers’ financial abilities and willingness to spend based on an evaluation of the traditional Chinese market spending culture evaluated through consumer and market surveys as well as reviews on its HKDL analysis a theoretical approach advocated for by Adams, Middleton and Ziderman (1992, p. 261). Moreover, the organization can align its product line with the Chinese market cultural needs. In this regard, instead of developing and adopting the traditional Disneyland characters and story lines, the organization can conduct expansive market surveys and consequently develop unique characters that match and fit into the Chinese market base. This as Pulendran, Speed and Robert (2003, p.478) stated would allow for increased market success possibility. In this regard, the application of the principles of strategic market planning such as surveys, market needs conformance and relationships establishment, Disneyland Shanghai theme park would increase its market influence and success opportunities. Question 2: Shanghai Disneyland SWOT analysis Strength Analysis In order to develop a strategic analysis of the likelihood for success and relevant application strategies, it is imperative to audit the proposed Shanghai Disneyland theme park. On one hand, a key strength of the theme park is its population base and potential that Strydom (2004, p. 65) attributed to a stable market base. As it stands currently, the Shanghai population base is 40 million. In addition, the evaluation analysis states that an additional 500 million population base is within 1.5 hours flights. In this regard, this illustrates that a key strength and justification for the venture establishment in China Shanghai is the large consumer base that is ready and willing to consume offered products and services in the proposed new theme park. Weakness Analysis Nevertheless, despite the merit of a strong consumer base, the proposed theme park venture faces the weakness of a similar Hong Kong theme park. In this regard, the proposed theme park, although a proposed new venture with unique traits and product offerings as well as an alternative value proposition, faces the risk of being perceived as duplication (Levina & Ross, 2003, p. 333). As such, this has a potential of reducing the overall theme park consumer base in that consumers already vision the Hong Kong theme park will have minimal motivation and drive to visit the theme park. Opportunities Threats One of the key opportunities that the proposed Hong Kong Disneyland theme park faces is the growing Chinese average Middle class population. In this case, the case study analysis establishes that currently, the middle class consumer base I at 11% of the total Chinese population that is estimated at 150 million. However, this population is expected to grow and expend to an average 900 million by the year 2025, a value almost three times the USA total population (Liaw, 2007, p. 31). Therefore, this increasing consumer income will into the future increase the average vacation days as well as the total population vales that each of the consumers will be willing to pay more than the current rates on tickets and other services thus expanding the theme park profit margins into the future. Threats Analysis Despite the huge market expansion opportunities in the market, the Shanghai Disneyland theme park faces increased market threats and challenges. One among them is foreign media restrictions in China, which regulates and controls the media content provided especially by the foreign investors as a move to control and safeguard the Chine culture. In addition, as theoretically noted by Weisenhaus (2014, p. 31), a key threat to the theme park’s success is the changing Chinese consumer preferences and the differences between the Western culture, where Disneyland has expanded its influence, and the Chinese culture, thus risking the threat of characters and content irrelevance in the Chinese market. Question 3: Application of the Experience Curve Disneyland has over the years expanded its global influence and, market control through a diverse application of strategies. In this regard as Leung and Hui (2002, p. 475) stated, the organization has established its current competitiveness through the application and use of unique market approaches with respect to differing market needs, consumer trends as well as market regulations. Indeed, this argument can be evidenced in the pricing approach as designed for the proposed new Shanghai Disneyland theme park. Therefore, through this approach, the organizational applied its experience in the HKDL and the market changing spending needs as demonstrated by industry reviews in the Chinese population (Wu, 1997, p. 108). Thus, the above illustration example illustrates the organizational actual and practical application and use of the experience curve in the Chinese market as the basis for its decision making and strategies development, thus evidencing that it can apply and use the experience curve in its strategic proposed new theme park management. An alternative approach into the future management of the theme park that the organization can apply the experience curve is in the determination of product portfolios. In this regard, based on its earnings and market acquisitions by the provided, HKDL, the proposed venture and improve on such service offerings. Nieto (2004, p. 315) argued that a product offering base serves as a key determination factor on the ability of the respective organizations to acquire a consumer base as well as enhance satisfaction and consumer retention. Therefore, through the application of such an approach, organizations guarantee the establishment of a market competitive edge, a virtue that allows for sustainability and eventual edging out of the competition. In this case, this analysis establishes that with its increased global market presence as well as prior experience in HKDL, a theme park serving a similar market culture, the Disneyland Shanghai theme park could apply and use the gained experience under the experience curve to improve its management efficiency, focus on encouraging the successful management strategies while elimination or improving on failed strategies to increase its overall market success both in the short and long run periods (Mitrasinovic, 2006, p. 342). Question 4: Generic Competitive Edge The Hong Kong Disneyland theme park, being the first and only Chinese theme park has developed its competitive edge form the high Chinese population around Hong Kong. In this regard, as Bigne, Moliner and Sanchez (2003, p. 424) stated, a consumer base and the potential for expansion are key competitive edge determinants. In this case due to a large consumer base, the theme park has been insulated against seasonal earnings and revenue variations. To this end, Ncube, Sibanda and Maunganidze (2013, p. 333) argued that earnings reliability is an imperative business management tool that facilitates proper and relevant management planning as a tool for enhancing eventual long term business market success. In this respect, the high population base, a growing consumer base has served as key competitive edges for the Hong Kong Theme park. However, it is important to note that the discussed consumer base is all based on the uniqueness of the product offerings provided by theme park. In this regard, the Chinese entire entertainment market lacks a suitable competitor that could match or face off the Disneyland products base in the market. Therefore, the unique product offerings and especially its focus on unique Disneyland stories and characters offers the theme park its current generic competitiveness (Peng, 2011, p. 456). However, I have a mixed feeling on the ability by the Hong Kong Theme park to retain its current generic competitiveness. On one hand, the venture has the ability to retain its competitiveness as the proposed new Shanghai theme park is in a different geographic location. In this regard, it implies that the proposed new theme park will not directly compete for the theme’s existing consumer base, thus allowing it to retain its market control. Moreover, the new theme park seeks to target on a new consumer segment in Shanghai and Beijing through offering different product propositions a virtue likely to reduce competition between the two parks. Nevertheless, I also perceive a challenge in the Hong Kong’s ability to retain its current generic market competitiveness (Benoliel, 2011, p. 16). In this regard, the proposed Shanghai theme park will establish an increased product offering and proposition due to its increased size and portfolio. Therefore, this is likely to overshadow the propositions offered by the Hong Kong theme park. Consequently, it is expected that a majority of the consumers will perceive the two theme parks as similar and thus always form strategic decision choices between the two where the Shanghai theme park with its increased products offering propositions is likely to acquire the priority thus eroding the current Hong Kong Disneyland theme park generic competitiveness. 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