Hong Kong Disneyland Resort

In 2005, the Hong Kong Disneyland Resort was officially opened. It was Disney’s third theme park opened outside of the United States after the Tokyo Disney Resort and Disneyland Resort Paris. Tokyo Disney, the first park of Disney’s international expansion was a huge success while their second attempt in international expansion in the Disneyland Resort in Paris was very much a failure. Due to the booming economy of China in the recent decade, Disney set their eyes in China as their next expansion target. However, due to the fact that the infrastructure in China was not yet at an ideal standard, therefore, the attention shifted to Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region of China for the third international Disney theme park. The media and the public had much debate on whether Hong Kong Disney would be successful like Tokyo Disney or unsuccessful like Paris Disney. After its first year of operation, Hong Kong Disney received much negative publicity and disagreement on its operation process.

The major issues for Hong Kong Disney presented in the case are such as cultural differences, Disney’s strategic assets, local competition and challenges in operations. As a result from these challenges, negative publicity surrounded Hong Kong Disney “from overcrowding, to customer lawsuits, to chaotic incidents during Chinese Lunar New Year that were front page news in Hong Kong” (p.13). In addition, surveys conducted from park visitors found that 30 percent of guests expressed no interest in revisiting again. This paper will further explore and analyze these issues Hong Kong Disney is faced with and the type of problems Disney may come across if they decide to enter the Chinese market. Furthermore, recommendations as to what Hong Kong Disney can do to resolve these problems.

One of the major factors affecting international business operation is related to culture. According to Daniels, Radebaugh and Sullivan (2011), cultural awareness, identification and dynamics of cultures, behavioral practices affecting business and strategies for dealing with cultural differences are all cultural factors of operating environment abroad (p.49). The major problem that contributed to the failure of the Disneyland Resort in Paris was the miscalculation of cultural differences. The French was very resistant to the American culture and oftentimes taken as invasive and misunderstood.

Learning from the mistakes of Paris Disney, Hong Kong Disney attempted to pay special focus on the local culture of Hong Kong by consulting with feng shui masters on park layout, understanding the Chinese is especially conscious about good luck ceremonies, incorporating special Chinese holidays…etc. However,