Introduction
This essay will focus on Euro Disneyland’s cultural aspects. When utilizing Hofstede’s first four cultural characteristics of power distance, individualism, uncertainty avoidance, and masculinity, there are considerable cultural differences between the United States and France. The first cultural component, power disparities, is defined as a society’s acceptance of unequal power distribution. The power distance between France and the United States is significantly different since the United States is renowned for having a short power distance, whilst France is known for having a long power distance. Because managers and employees often work as a team rather than as a superior giving directives, the low power distance in the United States can be seen in numerous enterprises throughout the country. The United States takes pride in treating everyone equally, therefore it’s no surprise that it has a small power distance. In France, the big power difference is obvious in society since a high degree of inequality seems to be largely acceptable, and power is concentrated in businesses and governments.
The United States is recognized to be lower on the scale when it comes to the second cultural component of uncertainty avoidance, while France is normally higher on the scale. This is reflected in the contrasting civilizations, as Americans are more drawn to innovative items or attempting new ways, but the French dislike surprises and like to organize and control their lives. Both the United States and France are demonstrated to be individualistic nations in terms of the third cultural feature of Individualism, which is described as people’s desire to care for themselves and their immediate family solely. The key distinction is that the United States is an even more individualistic society than France, as seen by the French people’s preference for more reliance on the central authority.
When it comes to the third cultural component of masculinity, which may be characterized as a cultural trait in which success, money, and things are the main values in society, France and the United States are significantly different. The culture of the United States is known to be strongly masculine, as seen by many different aspects of American society, while France is considered to have a largely feminine culture, as evidenced by their society’s greater emphasis on caring for others and quality of life.
Discover: Problem Identification
Euro Disneyland was a realistic proposal that might have had a favorable response right from the start. However, there were significant issues that caused individuals to be unresponsive to the effort. To begin with, the Walt Disney Company, which controlled 49 percent of the new project’s shares, failed to uphold the cultural diversity themes of France, which they had committed to uphold when signing the project’s contract (Doh & Luthans, 2018). Throughout, the American corporation followed practices that favored American culture, which harmed the French even more. For example, the Disney business forbade the usage of wine inside the Euro Disney project setting, which was met with disapproval by the French since alcohol is always included in their meals.
Again, the restaurant’s menu focused mostly on American fare. Employees were also forced to a dress code, which contradicted the company’s concept. Surprisingly, the project’s managers were largely Disney personnel from the United States, and they were all critical of the French because they felt excluded. The strong French labor union, the Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT), understood that the nature of this firm would not allow for flexible working hours. The French requested that the fantasy world be constructed to look like chateaux, cathedrals, and medieval towns, but Disney surprised them by basing the concept on Germany’s Neuschwanstein Castle.
The United States is known to be lower on the scale when it comes to the second cultural component of uncertainty avoidance, while France is often higher. This is mirrored in the two cultures’ differences: Americans are more lured to inventive objects or new methods of doing things, while the French loathe surprises and prefer preparation and organization. In terms of the third cultural element of Individualism, which is defined as people’s desire to only care for themselves and their immediate family, both the United States and France are shown to be individualistic countries. The main difference is that the United States is an even more independent culture than France, as seen by the French desire to be more reliant on the central authority.
Investigate: Definition of the Problem
All of Disney’s requests were addressed before to signing the Final contract, including the decrease of VAT from 18.6% to 7%, the building of roads and railroads connecting the project, and the American entertainment firm was anticipated to include French culture into its themes. Despite these favorable circumstances, Disney has never followed French culture, preferring to practice American culinary culture in a number of ways, including cuisines, television programs, and personnel. When a new government assumed power in 1987, it was reticent to adhere to the contract’s conditions, notably on-budget funding for road infrastructure, causing the project to be delayed. They were also hesitant to participate on the project because they felt foreigners had infiltrated it and were being discriminated against and exploited as a consequence of the awful culture developed by the American firm (Allik & Realo, 2018). As a consequence, after previously denying them alcohol, accessible programs, and bad working conditions, Disney chose to ignore the company’s workers and aim.
Brainstorm: Alternatives
Disney Corporation may have embraced French culture since it would have had a significant impact on obtaining the expected 11 million visitors in the first year (Medeiros, 2019). Culture is a set of customs that have been passed down through generations and are followed by individuals on a daily basis. As such, it encompasses, among other things, meals, lifestyles, and wardrobe conventions, as well as working conditions. Second, given the project’s several collaborators, Disney may have listened to them from the beginning in order to secure the plan’s success. The reason for this is that the company owned 49 percent of the stock and, as a consequence, was running the Euro Disney project as if it were their own. Finally, since this was a good and practical proposal, the company would have provided the required resources internally through corporate social responsibility. Following investment, it is possible that the whole country, as well as neighboring countries such as Germany, Belgium, and England, were lured in.
Implement: Solutions
Because business relies on customers to consume its goods and services, the best choice from the above ideas is to embrace cultural diversity. Culture is important because it brings people together and has been practiced for a long time. As a result, incorporating cultural events would prevent French people from boycotting the event, and they would also volunteer to help with the mall’s development. Employing French managers would help to create a unified corporate culture that would make local communities feel important. Again, presenting television material that people like raises awareness, resulting in a rise in new clients. Disney would then profit from revenues generated by this large number of consumers.
Review: Effects of the Solution
Foreign investments need cultural variety since they may either succeed or fail. Since a result, worldwide corporations must guarantee that they follow and respect local customs, as they rely on these individuals to consume their products. Because French people felt Disney was an invasion and was invading them in their own nation, the corporation experienced problems because many individuals refused to work on the project. As a consequence, since they did not want to be exploited, they were unable to work. However, if Disney had included the community in all of its operations, things may have been different. The government would also want to collaborate with a foreign firm that respects its customs and principles since it can provide the infrastructure and other facilities that the company need (Mac-Dermott & Mornah, 2017).
Conclusion
Disney should have learnt from all of this that culture should not be overlooked when developing an operational strategy. Because culture is the driving force of a society, when a firm chooses to toss distinctions in culture out the window, they become far more vulnerable to the breakdown of their operational strategy. Disney’s case study is a perfect illustration of this since, despite having a strategic plan in place, the firm merely imposed American culture on the French market, only to be dissatisfied. The company would have had fewer problems in the early stages of the park if it had spent more time understanding the culture of France rather than imposing its assumptions on customers. This would have resulted in more profitability and time to be spent elsewhere if the company had spent more time understanding the culture of France rather than imposing its assumptions on customers. Because they were not sensitive to the cultural differences between the United States and France, Euro Disneyland did not live up to its promise.
References
Allik, J., & Realo, A. (2018). Cross-cultural perspectives on personality and individual differences. https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2018-21509-017
Doh, J., & Luthans, F. (2018). International Management; Culture, Strategy, and Behavior (10th ed., pp. 262-271). New York: McGraw-Hill Education.
Mac-Dermott, R., & Mornah, D. (2015). The Role of Culture in Foreign Direct Investment and Trade: Expectations from the GLOBE Dimensions of Culture. Open Journal of Business and Management, 03(01), 63-74. http://dspace.stellamariscollege.edu.in:8080/xmlui/bitstream/handle/123456789/5695/FDI.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
Medeiros, E. (2019). Spatial planning, territorial development, and territorial impact assessment. Journal of Planning Literature, 34(2), 171-182. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0885412219831375
Luthans, F., & Doh, J. P. (2018). International management: Culture, strategy, and behavior. McGraw-Hill. https://pdp.sjsu.edu/people/thomas.shirley/docs/Bus5%20162_Syllabus.pdf
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