The Business Model of the Walt Disney Company Evaluating the potential of the business model in terms of its competitiveness

Seminar paper from the year 2017 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 1,5, Cologne Business School Köln, language: English, abstract: The Walt Disney Company is one of the biggest entertainment and media conglomerates around the world. The primary driver of the company's business success is the wide range of entertainment experiences that Disney delivers through its five major business segments. Multiple channels like television, music, film, parks or toy stores are important parts of the merchandising and distribution activities that bring value to the company as a component of the total revenue machinery. Disney's growth strategy follows international expansion activities including investments in new business, companies or business and product lines. The paper begins with an overview about the Walt Disney Company and its principal financial and management information. Afterwards there will be a brief outline about Disney's business segments, target groups and markets that the company is currently operating in. Particularly interesting is the huge network of cross-branding partners that allows Disney to communicate its content marketing messages directly to the target groups. Subsequently there are detailed information about the current market share in Disney's different business segments compared to its competitors in the respective industry. The paper also reveals a study that ranked Disney according to its popularity and reputation around the world. Then there are some information about the founder of Disney and how he established the company from a startup to a recognized global company. In the main part there will be a description and explanation of the company's revenue model and afterwards a SWOT analysis that exhibits in detail which strengths, possibilities, weaknesses and threats the company is facing right now. Finally the paper reveals some solutions on how Disney could approach its weaknesses and threats and entails some suggestions on how to refine the current strategy of Disney. At the end there will be an evaluation of Disney's business model and its potential concerning its competitiveness within the industry.