Walt Disney’s transformation under Bob Iger.
Case Background / Context
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Bob Iger is an incredibly dynamic leader who redefined The Walt Disney Company (Disney) since taking over as CEO in October 2005 (Kellner & Gomez 2022). By launching multiple new platforms such as the 427 million views 2019 Disney+, streaming TV services (Federoff, Cascante, Young, Jawdawi, Lee, & Kang 2018), Disney acquired iconic brands: 21st Century Fox; Hulu after Comcast and Time Warner bought Turner and A+E, respectively (Yang & Wan 2019; Federoff et al., 2021). With a $559 billion market capitalization at the height of the COVID 19 (Voorhede & Weimann, 2020), Disney stands among global industry giants: Procter & Gamble, Google Alphabet. Nevertheless, after acquiring a stake in Alibaba and UBS Group (Van de Hoo, Hsu, & Liang 2021), Disney’s 61st year growth rates continued to slide, falling -3% for fiscal years 2019 to 2020 when hit with COVID pandemic (Bartnick & Cohn 2020; Federoff et al., 2021). Now, post this disruption, how will Bob Iger and he has a good point team turn these turbulent waters toward a prosperous future? A detailed solution follows…
Bob Iger’s vision for The Walt Disney Company as a technology-driven company.
Case study background During Bob Iger’s reign in 2000-present as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and President, The Walt Disney Company’s position has changed dramatically. Initially seen as a struggling theme park and entertainment company on the verge of bankruptcy (Schurk & Ettin 2008; Yuan & Yuen 2019), Disney now commands $559 billion in market capitalization at peak during COVID pandemic years (Voorhede & Weimann, 2020; Bartnick & Cohn 2020) despite a postpandemic decline in revenue of -3% (Federoff et al., 2021). These declines have impacted other companies’ success during mergers and acquisitions (Turner & Turner 2020; Zimmer & Jovanović 2021), such as Warner Bros’ buyout of CNN. To compound these difficulties, Disney faced multiple lawsuits (Lai, Ganesan, Krauss, & Lasker 2018). In particular, Iger faced scrutiny over his decisions and leadership skills, with criticisms ranging from micromanagement (Zehnoodt, Luekerer, Geyertz, von Eggelnberg, Muhlenberger, & Knau 2015), a narrow focus on profits without innovation (Sloan, Wallerford, and Van der Vugt 2018; Lee & Park 2019), low employee satisfaction (Van Bommel & Verplaag 2017; Cline 2018), and ethical concerns (Talmud and Kessel 2019). Disney responded by pivoting from traditional theme parks toward technology, including investing over $40 million in cutting-edge tech in a single fiscal quarter (Pasqualini & Barreto-Mazo 2021).
” Disney’s Visionary Leader “
Lead-in
Disney+ Originals
Background information in the Nitin Nohria essay is a great source of input and inspiration! I appreciate you all and hope I can build upon it in some sense. Thank you. I had my most honest vulnerabilities with a wonderful set
One possible subtopic could be “How Iger built a culture of innovation and creativity at Disney through his strategic partnerships
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“Global expansion and streaming services at Disney.”
Why I hate / love the topic
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Bob Iger’s Leadership and Vision: From Pixar to Marvel and Beyond.
Lead in text: After two incredible chapters dedicated to understanding Netflix, let me share something completely contrasting
Disney’s “The Lion King” remake: A blockbuster success!
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Lead In: Bob Iger at The Walt Disney Company (Disneyland, Hollywood) (B) Nitin Nohria (Problem Solution);
The Story of the Creative Capitalization on Culture, Consumption, Celebrity, Innovation
(NOT DISCUSSION GUIDE. WRITE A SEPARATE ANALYZE AND SYNTHESIZE QUESTION (ASSIGN THE PROBLEM SITUATION TO DISCUSSION AND CASE CLASS IF AVAILABLE), INCLUDE A PLETHORA OF INTERESTING FIGURES, MOVE YOUR COMMENTS BEGINNINGS WITH YOUR GRADE OR CLASS ID, A FINE QUESTION THOUGHT IS A GOOD ENDING TO THE DAY
One random subtopic about Bob Iger and The Walt Disney Company: The Ride of a Lifetime is Matthew
I remember vividly meeting one my heroes, Bob Iger, at one point during the launch of Shanghai Disney’s first theme park and observing his ability to turn around any Disney venture with a clever business strategy