Disneyland Paris did eventually adapt to French culture, they embraced diversity, hired French management and listened to their staff’s concerns, however the question is whether or not one of the most well know American corporations can truly fit into French culture. When Disneyland France which was originally Euro Disney opened, according to Froman (1998) the press stated that the park was “the latest version of American culture imperialism” (p. 248). Jean Sebastien Stehli (as cited in Forman, 1998) “a French correspondent in the United States for Le Point remarked that the greatest danger (of the Euro Disney initiative) would be…a homogenization of culture” (p. 248). While the steps that Disneyland Paris took to adapt to French culture were admirable and ticket sales
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Gumbel and Turner (1994) mention “Euro Disney's troubles, instead, derive from a different type of culture clash. Europe may have embraced Mickey Mouse, but it hasn't taken to the brash, frequently insensitive and often overbearing style of Mickey's American corporate parent” (p. 2). Disney made the mistake of coming in too strong with American culture and didn’t stop to think about how their lack of consideration for the French and European culture would affect business and their employees. Several aspects of the theme park and report areas were changed to accommodate European culture however they still needed to change their internal culture and gain employee respect. More Europeans became mangers, diversity and inclusion became a priority, a culture of curtsey and listening to employee opinions has now created an internal culture that other businesses can aspire to. While many lessons can be learned from this case study the most important less that has been learned is that businesses who operate globally need to do extensive research and need to be flexible to other
Gumbel and Turner (1994) mention “Euro Disney's troubles, instead, derive from a different type of culture clash. Europe may have embraced Mickey Mouse, but it hasn't taken to the brash, frequently insensitive and often overbearing style of Mickey's American corporate parent” (p. 2). Disney made the mistake of coming in too strong with American culture and didn’t stop to think about how their lack of consideration for the French and European culture would affect business and their employees. Several aspects of the theme park and report areas were changed to accommodate European culture however they still needed to change their internal culture and gain employee respect. More Europeans became mangers, diversity and inclusion became a priority, a culture of curtsey and listening to employee opinions has now created an internal culture that other businesses can aspire to. While many lessons can be learned from this case study the most important less that has been learned is that businesses who operate globally need to do extensive research and need to be flexible to other