The modern world’s culture is almost entirely dictated by global corporations. Many small companies are part of huge conglomerates that control the media and cultural space. Often this influence seeps beyond the boundaries of general human leisure and affects other aspects of life. This essay aims to analyze one of the largest media conglomerates in the entertainment industry, The Walt Disney Company.
Until the middle of the last century, the Disney company specialized only in releasing cinema. Currently, the conglomerate has a considerable position in the global entertainment market. The Walt Disney Company has six primary business segments: film and animation studios, general entertainment, and sports networks. Besides, there is a segment of international interaction, a segment of goods distribution, including digital, and an element of parks and other products (“The Walt Disney Company,” 2020). Thus, Disney, under the leadership of Bob Chapek, exists in almost every industry, employing more than 200 thousand people. All of these efforts generated nearly $ 70 billion in revenue for the conglomerate in 2019 (“The Walt Disney Company,” 2020). However, the situation with COVID-19 this year severely undermined the profitability of the corporation.
The Disney conglomerate currently dominates the animation industry, especially animation. The corporation’s success is supported by the rich legacy of its creator, Walt Disney, who laid the foundation for success. Disney has been actively adapting to society’s needs over the years and experimenting (Wills, 2017). The same course continues in the company since the conglomerate follows modern trends and actively absorbs large and well-known companies such as Marvel. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has altered the usual development patterns, forcing the company to resort to workforce reductions of almost 30 thousand people (Richwine, 2020). Inevitably, this also affected the decline in profits, although it is difficult to estimate this parameter until there is a complete financial report.
For investors, the observed patterns become a reason to think about and reconsider the attractiveness of investing in Disney. The value of their assets has dropped significantly since the start of the pandemic. Disney’s politics at the moment is full of controversies regarding the release and content of recent films. From the perspective of ordinary residents, the company has been behaving rather strangely in recent years. Their products’ quality has been declining, which is noticeable in the latest significant films and projects. Besides, mass layoffs are being carried out, which also does not contribute to forming a positive attitude towards them. In this case, the interests and views of ordinary people and investors regarding Disney coincide. At the moment, the corporation does not live up to expectations and makes mistake after mistake.
One of the most serious mistakes of the conglomerate is the desire to please everyone while reducing its products’ quality due to narrow deadlines and strict management. Disney’s legacy has undoubtedly helped develop animation around the world, but the company’s current course does not align with the original vision of the creator. The company tries to follow modern trends and innovations, but the quality suffers in pursuit of them. Therefore, this company does not meet many democratic requirements and interferes with forming a clear understanding of the source of the content in the consumer. Disney’s reach is too massive, so often, the user may not even know that they are using the company’s products.
Thus, the current direction of the company’s development, both on a global scale and in the context of a pandemic, is not consistent with either the Disney heritage or the social norms of democracy and morality. The conglomerate is too large, so there is no need to add new companies to existing sectors. However, if I were the CEO, I would not have removed the existing elements. It is necessary to promote the voices of various segments of the population; however, the product must be of high quality. Therefore, to accomplish this task, I would increase the release time of new products and revise the policy by which the voices of different groups are displayed in the media, making it more natural.
References
Richwine, L. (2020). Disney to lay off 28,000 us theme park workers and others as COVID takes its toll. Skift. Web.
The Walt Disney Company (2020). Wikipedia. Web.
Wills, J. (2017). Disney culture. Rutgers University Press.