Walt Disney Porter's Five Forces Analysis

1 Overview of Company

Since it was founded in 1923, Walt Disney Company has become a world-famous entertainment and media company, and its turnover brings it to the second place among global media companies (after Time Warner). It is constantly working to provide people with the most special entertainment experience, and has been adhering to the company 's good tradition of quality and innovation. After years of development, Walt Disney is already a successful transnational corporation and its operations involve in parks and resorts, consumer products, media networks, and studio entertainment these four industries. By the end of September 2017, its media network is the most profitable business which the revenue is 42.6% of the total while

3 Porter’s Five-Forces Model Analysis Different factors can be combined together in a simple business model. This is known as Porter’s Five-Forces Model and competitive circumstances of an industry can be analyze through this model. These five forces are critical forces that they determine the attractiveness and competitiveness of an enterprise and have influence on a firm’s profitability in its industry. The five-forces analysis can not only show how Walt Disney company builds a sustainable competitive advantage in Entertainment-Diversified industry but also can seize business opportunities in future development. The threats of new entrants are low since they need to invest huge money to compete with Disney. For instance, the investment of Disney theme park is very high and the time of construction is quite long. Both of the two factors make it difficult for new entrants to enter this market. Another barrier is the power of the brand name. Disney has already owned loyal customers and they will prefer to visit Disneyland and watch Disney movies first instead of other places or new

The bargaining power of suppliers is moderate because it depends on the size of the company and the particularity of the material. To keep its brand unique and differentiated, the choice of suppliers for Disney is limited. Especially for some large suppliers, they are in a good position to negotiate because the switching cost for Disney is too high. While other small companies and vendors do not have the advantage to bargain with Disney company, they would want to cooperate with Disney as they know that Walt Disney company is trustworthy and its brand can bring them more opportunities. The bargaining power of buyers is high. Unlike the necessities of life, people choose their recreational activities only when they have extra time and money. As people are final customers and users, they have the power to determine what kind of entertainment they are willing to spend money. Disney needs to learn about consumer preferences and satisfy the requirement of them (Olsson, 2017). For example, if the prices of foods, hotels, clothes, and gifts in Disney’s theme parks are too high, visitors will be unwilling to pay for