The Benefits of International Market Research. Introducing Disneyland to New Markets. (PDF)

Essay from the year 2019 in the subject Economics - Macro-economics, general, grade: 2,3, , language: English, abstract: This paper will look into the benefits of international market research for a global company like The Walt Disney Company when expanding to foreign markets on the example of the financial disaster of Disneyland Paris.

After an introduction to international market research and the Walt Disney Company, secondary market data of Disneyland California and Paris will be compared. From the data a conclusion will be drawn, if a global company like the Walt Disney Company can operate with only one market concept or if international market research and a small adaptation of the concept to the foreign market has any significant benefits in terms of market success.

Nowadays, the Walt Disney Company is known all over the world. It has set up different businesses in over 40 countries, including six Disneyland resorts. When Walter Elias Disney created the plan for the first Disneyland , the Disneyland Resort in California, he had a vision of a constantly growing and changing amusement park full of imagination.

After Walter Elias' death and the financial success of the first Disneyland in California, the Walt Disney Company tried to continue to fulfill his vision. They created new Disneyland's in Florida, Tokyo, France, Hongkong and Shanghai. All of the amusement parks generated huge profits for the Walt Disney Company except Disneyland Paris, which makes losses of nearly EUR2 billion. As the Disneyland concept worked in California, Florida and Tokyo, the Walt Disney Company did not consider it as necessary to do profound market research before opening Disneyland Paris.