Euro Disney failed because of #culture 😮
I was giving a talk to a MBA class on the importance of cultural understanding
in international business. That is when I came across the case studies of Euro
Disney.
The Americans did not understand the French and the European culture. This lead
to Disneyland's failure in the initial years :
🚧 French 'intellectuals' considered Euro Disney to be a culture war and
protested.
🥖American's thought French would not need breakfast. There were huge queues in
the restaurants for breakfast
🕐French also were particular about having lunch exactly at 12:30. Again queues
piled up.
🍷The park had a no alcohol policy but French had their lunch with wine
🍽️French dined with fine cutlery and revolted when plastic spoons and forks
were provided
🏨The resort hotels had very low occupancy as Europeans did not think staying in
a theme park as a vacation idea
📝10% of staff resigned in the first 9 weeks as they could not have lunch at
12:30 Pm.
Billions of dollars spent, years spent in selecting the location and building
the massive theme park, but not understanding the French and the Europeans led
to losses.
Posted by Shyam Sundar Nagarajan on LinkedIn
link: linkedin.com/in/sundarns
I was giving a talk to a MBA class on the importance of cultural understanding
in international business. That is when I came across the case studies of Euro
Disney.
The Americans did not understand the French and the European culture. This lead
to Disneyland's failure in the initial years :
🚧 French 'intellectuals' considered Euro Disney to be a culture war and
protested.
🥖American's thought French would not need breakfast. There were huge queues in
the restaurants for breakfast
🕐French also were particular about having lunch exactly at 12:30. Again queues
piled up.
🍷The park had a no alcohol policy but French had their lunch with wine
🍽️French dined with fine cutlery and revolted when plastic spoons and forks
were provided
🏨The resort hotels had very low occupancy as Europeans did not think staying in
a theme park as a vacation idea
📝10% of staff resigned in the first 9 weeks as they could not have lunch at
12:30 Pm.
Billions of dollars spent, years spent in selecting the location and building
the massive theme park, but not understanding the French and the Europeans led
to losses.
Posted by Shyam Sundar Nagarajan on LinkedIn
link: linkedin.com/in/sundarns