Walt Disney Is a Hallmark Research Paper

One of the most important matters for Disney Corporation is something that is not materially valuable. Its reputation is the one thing that most tend to disregard when considering its fortune, as people would rather think about the money it generates and its possessions. However, the people at Disney's know that shareholders are expecting their investment to benefit them, given the company's tradition. In order to refrain from disappointing its shareholders, The Walt Disney Company goes through great efforts to keep up with its reputation as one of the most successful corporations. In order to live up to its name, the company uses the simplest of rules, that involving ethical behavior, just as Walt and Roy Disney did at the time when they started it.

Another essential factor responsible for keeping the corporation among the world's greatest is the public and its confidence. People at Disney's are well aware that it is not appropriate for them to participate in a conflict that involves them or any other stakeholder in the corporation. Not only can such an occurrence harm them personally but it could also harm the company as a whole, thus the reason for which The Walt Disney Company advises against any conflicts of interest.

The Disney Corporation is very strict in regard to the rights it provides to its stockholders, as they do not have the right to publicize certain information they receive, even with that respective information directly concerns them. Also, according to the Disney Website, "opportunities that are discovered through the use of corporate property, information, or through one's position at the Company may not be used for personal gain," (The Walt Disney Company and Affiliated Companies Corporate Information Website, 2010). It is uncertain whether this is a just thing to do or not, but it is explainable through the fact that The Walt Disney Company wants to protect its investments.

Stockholders should have complete rights over their position, given that it is only through in-depth analysis that they are able to determine the effectiveness of their investment. However, passing over confidential information can be detrimental for the corporation as a whole. When a shareholder wants to make information he or she has from The Walt Disney Company public, they should undergo a review of the respective information, with the purpose of determining if its publicizing can affect other shareholders in the company.

Disney's major stakeholders refer to their competitors, employees, customers, governmental institutions and their business partners. Employees are required to increase their efforts and offer the highest quality of the Disney products, developed with ingenuity, commitment and attention to details. However not actual employees of Disney, stakeholders are also the actors which play in the Disney films.

Disney's partners encompass international partners, basically the French institutions which support the opening of the Euro Disneyland. The French partners will own at least 17% of Euro Disneyland. Other partners refer to the exhibitors, but their influence has been reduced by governmental laws. In this order of ideas, the government has allowed more freedom to the entertainment industry, allowing movie makers to own studios and reducing as such their dependence on exhibitors. Also in the category of stakeholders are included other large corporations, such as the Delta Airlines or Coca-Cola, which paid to use Disney features in their advertisements.

Disney has reduced numbers of other partners, moreover since they handle most of their operations by themselves and refused to engage in franchise operations.

The number one customers remain children. They are primary targets for the Disney animation movies, consumer products and theme parks. They pose the problem of a future decrease as the generation of baby boomers is turning to adulthood. The Disney features also address the adult audience, through action-live films.

While Disney (and most of the general public) like to promote the belief that it is a company equally interested in the benefit of its shareholders as it is interested in the profits it makes, it failed to prove this theory at times. However, along with the mass movements performed by a great deal of multi-national corporations interesting in hiring laborers with lower wages, The Walt Disney Company chose to move parts of its businesses into poor countries. Although this seems to be beneficial for the corporation and for the poor people seizing the chance to work for it, it sometimes proves to be detrimental for both parts involved. Hearing that the products that they are about to buy were made in a substandard working environment, most people valuing morality will be reluctant to purchase them, preferring to buy something similar and more expensive instead.

The Walt Disney Corporation was found to have "sweat-shops" in various poor countries around the globe, where people work in miserable conditions for low-paid wages. Apparently, Disney motivates its choice to refrain from investing more into these factories because "it can't afford the 58 cents an hour workers say they could live on" (Bigelow). Working in such conditions is likely to have a terrible effect on the people doing so, making Disney's reputation less laudable.

All in all, Disney offered new visions to leaders and it stimulated employees to follow and support the company's growth. This growth and development had most commonly been achieved through the implementation of various change strategies. An impressive change occurred in the structure of the company, which initially commenced as simple organization, and has eventually metamorphosed into a modern conglomerate.

Works cited:

1. Bigelow, Bill, "The Human Lives Behind the Labels: The Global Sweatshop, Nike, and the Race to the Bottom," Phi Delta Kappan 78.2 (1997)

2. Bryman, Alan, Disney and His Worlds (London: Routledge, 1995).

3. "Experiences at the Walt Disney Company," Retrieved August 21, 2010, from the Jobster Website: http://www.jobster.com/at/company/The+Walt+Disney+Company

4. Linetski, Barry, "Think Like an Iconoclast: The Principles of Walt Disney's Success," Retrieved August 21, 2010, from the Strategic Planning Group Website: http://www.tspg-consulting.com/printpages/DIsney_Iconoclast.pdf

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9. Stensland, Abbe M. "Protecting the Keys to the Magic Kingdom: Shareholders' Rights of Inspection and Disclosure in Light of Disney," Journal of Corporation Law 30.4 (2005).

"Experiences at the Walt Disney Company," Retrieved August 21, 2010, from the Jobster Website: http://www.jobster.com/at/company/The+Walt+Disney+Company

Barry Linetski, "Think Like an Iconoclast: The Principles of Walt Disney's Success," Retrieved August 21, 2010, from the Strategic Planning Group Website: http://www.tspg-consulting.com/printpages/DIsney_Iconoclast.pdf

Alan Bryman, Disney and His Worlds (London: Routledge, 1995) 12.

Idem, 143.

"Responsibility to Guests and Customers," Retrieved August 21, 2010, from The Walt Disney Company and Affiliated Companies Corporate Information Website: http://corporate.disney.go.com/corporate/conduct_standards2.html

Prakash S. Sethi, "Corporate Codes of Conduct and the Success of Globalization," Ethics & International Affairs 16.1 (2002).

Prakash S. Sethi, "Corporate Codes of Conduct and the Success of Globalization," Ethics & International Affairs 16.1 (2002).

"Responsibility to Cast Members and Employees," Retrieved August 21, 2010, from The Walt Disney Company and Affiliated Companies Corporate Information Website: http://corporate.disney.go.com/corporate/conduct_standards3.html

"Responsibility to Cast Members and Employees," Retrieved August 21, 2010, from The Walt Disney Company and Affiliated Companies Corporate Information Website: http://corporate.disney.go.com/corporate/conduct_standards3.html

Idem

Idem

"Responsibility to Cast Members and Employees," Retrieved August 21, 2010, from The Walt Disney Company and Affiliated Companies Corporate Information Website: http://corporate.disney.go.com/corporate/conduct_standards3.html

Abbe M. Stensland, "Protecting the Keys to the Magic Kingdom: Shareholders' Rights of Inspection and Disclosure in Light of Disney," Journal of Corporation Law 30.4 (2005).

Abbe M. Stensland, "Protecting the Keys to the Magic Kingdom: Shareholders' Rights of Inspection and Disclosure in Light of Disney," Journal of Corporation Law 30.4 (2005).

Alan Bryman, Disney and His Worlds (London: Routledge, 1995) 69.

Alan Bryman, Disney and His Worlds (London: Routledge, 1995) 69

Idem

Robert J. Liubicic, "Corporate Codes of Conduct and Product Labeling Schemes: The Limits and Possibilities of Promoting International Labor Rights through Private Initiatives," Law and Policy in International Business 30.1 (1998): 111.