Disneyland Resort Paris Lessons
American Management Adapts to Cultural Diversity in France
Feb 11, 2008
After Euro Disneyland opened in France on April 12, 1992, the transplanted American theme park and resort near Paris had lost US$34 million over the next 6 months.
Even before opening day, the French had voiced strong opposition to how the American family amusement park was threatening highly individualistic French cultural traditions.
Disney had imposed a strict employee dress code that banned moustaches, beards, pony tails and restricted the use of personal makeup.
This and other American policies like outlawing wine in the park galvanized angry French protesters who pelted Disney Chief Executive Officer Michael Eisner with rotten eggs at a pre-opening press conference.
Disney Performance Statistics
In its first year, attendance at Euro Disneyland was 10% less than the projected 11 million visitors. Less than 30% of park visitors to September 1992 were from France. During that period, European vacationers continued to visit Disney World in Florida rather than what they perceived as an American commercial invasion that had landed 20 miles east of Paris.
Disney operations in France are now profitable, thanks to improved leadership and communication skills adapted to French culture.
Culturally Sensitive Leadership
In the early years of Euro Disneyland, Disney CEO Eisner commented "What we created in France is the biggest private investment in a foreign country by an American country ever. And it’s going to pay off."
Eisner has since learned to also recognize French cultural traditions and quality of life, rather than focus exclusively on American business interests, revenues and earnings at the expense of the underlying French culture.
Americanized French Management
In France, Euro Disneyland’s first to executive was American Robert Fitzpatrick. According to Disney head office, the following three qualifications made former Baltimore City Councillor Fitzpatrick "more French than the French":
Fitzpatrick
- spoke French fluently;
- had received two awards from the French government; and
- was married to a French woman named Sylvie Blondet.
National French Management
After Euro Disneyland’s disastrous first year, Disney replaced Fitzpatrick with a native French executive Philippe Bourguignon. By appointing a French leader for Disney operation in France, top American management signalled that they understood that importance of French cultural traditions.
Disney followed up by replacing the 23 American-born senior managers who had held most of French Disneyland’s top jobs. Instead, European nationals were selected to run the day-to-day operations of Disneyland Paris.
Effective Communication Loop
Disney also adapted its communication model to respect French cultural norms and values.
For example, American executives sent the wrong message when they implemented hot dog carts throughout Euro Disneyland that reflected regional tastes back in the United States. There were baseball hotdog carts (in general, French dislike baseball and much prefer soccer), New York carts selling all beef or spicy hot dogs and Chicago carts offering Vienna-style bratwurst. Only one restaurant in all of Euro Disneyland featured French cuisine. In fact, wine was initially banned.
Rather than assuming that the French would automatically devour American-style fast food, Disney could have first conducted focus groups and surveys to find out whether Europeans would accept hot dogs or would eat spare ribs with their bare hands at Euro Disneyland.
Protecting French Language and Culture
Before and after Euro Disneyland opened, Disney communicated mostly in English. The Americans again learned that messages have to be culturally encoded so that the receiving culture can interpret the message appropriately. In the case of Euro Disneyland, this often means communicating in native French. Cultural encoding also requires that the Americans respect the more feminine French culture’s dominant need for a friendly atmosphere, cooperation, low stress levels and group decision-making instead of focusing exclusively on money and materialistic success.
Feedback is also essential to ongoing, respectful communication. To show more sensitivity to their French audience, Disney should have placed comment boxes around the park and conducted client interviews to ensure that customer needs, including cultural expectations, were continuously satisfied.
Disney now allows wine to be sold at all restaurants throughout Disneyland Paris Resorts. Once the French saw that their cultural needs were being addressed, only then did the French start to slowly and selectively adapt to the unique characteristics of American culture through Disney's theme park.
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