Walt Diseny Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Walt Diseny - Research Paper Example Competitive advantage Mickey Mouse, Goofy and Minnie Mouse are the main sources of competitive advantage. As the company owns exclusive rights to these characters, the company earns more revenue by utilizing these characters in different animated films and cartoons and products based on these characters that are sold through theme park shops (Hoskisson et al. 173). Although these are the results and innovations provided by Walt Disney, there are other manifestations of competitive advantages owned by the company. For example, â€Å"Patents shield the use of these characters protects the firm from imitation by competitors â€Å" (Hoskisson 173). Additionally, the company is actively pursing innovation and creativity to longer its effective competitive position in the global market. For this purpose, it has developed a creativity strategy. â€Å"A creativity strategy has been developed and pilot projects have been identified and the creativity grants will support non-profits that nu rture creative thinking skills in the afterschool/out of school time through multi-disciplinary learning (The Walt Disney Company). Business-level strategy On July 17, 1955, a unique destination was created by Walt Disney with the concept of parks and resorts. Due to the successful business strategy, Walt Disney Parks and Resorts (WDP&R) has become a preferred family travel and leisure destination. There are 11 theme parks and 43 resorts in Asia, Europe and North America. Additionally, the Walt Disney Studios has experienced a considerable expansion after its creation more than 85 years ago. The Walt Disney Studios provides music, movies and stage plays. Both animated and non-animated movies are released under the various titles: Disneynature, Pixar Animation Studios, Touchstone Pictures and Marvel Studios; the Disney Music Group includes Disney Music Publishing, the Walt Disney Records and Hollywood Records; the Disney Theatrical Group licenses and produces live programs including Disney On Ice, Disney on Broadway and Disney Live (The Walt Disney Company). All these business differentiations have experienced a considerable but careful business-level strategy. Additionally, â€Å"The Company employs 5 different business models to maximize revenue, delivering what customers want and advertisers need† (Murray). Section 2: Financial Analysis Walt Disney and Time Warner Ratios    2011 2010 2009 Gross Profit Margin 19.00% 43.70%(TW) 17.67% 44.13%(TW) 15.75% 44.01%(TW) Net Profit Margin 11.75% 9.96%(TW) 10.41% 9.59%(TW) 9.14% 9.57% (TW) Return on Assets 6.66% 4.26% (TW) 5.72% 3.88%(TW) 5.23% 3.75% (TW) Return on Equity 12.86% 9.63%(TW) 10.56% 7.83%(TW) 9.80% 7.39%(TW) TW= Time Warner Source: Walt Disney and Time Warner Annual Reports 2009-2011 Gross Profit Margin Walt Disney experiences a steady rise in the gross profit. The gross profit highlights the remaining amount after paying the direct cost of sales. From the year of 2009 to 2011, the company has inc reased its gross profit ratio from 15.75% to 19.00%; the aggregate rise of 3.25% has been posted by the company during the period. On the other hand, Time Warner has showed a significant increase in the gross profit margin throughout the entire period. Except the slight margin of fall in the year of 2011, Time Warner has been maintaining comparatively better gross profit margin during the year. This shows that the company has been successful in increasing its sales volume and decreasing the cost of sales during