Entrepreneur Biography – Walt Disney

Kenneth Uy 500438690 Entrepreneurs Biography Walt Disney Childhood Walter Elias Disney, commonly referred to as Walt Disney, was born on December 5th, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois (Walt Disney Family Museum, 2012). His father Elias Disney was an Irish-Canadian and his mother, Flora Disney, was of German and English descent. His family settled in a village known as Norton Disney in the country of Lincolnshire at the time of birth (Disney, 2000). At the age of four, Disney and his family moved to a farm in Marceline, Missouri, which is where he developed his love for drawing.At the time he paid a retired Doctor by the name of Doc Sherwood to produce images of his horse, Rupert. Later on his interest grew to train development in Marceline, specifically the Topeka and Santa Fe railroad where his uncle Michael Martin was the engineer (Disney, 2000). Four years later, the Disneys moved to Kansas city where Walt Disney accompanied the Benton Grammar School. In school Walt Disney met Walter Pfeiffer who introduced him to the world of vaudeville and motion pictures (Disney, 2000). He continued to egress himself in art and filmography as he attended courses at the Kansas City finesse Institute and went to Electric Park.Adulthood At age 22 Walt Disney left Kansas City and made his way into Hollywood regardless of his insufficient money and materials. With the help of his brother Roy Disney they were able to use their mental imagerys and construct a camera to film in their uncles garage. Shortly they received an station from New York to produce the film Alice Comedy and began production (IMDb, 2010). In 1925, Walt married Lillian spring, one of his employees, in Lewiston, Idaho and had two daughters named Diane and Sharon Disney (Disney, 2000).Three years had passed and the disreputable Mickey Mouse was first portrayed in the silent cartoon Plane Crazy but made his debut in Steamboat Willie which is known as the worlds first fully synchronized sound cartoon. The pro duction Mickey Mouse was the first milestone that began Walt Disneys progression (Disney, 2000). Soon after, he began the production of full-length animated cartoon that contributed his launch to triumphion. By the time 1955 had arrive the entire globe had been entertained by Walt Disneys groundworks especially with his telly programming equivalent The Mickey Mouse Club Zorro and Wonderful World of Color.On December 15, 1966 Walt Disney had died from Lung Cancer (WDFM, 2012). Education Walt Disney began his early education when he attended Benton Grammar School where he recognizes his ability to draw. Once the family moved to Chicago in 1917, Disney attended McKinley High School in his freshman year and took night courses at the Chicago Art Institute. He returned to Kansas City after a year to begin working as a graphic artist, in that respectfore, Disney had a total of 9 years of formal education (Disney, 2000). Family Walt Disney had a father named Elias Disney and a mother n amed Flora Disney.He has three brothers Herbert, Raymond, Roy, and Walter. And a sister named Ruth Disney. When he married Lillian Bounds in 1925 they conceived a girl by the name of Diane Disney and adopted a girl named Sharon Disney (IMDb, 2010). Diane married Ron Miller who was former president and chief executive of Walt Disney Productions and Sharon served as a member of Disney Board of Directors (Disney, 2000) Work Experience As a high school dropout in 1917, Walt Disney tried to join the army but was rejected at the age of 16 for being too young (IMDb, 2010).He consequently joined the Red Cross for a year as an ambulance driver. Upon his arrival back, he had difficulty finding work as an artist or even as an ambulance driver. He then found temporary work at an Art Studio creating advertisements for newspapers, magazines and movie theatres. He also met his first start-up partner Ubbe Iwerks. Finally, he worked for Kansas City Film Ad Company where he learned all more or les s(predicate) animation and decided to become an animator (Gabler, 2006). Past Startup Background Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists was founded in January 1920 after Walt and Ubbe decided to start their own society (Gabler, 20006). Their ships gild however was a failure and twain started to work in animation at the Kansas City Film Ad Company. After learning all about animation, he pursued another start-up with another co-worker Fred Harman. This time he created an animation business and started screening cartoons titled Laugh-O-Grams in a local theatre. Following their success, Disney acquired Laugh-O-Gram studios, which soon went bankrupt due to Walts poor monetary focusing.Later that year, Walt and his Brother Roy opened Disney Brothers Studio in Hollywood, California (WDFM, 2012). He then started selling his produced cartoons to a New York distributor that was a huge success. Everyaffair was going well until Disney found out that his client had hired Walts animators under s tuff and took the rights to his closely popular animated char work outers (Gabler, 2006). Motivation of Startup After losing everything, Walt and Ubbe decided to create another cartoon character now known as Mickey.After creating a series of short cartoons Mickey became the worlds almost popular cartoon character in the 1930s. Walt created his first full-length animated musical sign in the production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs which exceeded over $1,400,000 in profit (IMDb, 2010). Throughout 1937-1947 he continued to create full-length movies such as Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi. Following his cartoon success, Walt thought it was possible to pursue his dream in creating a theme park and which is now Disneyland.After being rejected some 302 propagation (Cool Pup, 2012) for financing the park, he finally got approved and his venture would allow him to acquire alphabet and open his second successful theme park, Disneyworld (JustDisney, 2003). The Walt Disney Com pany now has approximately 156,000 employees and had almost $41 billion in revenue the previous year (WDFM, 2012). theatrical role 2 Stevensons Entrepreneurial Perspective on Walt Disney Note This function pertains to Walt Disney patch he had an influence on the Walt Disney Company until his death in 1966 and not the corporation at its current state.Strategic Orientation Strategic orientation is specify by Stevenson to be how one formulates strategy (2006). He mentions two styles Promoter and Trustee and contrasts the two by describing the first as opportunity-driven and the latter as resource-driven. Walt Disney exhibit umteen entrepreneurial traits throughout his animation business ventures. Even while working for other ad companies, he always ended up qualification his own company. I believe Walt Disneys strategic orientation strongly reflects that of a promoter.Walt always pursued opportunities in entertainment because while Walt was producing still-cartoons at a previou s job, he saw a bigger opportunity in animation and continued to pursue such opportunities as shown in his many transitions in the industry. He then started making short-film cartoons leading him to open his own animation business and acquire a studio (Gabler, 2006). He then saw opportunities by creating full-length feature films and even in creating his own theme park. Stevenson also states that a promoters fundamental task is to require the resources to pursue the opportunity.Walt Disney neer gave up on Disneyland and was rumored to exhaust been rejected financing for the theme park over 300 times (Cool Pup, 2012) until he struck a deal with ABC who agreed to help pay the park (JustDisney, 2003). He achieved his task and was driven to succeed in his financing. Walt can also be justified as a promoter because he operates in an industry with diminishing opportunity streams. Before his cartoon Mickey Mouse became a famous icon, Walt Disney constantly produced new characters and fi lms to found his companys reputation. Commitment to OpportunityStevensons next concept is described as a persons willingness to act (2006). Promoters are action-oriented and willing to act in short-time periods to chase their opportunities. He describes promoters to be action-oriented and have heavy involvement in risk management. Conversely, committal for trustees is often time-consuming and ordinarily takes a long period of time. Through Walts journey we saw him deviate his concentration to many different forms of entertainment. He seemed to be involved with many cartoon characters until the creation of Mickey Mouse that lead to his huge success (IMDb, 2010).Walts ventures with his cartoons lead him to movies, television and the creation of the worlds most popular theme park. This revolutionist array of ventures reveals Disneys commitment to opportunity as a promoter. He remained very action oriented in ensuring that he would follow through until his cartoons succeeded. As we ll, he was heavily involved in the risk management of his company because nobody was willing to invest in his Disneyland (JustDisney, 2003). He financed a can of the park through the company and the other half through ABC and was determined to make the park succeed.With the parks success, Disney had already made plans to commit locution for another one in Florida. His commitment to opportunity attributed heavy(p)ly to his companys success. Commitment of Resources When it comes to the attainment of resources, Stevenson says that promoters go through many stages of resource commitment with the goal of minimizing resources (2006). On the other hand, trustees will commit upon a larger-scale after careful analysis and single stage commitment. In relation to Walt, a lot of his projects underwent a series of funding.In his early career as an artist and animator, he had to find a distributor for all his productions (Gabler, 2006) since he could never totally finance his business unless h e was selling cartoons. Even after the companys success and Walter won his first academy award for his creation of Mickey Mouse, when the company transitioned to make its first feature-length film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs the studio ran out of money (Gabler, 2006). Since there were no formal venture capitalist groups at the time, the only way Walt could raise money was through loans.Eventually the movie would become the largest grossing film of the year (IMDb, 2010). The company went through many stages of funding to finance its sundry(a) other projects. Similar to Snow White, Disneyland was funded in a similar manner where Walter would seek another loan to cover the costs of creating Disneyland (JustDisney, 2003). His journey through the resource commitment process mirrors promoter behaviour because he only sought funding when he needed it at multiple stages. Due to unpredictable resource needs and varied studio costs from film development, from a financial perspective Disn eys company was very chaotic.Control of Resources The use of resources in an organization plays a pivotal role in determining a companys success. Stevenson describes promoters to only be concerned with their ability to use a resource while trustees seek to control their resources by attaining full ownership (2006). When it comes to the animation business, ownership plays a key role in everyday operations. When Disney lost the rights to one of his most successful characters Felix the Cat (Gabler, 2006), Walt found himself at a standstill.From that moment onward, Walt made sure to maintain full ownership on all his companys future productions in order to preserve his business and avoid future legal conflicts. Due to the nature of the business, Walt relied heavily on his staff and had to employ full-time animators who could consistently produce the high quality entertainment the company was known for. As well, in order to make Disneyland and Disneyworld, the company needed to purchase large amounts of land (Gabler, 2006).A promoter style of management does not suit the Walt Disney Company for this section because Walt himself influenced so much of the company and could only have done so through ownership of all his resources. Therefore, Mr. Disney favored the administrative domain because of factors such as power and coordination. Having complete ownership and influence was essential to Disney in order to make sure his vision became a reality. His coordination was also important because it ensured he could take action without further approval from other partners.Management Structures Stevensons views on management place relationships at the core of every structure. Promoters rely on receiving valuable information for key actors while trustees rely on formal relationships within the company found on detailed rights and responsibilities. Trustee management is the only applicable management structure for the Walt Disney Company (2006). He states, Only in systems wh ere the relationship with resources is found on ownership or employment can resources be organized in a hierarchy (Stevenson, 2006).With the companys heavy emphasis on ownership on its productions and land as previously addressed, it is only appropriate that structure is required to delegate roles and responsibilities within the company. Walts company demonstrated many things that favour trustee management, the first being the need for clearly defined authority and responsibility and the next to be organizational culture. As the company increase in size, in order to ensure Walt could influence every level of management, there needed to be a formalized hierarchy common in many large corporations.Walt worked closely with his animators to ensure the companys productions were under his direct approval (Gabler, 2006). Operating a large company also requires organizational culture because work needs to be formulated into a routine for employees to work within. Reward Philosophy When it comes to proceedsing an organizations employees, Stevenson finds that promoters reward employees based on their contribution and harvesting of value (2006). Investors and owners of the business want to generate returns to ensure they get their money back.Since performance is crucial in determining the success or failure of a start-up, key employees who help generate this value are usually rewarded on their performance. Trustee style management differs because compensation is usually pre-determined because of assigned responsibilities with the exception of small bonuses and promotions (Stevenson, 2006). Walt Disney maintained promoter behaviour because a lot of his employees such as the staff at his studio were hired on salary with bonuses of 20% of profits for the short cartoons (Hill, 2004).At the time, Disney was considered to have the highest paid workers with the best working conditions. Disney embodied the promoter style of management because of factors such as individualisti c expectations and competition. After the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Walt was known to have made salary adjustments to animators who he felt did exceptional work (Hill, 2004). As well, Disney strategically offered the best wages and working conditions in order to maintain its talent and attract more talent in a highly competitive industry. Section 3Recommendations for Walt Disney and The Walt Disney Company It is hard make comments and recommendations for one of the greatest and most ambitious entrepreneurs of all time but there a few things I would like to address in areas where I feel could have been handled differently. Although Disney operated in a completely different time period of more than 50 years ago, I will do my best to acknowledge the time period and his situation. 1. During the release of his first feature film Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and his change to the reward policy, the strike of his whole nimation staff could have put his business into fi nancial hardship. In order to avoid situations like these, Disney should have reported or at the very least consulted with HR professionals on a better payment plan to reward employees during successful productions, and also support employees adequately through financial hardship as experienced in World War 2. Because his employees are crucial to the operation of the business, risky financial moves can have extreme and prompt effects on the companys future. 2. The company found itself out of funds several times due to poor financial management.As previously mentioned, the company went bankrupt during the production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and it also did not have enough funds to complete Disneyland on its own. Although the company succeeded in both ventures, I believe that Walt Disney was poor at managing the companys funds. In his earliest of animation days, his Laugh-O-Gram studios also went bankrupt as a result of overpaying his employees. He also tried to negotiate a price increase on his contract that actually resulted in termination of the contract, the loss of his production Alice Comedies and even most of his animation staff.He again was close to bankrupt and might have stayed that way had it not been for the creation his iconic Mickey Mouse. I believe that if there were a person with more financial experience and knowledge similar to the modern day equivalent to a Chief Financial Officer, he would have not reached such plateaus. As well if he had stronger legal advisors, he could have probably earned the rights back to his character and staff or at least won a settlement.While CFOs and law firms arent as readily available back then as they were today, I believe one thing that Disney lacked was his ability to have a reliable and knowledgeable management team that could have saved him a lot of hardship. Walt Disney is a remarkable man whose conduct work influenced the way people viewed imagination. His life dedication to providing entertain ment was what helped him reach an entrepreneurial pinnacle. Arising from all failures and demonstrating a life committed to fulfilling his life goals lead him to be one of the most influential entrepreneurs of all time.References Cool Pup. (2012). Disneyland. InDaily Celebrations. Retrieved November 5, 2012, from http//www. dailycelebrations. com/071799. htm Gabler, N. (2006). Walt Disney The Triumph of the American Imagination. IMDb. (2010). Walt Disney Biography. InIMDb. Retrieved November 6, 2012, from http//www. imdb. com/name/nm0000370/bio Hill, J. (2004, June). Another look backat the 1941 Disney Studio Strike. InJim Hill Media. Retrieved November 6, 2012, from http//jimhillmedia. com/alumni1/b/wade_sampson/archive/2004/06/07/1204. aspx. UJqz-Gl25YQ JustDisney. 2003). Disneylands History. InDisneyland History. Retrieved November 7, 2012, from http//www. justdisney. com/disneyland/history. html Stevenson, H. H. (2006, April 13). A Perspective on Entrepreneurship. Harvard Busine ss School,9(131), 1-12. The Walt Disney Family Museum. (2012). About Walt Disney. InTimeline. Retrieved November 6, 2012, from http//www. waltdisney. com/timeline41 Walt Disney. (2000). InWalt Disney Biography. 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