but, in addition to having to give up a share of profits to partners, it will most likely be more difficult for the company to control expenses such as real estate and labor costs and to standardize operations where desirable. 2. Why do you suppose Disney made no financial investment in Japan, one of $140 million in France, and then one of over $300 million in Hong Kong?

Tokyo Disneyland opened in 1983 and represented Disney's first international park.

Because this was the first international effort, Disney's conservative management was cautious about the park's chances for success (Koepp, 1988). As such, according to Koepp, it allowed Asian investors to finance, build and own the $750 million park. Disney only asked for royalties of ten percent on admissions and five percent of food and souvenirs. Of course, risk concerns turned out to be unnecessary as Tokyo Disneyland was an immediate culture and financial success (Lopez, 2002). Disney has to watch financial benefits accrue mostly to the facility that owned the facility rather than its shareholders.

The company changed CEOs before the Paris effort, replacing conservative Ron Miller with a more aggressive Michael Eisner who wanted the benefits of ownership (Lopez, 2002). It obtained forty-nine percent ownership of Euro Disney. But this time around, attendance and operating income in France was disappointing explains Lopez. Cultural challenges, as well as a European recession in the early 1990s, resulted in less than expected success of the park and its related hotels and facilities....

However, Disney restructured Euro Disney and the facility became a success. By the late 1990s, DisneyLand Paris was the largest theme park in Western Europe.
Wanting a share of profits and armed with international successes and a better understaning of marketing to local cultures, Walt Disney struck its best deal ever in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Disneyland Resort is owned by the Walt Disney Company and the Government of Hong Kong under joint venture called Hong Kong International Theme Parks (Mao, meet Mickey: Hong Kong lands $3.55 billion Disney Park, 1999). Disney invested $314 million in the Hong Kong joint venture which gave it a forty-three percent stake. For its $3.2 billion investment, the Hong Kong government owns the remaining fifty-seven percent stake in the joint venture.

Bibliography

Burgoyne, L. Walt Disney Company's Euro Disneyland venture. http://www.hiddenmickeys.org/Paris/English/LynEuroDisney.html

Disneyland Resort Paris. http://www.answers.com/topic/disneyland-resort-paris

Koepp, S. (1998, April 25). Do you believe in magic? Time. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,967226-9,00.htm

Lopez, R. (2002, March). Disney in Asia; again? http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:_JP76_C6f6sJ:appserv.pace.edu/emplibrary/FINAL.Asiacasestudy.doc+%22Tokyo+Disney%22+%22immediate+success%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us

Mao, meet Mickey: Hong Kong lands $3.55 billion Disney Park (1999, November). http://www.siteselection.com/ssinsider/incentive/ti9911.htm