Pixar Animation Studios is one of the leading film animation studios in the world. It is the subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company. Pixar Animation Studios develops high definition animated films and is ranked among the most competitive firms in its industry. It manages a large workforce by formulating and implementing its human resource management policies in the light of motivational theories like need theory, equity theory, and intrinsic and extrinsic motivational techniques. The analysis of company's motivational methods reveals that it offers competitive salaries and compensation packages, flexible working options, and attractive growth and learning opportunities through brainstorming, job promotions, feedback, and different performance appraisal techniques.
Pixar Animation Studios empowers its employees to contribute towards its success and prosperity by bringing up innovative and creative ideas. The company expends a large amount on marketing research and employee training programs in order to move forward in the industry in the most…...
mlaReferences
Collings, D.G. International Human Resource Management: Policies and Practices for Multinational Enterprises, The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 23 (7): 1509-1511. 2012.
Deresky, H. International Management: Managing across Borders and Cultures, 1st Edition. NY: John Wiley. 2002.
Dowling, P.J., & Welch, D.E. International Human Resources Management: Managing People in a Multinational Context, 5th Edition, London: Prentice Hall. 2008.
Klett, F. The Design of a Sustainable Competency-Based Human Resources Management: A Holistic Approach, Knowledge Management & E-Learning: An International Journal, 2 (3): 278-290. 2010.
Pixar
Not All Fun and Games
Pixar creates some of the most recognizable products of any company: Its animated films all display a distinctive style marked by a certain combination of realistic movement and an almost Impressionist use of color and form. The mingling of the realistic and the cartoonish, of the vulgar with touches of high art, the tongue-in-cheek commercial with traditional narrative tropes has given the studio a series of hits that have managed to be commercial successes while at the same time avoiding the air of commercialization that hounds their closest rival, Disney.
Even though Pixar's films too are accompanied by a very wide range of merchandise, the studio's films stand on their own more than do most of those of other studios. This paper examines the organizational culture of Pixar that has allowed it to achieve commercial success as well as to create a distinct style of animation and…...
mlaReferences
Hirschorn, M. (2008). Success story 2. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/22/books/review/Hirschorn-t.html .
Organizational Structure. (2005). Retrieved from http://www.soi.org/reading/change/culture.shtml.
www.pixar.com
Price, D. (2008). The Pixar touch: The making of a company. New York: Vintage.
Pixar Case
There were three important things learned from reading the Pixar case, and they are not only important to companies and businesses. They do not just matter to creative people, or to those who are interested in a career in film and animation. They are important to living life, being happy, and doing something that makes one feel fulfilled. That is something to consider for work and career, but it is also something to consider for the rest of the things that happen in a person's life. There will always be issues to face, no matter where a person is in life, but how a person handles those issues defines much of who that person is. While there are plenty of things one can take away from reading the Pixar case, this is what this reader learned.
Be a Community
Working together matters. It can be hard to get people to…...
mlaReferences
Catmull, E. (2008). How Pixar fosters collective creativity. Harvard Business Review: 3-11.
Disney and Pixar
Disney's acquisition of Pixar in 2006 resulted in many headlines and opinions. The main reason for the acquisition was Disney's reluctance to lose its ties with the new giant in animation, while its own opportunities were waning because a lack of technology and innovation. The acquisition was therefore based upon Disney's drive to maintain a relationship that has historically proven to be profitable, while also maintaining its own health in a market where its traditional artistic as well as leadership style was no longer viable. In order to analyze the factors behind the acquisition, three main areas will be considered: Analysis and e-Design; Constraints and isks; and Market Opportunities and ecommendations.
Analysis and e-Design
The decision to integrate Pixar with Disney was, as mentioned above, based upon the potential of the latter to improve the market position of the former. According to Gayton (2006), the previous relationship between the companies…...
mlaReferences
Barnes, B. 2009. Disney's Retail Plan Is a Theme Park in Its Stores. The New York Times, Oct 12. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/13/business/media/13disney.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1&ref=business
DePamphilis, D.M. 2007. Mergers, Acquisitions, and Other Restructuring Activities. Academic Press.
Gannon, G. 2007. On Disney's Pixar Acquisition: Pricey, But Worth It. Seeking Alpha, Jul. 2. Retrieved from http://seekingalpha.com/article/39888-on-disney-s-pixar-acquisition-pricey-but-worth-it
Gayton, N. 2006. Is the Disney-Pixar Deal Overhyped? Knowledge @ Wharton, Feb. 22. Retrieved from http://www.wharton.universia.net/index.cfm?fa=viewArticle&id=1107&language=english
Perhaps more than any of the media and entertainment conglomerates with which it competes, Disney has created a prolific, colorful and always expanding universe of characters that draw immediate recognition and appeal. Today, oody and Buzz Lightyear are as recognizable as Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.
eaknesses:
One of the core weaknesses revealed in the decade following Disney's early-90's animation renaissance was the lack of elasticity in its animation department. The company was unprepared for a set of lean years in which its growth had exceeded its ability to earn on its investment. According to Alcacer et al., "Some of the same features that observers credited for Disney Animations' success -- large staff, large budgets, and lots of time -- were also blamed for its demise. Disney Animation had just 275 employees in 1988; about 950 in 1994 for the release of the Lion King; and 2,200 at its peak in…...
mlaWorks Cited:
Alcacer, J.; Collis, D. & Furey, M. (2010). The Walt Disney Company and Pixar Inc.: To Acquire or Not to Acquire. Harvard Business Review.
Burrows, P. & Grover, R. (2006). Steve Jobs's Magic Kingdom. BusinessWeek Online.
Catmull, E. (2008). How Pixar Fosters Collective Creativity. Harvard Business Review.
Know Your Money (KYM). (2010). The Financial Success of Pixar. Knowyourmoney.co.uk.
Cinderella / Brave
Do films for children reflect a change in gender roles over the past half century or so? It is a truism that gender roles have changed in that time period: the feminine mystique of the 1950s has gradually yielded to greater egalitarianism, such that we now live in a moment when a female presidential candidate is plausible in a way that would not have been possible in the Eisenhower era. I propose to examine the change in gender roles by examining two animated films with central female leads -- alt Disney's 1950 "Cinderella" and Pixar's 2012 "Brave." I hope to demonstrate that, while each film expresses certain aspects of gender roles that are common to the decade in which it was made, there are elements which make the story slightly more complicated. "Cinderella" may seem like it is more retrograde in terms of gender roles, but my conclusion…...
mlaWorks Cited
Crowther, Bosley. "Cinderella (1950)." Review, February 23, 1950. The New York Times. Web. Accessed 22 March 2014 at: http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=990CE6DC1238E532A25750C2A9649C946192D6CF&partner=Rotten%2520Tomatoes
Ebert, Roger. "Cinderella." Review, 1987. RogerEbert.com. Web. Accessed 22 March 2014 at: http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/cinderella-1987
Guzman, Rafer. "Brave: Pixar Princess With Mother Issues." Long Island Newsday. June 20, 2012. Web. Accessed 22 March 2014 at: http://www.newsday.com/entertainment/movies/brave-pixar-princess-with-mother-issues-1.3794329
Orr, Christopher. "Brave: A Disappointment Worth Seeing." The Atlantic Monthly. June 22, 2012. Web. Accessed 22 March 2014 at: http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/06/brave-a-disappointment-worth-seeing/258841/
Disney and Pixar
Disney owns Pixar outright, having acquired it in 2006 for $7.4 billion. In terms of business, Disney is a distributor of films, while Pixar is a production studio. That is to say, Pixar makes movies, and Disney markets and distributes them. Disney had an equity stake in Pixar, which came with a contract to produce three films. This has been the relationship between the two companies since the first Pixar movie, Toy Story. After that film, Pixar's head Steve Jobs insisted that Pixar, at the time an independent company, would have equal billing and equal profit sharing. During that period, the two companies were strategic partners. It was a natural move, then, for Disney to acquire Pixar. After the acquisition, Pixar's strategy shifted towards more growth. The cost of computer animation was declining, and Disney wanted to see more films, but maintaining Pixar's standards of excellence. This created…...
alt Disney Company Scenario
Scene: Fiscal Karat (FK), host of TV's Let's Talk Money, is seated at the center of an oak conference table. Let's Talk Money is a weekly PBS talk show that interviews business leaders and often finds government officials to debate certain ideas and programs. Tonight's episode features Mr. Michael McDuck (MM), CEO of alt Disney Company and Mr. Rigid B. Crat (RC), Senior Administrator for the U.S. Treasury's Anti-trust Division.
FK: Good evening and welcome to Let's Talk Money, your weekly adventure into provocative and interesting monetary topics ranging from mild to wild. Tonight, a special treat for the kid in us all -- Michael McDuck, CEO of alt Disney goes head to head with the Administration's Senior Anti-Trust Maven, Rigid B. Crat. elcome gentlemen!
First though, let's take a moment to establish a bit of background. The alt Disney Company is a multinational mass media company posting 2011…...
mlaWorks Cited
Disney Vows to Investigate Claims of ABuse at Factories. (2005, June). Retrieved from SACOM: http://sacom.hk/archives/66
J&J, Walt Disney, Kraft Foods Top Rankgin. (2010, October 13). Retrieved from Environmental Leader: http://www.environmentalleader.com/2010/10/13/jj-walt-disney-krafts-foods-top-csr-ranking/
Hearing: Are Government Contractors Exploiting Workers Overseas? (2011, November 2). Retrieved from Sparky - Keeping You Plugged In: http://mssparky.com/2011/10/hearing-are-government-contractors-exploiting-workers-overseas/
Areeda, P., & Hovenkamp, H. (2011). Fundamentals of Antitrust Law. New York: Kluwer Law.
Barbie doll top ten viral commercials as of 2013 rely mostly on You Tube, Dailymotion, Facebook and Twitter.
The third doll brand, subject to this study is Bratz. As evidenced from the four commercials assessed in the course of this study, Bratz deploys a slightly different mode of advertising, which involves marketing adult entertainment to kids. Social psychologists have argued that this strategy is very effective within the realm of modern-day material culture. Adult entertainment, which often involves depiction of violence, sex, strong language and obscenity, has become very popular among children
. For Bratz, one of the most popular commercials involves cowgirls in Texas fighting crime modelled along the risque film group Charlie's Angels. The use of guns to depict violence is central to this commercial, which has since increased the brand's digital reach through pervasive advertising on TV and in the internet. In a similar commercial, Bratz acquired the…...
mlaMeyers, Laurie. "Dangerous dolls? Psychologists push back against market forces and products that sexualize young girls." American Psychological Association September 2006, Vol 37, No. 8
Eglinton, Kristen Ali Youth Identities, Localities, and Visual Material Culture: Making Selves, Making Worlds New York: Springer, 2013
Doeschka, J. Anschutz and Rutger, C.M.E. Engels. "The Effects of Playing with Thin Dolls on Body Image and Food Intake in Young Girls" U.S. National Library of Medicine
Even five years ago, this was not the case. Moore uses his own brand of investigative, and sometimes highly charged and emotionally biased journalism to make his points. He causes people to violently disagree with his determinations, but he causes people to think, something that many filmmakers simply avoid. Moore's documentaries are more than entertainment, they get people talking about and investigating issues on their own. His message may not appeal to everyone, but his methods are some of the best in filmmaking. He creates films that people remember, and this is an important aspect of the process. He uses emotional, controversial, social, and meaningful themes to "stir the pot," and will certainly be one of the 21st centuries most remembered filmmakers.
Steven Spielberg is probably the most influential and important filmmaker today. His films are much more than entertainment, they are thought provoking, artistic, and stunningly memorable. From "The…...
6. Personal opinion
The global strategy is effective as it regards numerous areas, all focused on the overall development of Disney. ut since the strategy has numerous applications, it is only natural that some are better received that others. For instance, I believe that the decision to expand onto other continents was extremely wise as it not only increases profits, but it protects the company against economic features that might affect one continent and not the other. Furthermore, I disagree with the copyright strategy as I believe that by dismissing it, Disney would be the beneficiary of free publicity.
ibliography
Disney Official Website, http://disney.com/,last accessed on October 15, 2007
Walt Disney Studios Company Profile, Yahoo Finance, 2007, http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/103/103440.html, last accessed on October 15, 2007
Disney Parks Launches First-of-Its-Kind Programming for Interactive Cable Networks; Introducing Disney Travel on Demand, Tech Web Network, May 15, 2007, http://www.techweb.com/showPressRelease.jhtml?articleID=X607994,last accessed on October 15, 2007
TV, Parks, Consumer Products Drive Disney…...
mlaBibliography
Disney Official Website, accessed on October 15, 2007http://disney.com/,last
Walt Disney Studios Company Profile, Yahoo Finance, 2007, last accessed on October 15, 2007http://biz.yahoo.com/ic/103/103440.html ,
Disney Parks Launches First-of-Its-Kind Programming for Interactive Cable Networks; Introducing Disney Travel on Demand, Tech Web Network, May 15, 2007, accessed on October 15, 2007http://www.techweb.com/showPressRelease.jhtml?articleID=X607994,last
TV, Parks, Consumer Products Drive Disney Gains, World Screen, August 2, 2007, last accessed on October 15, 2007http://www.worldscreen.com/newscurrent.php?filename=disney080207.htm,
Merge the acquired company into your company. The result of this strategy will be one company containing the elements of both companies. What are the pros and cons of this implementation strategy? How will you know if the strategy is working?
The risks and downsides of mergers are well-known -- it is often said that mergers make it easy to predict the future, because they almost invariably fail. In fact, two-thirds of all mergers fail, a staggering statistic (McClure 2012). The theory behind mergers is that they generate potent cost synergies, improve profitability, and trim costs of production when the strengths and capacities of the two companies are merged together. The basic idea of a merger is that the best of both companies can be fused. However, mergers often result in the clash of organizational cultures. Inharmonious corporate cultures can lead to confusion and organizational disarray -- ultimately costing the company…...
mlaReferences
Allen, Scott. (2012). Joint venturing 101. Retrieved:
http://entrepreneurs.about.com/od/beyondstartup/a/jointventures_3.htm
Amidi, A. (2008). The Disney-Pixar merger two years later. Cartoon Brew. Retrieved:
http://www.cartoonbrew.com/disney/disney-pixar-mergertwo-years-later.html
(White, 33)
And it was rightly found in a life form which we encounter daily in our real lives- insects. ightly, insects possess the shape, form as also the texture that aligns perfectly within the realm of computer technology and the restricted movement was also not a vital challenge to the evolving medium of animation. This started with "A Bug's Life." From then onwards, the Pixar Studio has gone even more into the details of character design which were not believed to be possible till that period, like fantasy monster, fishes and cartoon superheroes. Like the 2D animation prior to that, 3D is yet to defeat the human form in any means in which the characters are able to act in a natural manner and no look like models made of plastic or wooden sculptures in the absence of the life form inside them. (White, 33)
The initial stage of phasing…...
mlaReferences
Belgrave, Tito a. Applying the 12 principles to 3D animation. July, 2003. http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=1429
Collie, Craig. The Business of TV Production.
Cambridge University Press. 2007.
Cusson, Roger; Maffei, Pia; Discreet Logic Inc. 3ds Max 7 Fundamentals and Beyond Courseware. Focal Press. 2005.
ERG and Herzberg's Motivational Theories:
The life of Steve Jobs
The response to the death of Steve Jobs can be described as nothing short of extraordinary. Mourners placed flowers at Apple stores all over the world. How can this be explained, given the fact that Apple was a commercial product that people bought, not a spiritual movement? The answer is that in his design philosophy Steve Jobs made use of ERG motivational theory, tapping into the potential for self-actualization in terms of how his machines were constructed. Instead of simply being functional, Apple products embodied a concept of sleekness, excellence in design, and belief in human potential. The ERG concept was likewise embodied in Jobs' own life -- Jobs was a businessman who strove to make a profit, yet he also sincerely loved his work and continued to work, long after he could have retired or delegated more of his work to…...
mlaWorks Cited
Chapman, Allan. (2010). "Frederick Herzberg." 2010. 13 October 2011.
http://www.businessballs.com/herzberg.htm
"ERG theory." Net MBA. 2010. 13 October 2011.
(3)
Then, aside from unethical behavior, the firing of John Lasseter also indicates the existence of political behavior within the company. As Lasseter had observed upon his employment with the firm, management at Disney had been based on loyalty to the firm and seniority, rather than actual performances, competence or innovative style. As he put it:
"You put in your time for 20 years and do what you're told, and then you can be in charge" (case).
The decision to fire Lasseter was not related to his competence in his job, but to his frictions with his managers. The situation eventually materialized in the manager's decision to have him fired, and the decision was a political one -- supported by executives -- rather than a justified one.
(4)
Today, John Lasseter is the creative force behind the films of both Pixar and Disney and finds himself in a position in which he has to exert…...
mlaReferences:
Debruge, P. (2011). John Lasseter: empower player. Variety. accessed on December 13, 2012http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118044116
Case study: John Lasseter. Power and politics in the fall and rise of John Lasseter.
1. The impact of Steve Jobs on technology and innovation
2. The leadership style of Steve Jobs and its effectiveness
3. Steve Jobs' role in the rise of Apple Inc.
4. The marketing strategies employed by Steve Jobs at Apple
5. Steve Jobs as a visionary and his predictions for the future of technology
6. Steve Jobs' personal and professional struggles
7. The legacy of Steve Jobs and his lasting influence on the tech industry
8. The relationship between Steve Jobs and his co-founder, Steve Wozniak
9. Steve Jobs' management style and its impact on Apple's success
10. The public....
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