Entrepreneur Biography – Walt Disney

Kenneth Uy 500438690 Entrepreneurs Biography Walt Disney Childhood Walter Elias Disney, comm except referred to as Walt Disney, was born on December 5th, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois (Walt Disney Family M commitum, 2012). His arrive Elias Disney was an Irish-Canadian and his mother, botany Disney, was of German and English descent. His family settled in a vill mount know 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 essential his love for drawing.At the time he remunerative a retired Doctor by the name of Doc Sherwood to green goods images of his horse, Rupert. Later on his interest grew to recrudesce development in Marceline, specific anyy the Topeka and Santa Fe Rail air where his uncle Michael Martin was the conduct (Disney, 2000). Four years later, the Disneys moved to Kansas metropolis where Walt Disney accompanied the Benton Grammar S chool. In school Walt Disney met Walter Pfeiffer who introduced him to the acquaintance base of vaudeville and motion pictures (Disney, 2000). He continued to emerge himself in art and tearography as he attended courses at the Kansas City art start Institute and went to Electric Park.Adulthood At age 22 Walt Disney leave Kansas City and do his way into Hollywood regardless of his insufficient gold and materials. With the help of his brother Roy Disney they were able to use their resources and construct a tv camera to study in their uncles garage. Shortly they received an order from New York to produce the film Alice Comedy and began production (IMDb, 2010). In 1925, Walt married Lillian Bounds, maven of his employees, in Lewiston, Idaho and had two daughters named Diane and Sharon Disney (Disney, 2000).Three years had passed and the infamous Mickey Mouse was low gear portrayed in the silent cartoon Plane Crazy only made his debut in Steamboat Willie which is kn sustai n as the worlds starting line fully synchronized sound cartoon. The production Mickey Mouse was the initiative milestone that began Walt Disneys progression (Disney, 2000). Soon after, he began the production of uncut animated cartoon that contributed his launch to succession. By the time 1955 had arrive the intact globe had been entertained by Walt Disneys creations especi every last(predicate)(prenominal)y with his television programming like The Mickey Mouse Club Zorro and Wonderful creative activity 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 index to draw. Once the family moved to Chicago in 1917, Disney attended McKinley High School in his freshman year and took dark courses at the Chicago Art Institute. He returned to Kansas City after a year to begin working as a graphic artist, therefore, Disney had a total of 9 years of formal education (Disney, 2000). Family Walt Disney had a father named Elias Disney and a mother named Flora Disney.He has three brothers Herbert, Raymond, Roy, and Walter. And a sister named poignancy 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 creator president and chief executive of Walt Disney Productions and Sharon served as a member of Disney add-in 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 be too young (IMDb, 2010).He then joined the loss Cross for a year as an ambulance driver. Upon his arrival back, he had impediment finding work as an artist or unconstipated as an ambulance driver. He then bring temporary work at an Art Studio creating advertisements for refreshedspapers, magazines and movie theatres. He overly met h is commencement start-up partner Ubbe Iwerks. Finally, he worked for Kansas City Film Ad Company where he learned all about bread and butter and decided to become an animator (Gabler, 2006). Past inauguration Background Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists was founded in January 1920 after Walt and Ubbe decided to start their own bon ton (Gabler, 20006). Their company however was a failure and both started to work in animation at the Kansas City Film Ad Company. after(prenominal) learning all about animation, he engrossd other start-up with another co-worker Fred Harman. This time he taked 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 in short went bankrupt collect to Walts poor pecuniary management.Later that year, Walt and his Brother Roy subject Disney Brothers Studio in Hollywood, California (WDFM, 2012). He then started change his produced cartoons to a N ew York distributor that was a huge success. Everything was going well until Disney found out that his client had chartered Walts animators under sheer and took the rights to his about pop animated vitrines (Gabler, 2006). Motivation of Startup After losing everything, Walt and Ubbe decided to create another cartoon character now cognize as Mickey.After creating a series of short cartoons Mickey became the worlds roughly popular cartoon character in the 1930s. Walt created his archetypical rough animated musical feature in the production of blow White and the 7 Dwarfs which exceeded all 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 lay and which is now Disneyland.After being rejected approximately 302 times (Cool Pup, 2012) for financing the park, he finally got give the sackonic and his venture would allow him to acquire ABC and open his second successful theme park, Disneyworld (JustDisney, 2003). The Walt Disney Company now has approximately 156,000 employees and had almost $41 jillion in revenue the previous year (WDFM, 2012). Section 2 Stevensons Entrepreneurial attitude on Walt Disney Note This section pertains to Walt Disney period he had an modulate on the Walt Disney Company until his death in 1966 and not the company at its current state.Strategic Orientation Strategic druthers is defined by Stevenson to be how one formulates strategy (2006). He mentions two styles Promoter and regent and contrasts the two by describing the first as opportunity-driven and the latter as resource-driven. Walt Disney demonstrate many an(prenominal) entrepreneurial traits through and throughout his animation business ventures. Even part working for other ad companies, he always ended up making his own company. I opine Walt Disneys strategic orien tation strongly reflects that of a promoter.Walt always pursued opportunities in entertainment because man Walt was producing still-cartoons at a previous job, he saw a larger 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 stellar(a) 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 never gave up on Disneyland and was rumored to arrive at been rejected financing for the theme park over ccc times (Cool Pup, 2012) until he struck a deal with ABC who agree to help finance the park (JustDisney, 2003). He achieved his task and was driven to break through in his financing. Walt can also be justified as a promoter because he operates in an industry with diminishing opportunity streams. onwards his cartoon Mickey Mouse became a famous icon, Walt Disney constantly produced new characters and films to build his companys reputation. Commitment to OpportunityStevensons next excogitation is described as a persons resultingness to act (2006). Promoters ar execute-oriented and willing to act in short-time periods to chase their opportunities. He describes promoters to be action-oriented and induct heavy involvement in risk management. Conversely, breakment for trustees is often long and normally takes a longer period of time. Through Walts travel we saw him deviate his concentration to many several(predicate) forms of entertainment. He seemed to be involved with many cartoon characters until the creation of Mickey Mouse that pass off 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 revolution ary array of ventures reveals Disneys relyment to opportunity as a promoter. He remained very action oriented in ensuring that he would follow through until his cartoons succeeded. As well, he was heavily involved in the risk management of his company because zippo was willing to invest in his Disneyland (JustDisney, 2003). He financed a lot of the park through the company and the other half through ABC and was heady to situate the park succeed.With the parks success, Disney had already made plans to commit construction for another one in Florida. His commitment to opportunity attributed generally 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 c atomic number 18ful analysis and single stage commitment. In relation to Walt, a lot of his projects u nderwent a series of funding.In his early charge 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 he 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 currency (Gabler, 2006). Since there were no formal venture capitalist groups at the time, the only when 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 discordant other projects. Similar to Snow White, Disneyland was funded in a similar look 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. repayable to unpredictable resource inescapably and varied studio costs from film development, from a financial perspective Disneys company was very chaotic.Control of Resources The use of resources in an organization plays a pivotal subroutine in determine 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 spit (Gabler, 2006), Walt found himself at a standstill.From that moment onward, Walt made sure to go for full ownership on all his companys afterlife productions in order to preserve his business and avoid future efficacious conflicts. Due to the nature of the business, W alt 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 bargain for large amounts of land (Gabler, 2006).A promoter style of management does not outfit the Walt Disney Company for this section because Walt himself becharmd 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 watchd he could take action without further laudation from other partners.Management Structures Stevensons views on management place relationships at the effect of every social organisation. Promoters rely on receiving valuable information for key actors while trustees rely on formal relationships within the company based on detailed rights and responsibilities. Trustee management is the only applicable management structure for the Walt Disney Company (2006). He states, Only in systems where the relationship with resources is based 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 countenance that structure is required to delegate roles and responsibilities within the company. Walts company show many things that favour trustee management, the first being the need for intelligibly defined authority and responsibility and the next to be organizational culture. As the company increased in size, in order to ensure Walt could influence every level of management, there needed to be a formalise 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 doctrine When it comes to refunding an organizations employees, Stevenson finds that promoters reward employees based on their constituent and harvesting of value (2006). Investors and owners of the business want to generate returns to ensure they overtake 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 sa lary 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 individual 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 particular(a) 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 ag o, 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 financial hardship. In order to avoid situations like these, Disney should have reported or at the very least consulted with HR professionals on a give away 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 immediate effects on the companys future. 2. The company found itself out of bills 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 o wn. Although the company succeeded in both ventures, I recollect 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 uprightness firms arent as readily available back then as they were today, I believe o ne 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 life work influenced the way people viewed imagination. His life dedication to providing entertainment 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 exult 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_samps on/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 Business 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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