Originally posted by thedisneyfan
I hope that your not referring to the same business school grads that have killed Disney revenue growth with these sort of actions, obliterated the stock price, and killed the Disney Stores?
As to those of you who have no problem with such closure, I have some Enron, WorldCom, and Global Crossing shares to sell you right now...the report is that they're a great investment for the future! Trust me!
As to the analytical skills all of you business people really caught that big stock market crash didn't you????? (Among other things) 
Thankfully, I'm not in the business field because I still have common sense!
Actually, I just recently started buying stocks. I told some folks two years ago there was a crash coming and then after that the time to buy would be right. Once we get past the crash bubble, stocks will grow at a slow and steady rate just as they had most of the rest of the 20th century. Take a look at the Dow for the last 100 years, and you can see that the 90's were an out of control anomaly that will hopefully not be repeated in the remaing part of my life. I also find it kind of ironic that the real economist (not payed for by the governemt or industry) were trumpeting this exact message to the world only to be ignored.
The Nineties were all about get rich quick at any price. And, unfortunately, business leaders around the world catered to the need to raise their stock. Which they did utilizing legitimate tactics like cost cutting and illegitimate acts of "aggressive accounting". Its kind of hard to raise your stock price when you are a corporation with a long history being compared directly to the Dot.com flops and Enrons, etc.. of the nineties. Companies like Disney were actually turning a real definable profit, yet were being compared to technology companies that were simply consuming cash like it grew on trees.
I am going to be a little harsh here but I can't express my thoughts any other way about the business management climate of the last several years. I think many Companies are run by brown-nosing morons. These are the people who will take a legitimate analysis of a situation and change a few numbers to make the report say what they (or the executive they report to) want it to say in order to gain points in the company. I can say this because I have been the analyst who authored the reports and was forced to change data in order to skew the results. Business today has more to do with intra-office self-promotion and governmental politics than it does with actually running a profitable company.
Business leaders of the past, while still harboring some brown-nosing abilities, also proved to be a little more visionary in their management style. Walt Disney himself was just one example of the business leaders of his time with the "ability to see the future".
Disney specifically engineered the demise of the Disney Store on its own and with the help of consumers. There is a fine line in retail that you have to be careful not to cross. You have to be able to keep your product from becoming a commodity or worse a fad while at the same time making sure it is conveniently available for all who wish to purchase it. In the Disney Store scenario, the consumers desire to buy Disney products at every mall in America was over estimated. I also believe they over estimated the brands appeal outside of holiday seasons, other special occasions and vacation trips to theme parks. Most Americans arent die hard Disney fans.
A couple of Disney stores in a major metro area like Atlanta for example makes sense. The products are available to those who want them without having to drive too far but without having them on every corner. This preserves the "magic" of the Disney product and makes people think they are getting something special.
On the other hand, building the same number of Disney Stores that you have in Atlanta, in a place like Cincinnati makes little sense. The store will no longer be seen as something special but as the Walgreens or Eckerds on every corner.
My bottom line is Disney's executives saw some excellent results form the first group of stores and then over-built just like the Gap and other specialty retailers who are in trouble today. The business term for what they are expereincing was called Diminishing Returns.
I have made my case for the Disney Club closure and therefore will not repeat it in this post. Lets just suffice it to say that sometimes there are situations that require mass marketing and sometimes not.
By the way Common Sense is not lacking in Business Leaders, good old accurate information is as well as the ability to trust your "gut instinct". LOL, most executives wouldn't walk in front of a moving train but they might not check the source data for some of their scenarios on paper either.
Integrity and honesty have been lost in todays mad clamor to raise stock prices and return on shareholders investment. However short-term fixes don't usually lead to long term growth.
By the way if anyone out there is a newspaper publisher and looking for a new editorial columnist feel free to send me an email. LOL, I may as well get paid to do this kind of writing.:lol:
