Dennis Hightower: Walt Disney’s Transnational Manager
Emily Gantt
Liberty University
BMAL 504 — Leading Organizational Change
Introduction
In 1987, Dennis Hightower was named Vice President of Disney Consumer Products—
Europe, leaving him to take charge of eight disparate country operations that included a number
of different businesses involved in books, magazines, children’s music and licensing of
merchandise. Changes to the organization quickly began.
Hightower’s Actions 1988 – 1994
In 1988, Hightower began to shift focus to the publishing business for Italian operations,
moving away from simply pure licensing. Disney’s European publishing operations eventually
ended up becoming “a mosaic of licensing in the United Kingdom, Germany, and Nordic
countries…” (Jick & Peiperl, 2011, p. 416). Not long after this shift, Hightower told his various
country managers to “focus on the revenue-production side of their business,” and to let him
“worry about the back office” (Jick & Peiperl, 2011, p. 416-417). To provide common resources
among each of the countries, Hightower began the development of the marketing and creative
services divisions within their regional office. 1988 also brought the elimination of over 60 local
toy licensees after Hightower made the decision to bring to all of Europe the deal with Mattel
they had for toys, a deal which had once just been US-wide. Shortly after, he made another deal
eliminating more than 50 tother licensees, except this deal was with Nestle to cover food
products. Then came more deals, transnational deals, with Nintendo, IMB, Sega, Kodak, Johnson
& Johnson, Coca Cola and Seiko. In 1991, Hightower became the president of DCP-EME, and
began another set of changes after his appointment, which came along in 1992. He split the
creative division, and relocated the head of finance to the Middle East. While the changes
implemented by Hightower seemed to be boosting Disney’s business retail value, $650 million in
1987 to #3.5 billion in 1993 (Jick & Peiperl, 2011, p. 421), they didn’t come without
organizational struggle.
Hightower vs. Welch: Approach to Change
The LORD says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you
and watch over you (Psalm 32:8, New Living Translation). As Christ leads us along the best
pathway, advising us, Dennis Hightower and Jack Welch, though both approached some aspects
differently, led their followers in the best way they thought they could. Hightower and Welch
seemed to differ in some areas in relation to their leadership styles; Hightower having a bit more
of a hands-off approach, and Welch taking a more involved approach. “Dennis works on the
squeaky-wheelchair theory: Get involved only when you hear a squeak…He trusts people, but
they must deliver” (Jick & Peiperl, 2011, p. 418). “To leverage performance in GE’s diverse
portfolio of businesses, the new CEO challenged each to be “better than the best” and set in
motion a series of changes that were to radically restructure the company over the next five
years” (Jick & Peiperl, 2011, p. 565).
In relation to similarity, Hightower and Welch both kept a focus on what life would be
like for those still left at their respective organizations once they left and were replaced by their
chosen successors. “I want to have an organization in place that allows someone from Europe
take my place. The question I am increasingly asking myself is, what should the profile be of the
person who will replace me?” “The closer he got to his planned retirement date, the more Welch
seemed to focus on the quality of the organization he would leave to his successor” (Jick &
Peiperl, 2011, p. 586). “Having at least a tentative succession plan is one of our responsibilities
as…leaders”
Apparel Business
“Do we need to move from where we stand on this issue today?...if so, where should we
be heading and by what route?” (Jick & Peiperl, 2011, p. 423). The recommendation for moving
forward with the apparel business is to treat the countries as separate entities, as the case denotes
that, for different reasons, consequences left different country managers unhappy. “Germany has
very structured retailing with big department stores and mail-order houses…Italy is made up of
small retailers…Now I am unhappy since my market is underexploited and the Italian country
manager is unhappy since his market is not being served” (Jick & Peiperl, 2011, p. 423).
Transnational Challenges
While transnational businesses can be wonderfully successful, there are obstacles that can
present themselves, and if not dealt with cautiously and deliberately, could be detrimental to the
organization. What may work flawlessly in one country, may not work even a percentage as well
in another. For example, cultural differences are often challenges faced in scenarios like these.
“Multicultural workforce congregations and increasing global interactions in business, finance,
culture, etc., have become today's workplace realities. Cross-cultural differences are the cause of
failed negotiations and interactions, resulting in losses” (Kapur & Janakiram, 2015, p. 99). As
seen in the case in relation to the apparel business, Germany and Italy ended up being unhappy,
yet for different reasons. There is no one-size-fits-all approach that will inherently work for all
countries. Just like in business where cultural differences are often a struggle, Christ tells us that
in real life we have differences that were given to us by God, and to treat them wisely, as cultural
differences should be treated wisely, as well. God has given each of you a gift from his great
variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another (Peter 4:10, New Living
Translation).
References
Buller, J. L. (2016). Working Yourself Out of a Job: How to Make Your Department Thrive.
Department Chair, 26(3), 5–6.https://doiorg.ezproxy.liberty.edu/10.1002/dch.30058
Jick, T., & Peiperl, M. (2011). Managing change: cases and concepts (3rd ed.). Boston:
McGraw-Hill/Irwin.
Kapur, N., & Janakiram, B. (2015). Comparative Analysis of Corporate Cross Cultural
Management in IT vs Non IT Organizations. Cross-Cultural Management Journal,
17(2), 99–114. https://doi-org.ezproxy.liberty.edu/http://cmj.bxb.ro
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