Annual Objectives and Policies
Table 6.
Annual Objectives and Policies
The annual objectives and policies proposed consist of identifying opportunities for
acquisition or entering into a new market, creating a project team to capture the opportunity,
and moving into operations management among various time intervals. This proposal
recommends that the project portfolio be evaluated quarterly. Each separate SBU should, for
the most part, have freedom to decipher the projects scope, schedule and budget while a
corporate team also leads initiatives that fall outside of the realm of the traditional SBU
structure. The centralized project coordination office will then have the ability to compare the
proposed net present value (or other chosen metrics) among all projects across the traditional
divisional lines to make sure that the projects with the greatest benefits secure funding and all
projects follow a set of best practices. Centralization of this unit also opens the doors to
creating a knowledge management base that can also be shared across divisional lines. The
key advantages of this method are:
Retain corporate control over acquisitions and projects
Allow the SBUs freedom for creativity while maintaining functional efficiencies
Maintain aggressive profit growth by funding projects with the greatest NPV
It is recommended that the project coordination team be developed to maintain project
management best practices without being overly intrusive to the project’s objectives. Also,
acquisitions must be monitored as well since these will represent a bulk of the company’s
growth strategy. Subsequently, change management practices must be adhered to during such
integrations. Disney must also be cognizant of the corporate culture that is subject to any
acquisition to ensure that integration does not come with insurmountable resistance.
Timeline for Integration of Project Coordination Office
Year One
Q1Acquire Top Talent in Project Management and Acquisitions
Acquire Office Space
Begin Teambuilding
Q2
Allow Team to Assimilate into Disney’s Culture
Compile Portfolio of Current Projects
Announce Organizational Change
Provide Workshops to SBUs about Process Changes
Q3
Pull the Trigger on New Project System
Q4
Conduct First Annual Evaluation
Reengineer Process (If Necessary)
Year Two
Q1-Q3
Build Knowledge Base
Diversify Project Portfolio
Spread Project Management Education of Best Practices
Q4
Conduct Annual Evaluation
Reengineer Process (If Necessary)
Year Three
Q1-Q3
Maintain Project Portfolio
Q4
Conduct Annual Evaluation
Reengineer Process (If Necessary)
Strategy Review and Evaluation
Ultimately, the proposed focus on innovation and acquisition must be subject to
evaluation, and the scorecard for all businesses is written in economic terms. Within the four
primary SBUs, such evaluations are comparatively simple to conduct due to the large amount
of historical performance data available. New projects and acquisitions require more craft in
terms of evaluations but these can be compared with the net benefit analysis produced before
the project’s inception to provide a measure of success.
References
La Monica, P. (2006). Disney buys Pixar. Retrieved from
http://money.cnn.com/2006/01/24/news/companies/disney_pixar_deal/
Mycoted. (n.d.). Disney creativity strategy. Retrieved from
http://www.mycoted.com/Disney_Creativity_Strategy
Reso, P. (2010). House of mouse to sell homes: Disney hawks multi-million-dollar properties
near Walt Disney World. Retrieved from
http://www.nydailynews.com/money/2010/06/24/2010-06-
24_disney_enters_real_estate_market_starts_selling_luxury_vacation_homes_near_di
sne.html (accessed September 6, 2010).
The Walt Disney Company. (n.d.). Investor relations. Retrieved
from http://corporate.disney.go.com/investors/index.html
Time Warner Corporate. (n.d.). About us. Retrieved from
http://www.timewarner.com/corp/aboutus/mission_values.html