General Information:

Media Type: Book
Type: Other
Release Date: 2011-08-11

Geek's Thoughts: All of us disneygeeks have a general idea and impression of how Disney does business. We experience it first hand over and over again. Even though we all enjoy the magic we know it takes cast members and a sound strategy to deliver these magical experiences to us. Be Our Guest by the Disney Institute with Theodore Kinni takes us behind the curtain to look at some of the Disney best practices and their application. The Disney approach is presented as a quality service compass. This compass has four main points guestology, quality standards, delivery systems, and integration. The book looks at each of these points on the compass in detail and explains through case studies how the approaches are applied within Disney as well as with corporations that have gone through the Disney Institute.

The book is easy to read and you do not have to be a business wonk to understand and get something out of it. The case studies look at how the company has evolved, going back to the Walt days and how he intuitively ran the ran the company up through current challenges such as Hong Kong Disneyland. They try to balance the Disney history and current case studies with examples of applications to other businesses that have come to the Disney Institute to learn.

 

This book is a revised an updated edition. The original was published back in 2001 and to celebrate the tenth anniversary the Disney Institute released this edition. I had not read the original but it appears they have updated the case studies and examples to include recent additions such as Aulani, Hong Kong Disneyland, and the Disney Dream. Also Tom Staggs and Bob Iger are referenced/quoted quite a few times where as I am guessing the original had more Michael Eisner and Frank Wells in it.