MEDIA RESOURCES

Disney Contact: Terry Brinkoetter

As Disney Celebrates 50 Years of Theme Park Magic
MBAs Learn Strong Service Culture Is Key to Business Success

DALLAS (SMU) - Cox MBAs are dusting off their white gloves and glass slippers, getting ready to participate with the Disney Institute as the only MBA program with a custom-designed program for its students. Through Cox’s relationship with the Disney Institute, SMU MBAs experience firsthand Walt Disney World success strategies and tactics for building customer loyalty and increasing customer retention through outstanding service.

"1955 marked the first time that, as an organization, Disney could interact with its audience,” said Bruce Jones, programming director for the Disney Institute. “Creating the ‘show’ called Disneyland, we established the basic service touchpoints that are still the foundation of our success today, including the philosophy that we don’t have customers, but rather an audience of Guests. Those early years are also when we enacted the training and support operations that are still in existence today and that have earned us the reputation as a global benchmark for service.

This year, the SMU Cox kick-off reception will be held on Saturday, December 10, as 30 students prepare to spend three intensive days studying Disney leadership theories and their application within Epcot, the Magic Kingdom Park, and various Walt Disney World resort hotels. Objectives for this year's group of Cox MBA students attending the Disney Institute include:

• to develop an understanding of the effect that creating and sustaining a service culture has on an organization's business results,

• to discover systems, people, and processes behind the scenes that work together to produce a quality experience, and

• to observe the application of systems and processes within the Walt Disney World Resort in the achievement of service excellence.

The custom-designed program allows Cox MBAs to transfer the knowledge gained from their Disney Institute experience directly into the classroom or into any organization. The Disney Institute program is most often targeted toward companies and professional groups. Thousands of professionals from more than 35 countries and over 40 industries have attended business programs at Disney Institute and learned how to adapt the Disney approach for their own organizations.

"This program complements our student's education of management and leadership concepts by exposing them to Disney's unsurpassed concepts and philosophies that can be applied to other organizations," said Paula Hill Strasser, director of the SMU Cox Business Leadership Center. "Disney serves as an ideal example of a company that has maintained customer loyalty over the years, creating a customer base that spans generations."

Creating a strong service culture is a key to improving customers' experience and ensuring that they come back time and again. Disney is one of the world's leaders in developing and implementing relationship-building strategies and tactics. At the Disney Institute, Cox MBAs witness how Disney builds and sustains those relationships, including the vital role employees play in cultivating Disney's "magic" environment.

The customized Disney Institute experience is made possible by the Cox School of Business' Business Leadership Center (BLC) <http://blc.cox.smu.edu>. The BLC, unique to MBA programs, has provided Cox MBA students with innovative leadership training programs for more than a decade. The BLC was created to offer Cox MBAs practical training in critical management and leadership skills. Developed through a partnership with more than 30 major Dallas corporations, the BLC offers more than 65 non-credit elective seminars yearly in areas such as entrepreneurial leadership, ethics, communication, team building and interpersonal skills.

About SMU Cox

SMU’s Cox School of Business offers a full range of business education programs, including BBA, full-time MBA, Professional MBA (PMBA), Executive MBA (EMBA), and Executive Education. The school also offers a number of unique resources and activities for students, ranging from its Business Leadership Center (BLC), Caruth Institute for Entrepreneurship, Maguire Energy Institute, and American Airlines Global Leadership Program (AAGLP) to its Associate Board Executive Mentoring Program and an international alumni network of more than 29,000. SMU Cox is ranked among the top business schools nationally and internationally by major publications, including BusinessWeek, Economist, Financial Times, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, and U.S. News & World Report.