“Samsung and the theme park industry in Korea''

Problem Analysis

In the case of Samsun, several areas of issues can be extracted from the case study:-

1. Financial Issues

The price of the theme park land is relatively expensive, ranging from $50mil - $3bill. The cost

of the land value can be really high what more when the location of this theme park is smack in

the middle of the city.

Secondly, the cost of maintenance for the theme park is huge. This expenses is unavoidable as

the nature of the business require regular maintenance works and upgrading tasks.

2. Seasonal Fluctuations

In marketing the theme park, the management used about 10% of their total income for below

and above the line promotions. These includes advertising, radio and print advertisement, mailers

and partnership programs with tour operators.

However, the number of visitors for the center varies from time to time. Peak seasons, i.e: spring,

summer and school holidays recorded high number of visitors to the theme park. However, this

number often drop when bad weather hit the area.

In managing high demand during peak season, the management of theme park often struggle

with lack of staff to manage the demand. This led to staffing and housing issues during this

sudden urge.

3. Competitors

In South of Korea, there are many competitors that are in the same nature of business. They are

Lotte World, Seoul Land, Dream Land, Children’s Grand Park and Seoul Grand Park. Lotte

World had the competitive advantage due to its location in the heart of the city and its an indoor

theme park. Although Yongin Farmland ranked no 11 out of 50 amusement parks in the world

(1994), Lotte World is catching with up being no 14 in the same rank.

4. Transportation and Location

Accessibility to the park is an issue especially with high traffic conditions, eg: peak hours.

People spent more time traveling every day; they don't have enough time to do their daily chores.

Instead of entertaining themselves over the weekend, they chose to do their chores. In an

average, people spent about two hours from Seoul to Farmland due to traffic jam. As mentioned

above, a sudden urge of demand will arise during peak seasons, i.e: spring, summer and school

holidays. This will lead to issues with parking spaces. On a normal operation basis, parking

space for about 8,000 cars are sufficient, however this might be otherwise during peak seasons.

Referring to table 8 “Leisure Patterns of South Korean Customers (1994)”, 38% of respondents

replied they will have about 4-5 people accompany them when they go to the theme park. 68% of

respondent replied they will choose to drive to the theme park.

5. Customer Satisfaction

The Management of Farmland realized that Lotte World provided better customer satisfaction

and they scored pretty high during the customer satisfaction survey. Farmland recognizes the fact

that it’s difficult to achieve similar service standard as in the Disneyland. Farmland need to look

into their current hiring process, academically vs people-oriented inclination towards the job.

Evaluate the theme parks industry using Porter’s Five Forces Model.

Michael Porter’s 5 Forces Model

Discuss the nature of the competition

Who are the competitors?

1) To the local customers:

The competitors are 1)Lotte world, 2)Seoul Land and 3)cheaper entertainment such as camping ,

beach and home movies.

2) To international customers

The competitors are theme parks in the region such as Tokyo Disneyland, Hong Kong Ocean

Park , Jakarta Jaya Ancol Dreamland and Beijing Amusement Park. In South Korea , there are

also five other theme parks that compete with Farmland.

Brief description of each of the theme park:

1) Tokyo Disneyland

Comprising of 7 themes in the park ,1)World Bazaar, the 4 classics Disneyland 2)

Adventure land , 3)Disney Land 4)Tomorrow Land 5) Western Land and the inclusion of

two mini lands 7)Critter country and 8)Mickey Toon town.

a) World Bazaar

World Bazaar is the main entry corridor and primary shopping area of Tokyo

Disneyland. Despite the use of the word "World" in its name, the general look and

theme of World Bazaar is that of early 20th-century America, matching the "Main

Street, U.S.A." areas of other Magic Kingdom-style parks.

b) Western Land

Westernland is an "old west" themed area, the counterpart of Frontierland in other

Magic Kingdom-style parks

c) Critter Country

Critter Country is a small area of the park with two main attractions, Splash

Mountains and Beaver Brothers Explorer Canoe.

The other four attractions are the similar attractions are in Disney World in Florida.

2) Ocean Park in Hong Kong

The largest water park in Asia is a marine mammal park, oceanarium and animal theme

park. It boast of 35 attractions and rides such as : The dragon roller coaster, Abyss turbo

drop, Crazy Galleon, Ferris Wheel, Mine Train, Raging River and Ocean Park Escalator

are just some of the attractions.

3) North Jakarta Jaya Ancol Dreamland

One of the largest recreation complexes in SE Asia, it consist of a theme park called,

Dunia Fantasi , a water park complex, a oceanarium , a golf course , and several hotels.

4) China amusement Park

Comprises of roller coaster, fairy tale world, garden for families and the park is not like

the rest where there is a theme instead it is trying to copy Disneyland by putting some

figures of Walt Disney.

From the above there are two categories of customers, Farmland must attract:

1) Domestic customers which are the primary target segment of the customer base as

they represent in South Korea about 60% to 75% of the total customers visiting theme

parks.

2) International customers or Tourists where theme park is a large attraction to this

group which has a high growth potential.

Therefore in order to compete domestically and internationally, Yongin Farmland must revamp

their existing facilities and bring in new attractions and new theme to the existing park as well as

improve the hardware and software of the existing park.

To know the competition forces better , Porter’s 5 forces analysis model will be use.

Porter's 5 Forces in Yongin Farmland theme park

Porter 5 forces model (see appendix 1) focus on external environment that the company has to be

able to cope with. Porter’s five forces model identifies the 5 sources of competitive pressures on

theme park industry and helps to determine Yongin Farmland theme park competitive intensity

and profit potential. The five force of Porter’s analysis model are as follows:

1) Rivalry

2) New entrants

3) Substitutes

4) Buyer bargaining power

5) Supplier bargaining power

Rivalry

In Korea, around the Seoul area, there were six themes parks. The most notable player in these

region are: Lotte World , Seoul Land and Yongin Farmland.. Each of these companies offers

theme parks with varying experiences, always trying to debut the newest and best experiences in

order to stay ahead of one another. A great example of this can be seen by looking at these three

major theme parks. 

Lotte World, Seoul Land and Yongin Farmland each are in direct competition with one another.

This is evident in their competitive offerings in ticket prices: 7,279 Won at Lotte World, 6,494

Won at Seoul Land and 6,667 Won at Farmland. These prices represent the admission and free

ride per person.

The rivalry between theme parks can also be observed by the debut of new attractions or

technology. Lotte World is located in the downtown and attract customers working or living

nearby. The theme park itself has hotel, departmental store, shopping mall , folk village and

sports center.

Seoul Land also located near Seoul, at Kyungkido, takes after Disneyland but in a much smaller

scale. Generally , Seoul Land is more of a entertainment place for short visit.

Farmland ,opened in 1976 originally meant to provide quality of living through healthy open air

leisure activities. It has the Wild Safari , the rose garden and to provide for Winter theme , the

Sled Slope and the Motor Park. Due to the intense rivalry from Lotte world and Seoul Land ,

Farmland also planned to revamp its theme park with addition of the water park, a global fair and

the expansion of the existing zoo.

Rivalry amongst companies in the theme park industry is what keeps them relevant in the eyes of

its customers. Every year new attractions, restaurants, entertainment, and hotel offerings are

announced in order to influence people to attend the various parks. This rivalry also affects the

profits of these theme parks as they typically see a good return on their investment year over

year. For example, not every family is going to take a vacation to Farmland each holiday.

Farmland realizes this and thus is constantly looking for ways to improve its attractions to stay

ahead of its rivals, so families can count on having a better experience on their next visit. The

more guests Farmland can get to return by staying ahead of rivals Lotte world and Seoul Land,

the more profit they will be able to bring home.

Other forms of competition come from free admission parks, beaches, camping trips. These are

either free or cheaper than paying for a trip to the theme park.

 The bargaining power of customers in the theme park industry

In a good economy and during the holiday seasons, the buyer bargaining power is low where

there are many patrons to the theme park. Since the Koreans do not have many vacation leave

and Korea is a temperate country, the only time for Koreans to go out with their family will be

during the mid –summer to mid-autumn period. These will be the peak period for most of the

theme parks and it is term the high seasonality.

When the high seasonality period is over, the customer’s bargaining power will be high and the

theme parks must start their promotional activities or special events to attract customers to visit

the theme park.

Bargaining power of suppliers – 

As I mentioned in my discussion surrounding rivalry in the theme park industry, every park attempts to stay relevant and appealing to its customers by debuting new attractions/offerings as often as possible. Operating under that impression, the suppliers to the theme park industry have a lot of bargaining power. DOGO of Japan, HUSS of Germany and ARROW of the United States are just a few of the major companies who create the attractions found in most of the theme parks throughout the world. Every year, the International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) hosts a convention where the newest technology is put on display for the consumers (theme parks).  In an effort to keep customers excited year after year, theme parks have the opportunity at this convention to see the newest technologies first hand and decide what to bring to their theme parks in the future. This can negatively affect the profit level of theme parks however, as they bid against one another as they vie for the best technology, driving up the prices and reputation of the suppliers

Threat of new entrants

The threat of new entrants of theme park in South Korea is not particularly high. Near Seoul ,

there are six theme park of which Lotte World , Seoul Land and Yongin Farmland are the most

notable ones. Theme parks around the world require a large scale initial investment ranging from

$50 million to $3 billion. Land development cost ,amusement machinery cost and working

capital are the main component of the capital investment. Since theme parks are very competitive

in nature, continuous upgrades of new attractions and renovate existing ones to attract repeat

customers is a norm.

The threat of new entrants outside South Korea appears to be high especially from world class

theme parks such as Tokyo Disneyland, Ocean Park in Hong Kong, Jaya Ancol Dreamland in

Jakarta and Beijing Amusement Park. Hong Kong Disneyland has opened with success, a new

Shanghai Disney recent has been announced, and several theme park projects in Dubai, though

long delayed, are now starting to get under way. Whether or not these projects will succeed

remains to be seen, but the entry barriers for the theme park industry appear to be much lower

outside of the South Korea. For these reasons I have to conclude that the threat of new entrants

into the theme park industry does not seem to have too large an impact on current companies

profits.

Threat of substitutes

The threat of substitutes in the theme park industry is one of the biggest challenges theme parks

are forced to overcome. While theme parks such as Lotte World and Seoul Land , they cater to

customers for one or two days travel. Farmland intends to develop a resort town in Yongin with

luxury hotels, golf courses and resort accommodations catering to customers with families and

spend longer time in Farmland. The challenge for Farmland is finding ways to entice customers

to spend their vacations with them as opposed to trips to the beach, admission parks, camping

trips or staying at home and watch video-movies.

The threat of substitutes will always exist as families decide where to spend their money on

vacations each year. However, if companies can find a way to remain relevant and offer a wide

range of activities for people to engage in like Farmland ,Lotte World , they will be less

susceptible to feel the effects of these substitutes and profit levels will continue to grow.

How do the particularities of the South Korean environment alter your analysis? Do you foresee

any specific problems? What are the key factors of success?

It is best to use the PEST analysis model to evaluate the particularities of the South Korean

environment. The analysis measures the market potential and situation, particularly indicating

growth or decline, and thereby market attractiveness, business potential and suitability of assess.

PEST is an acronym for Political, Economic, social and Technological factors, which are used to

assess the market for a business unit, like Farmland. Essentially, the factors are external in

nature.

The subject of the PEST analysis in this report is to evaluate if Samsung Headquarter should

support the business proposal by investing $300 million in revamping Farmland Theme Park.

Political

Land Use

Getting authority approval in building a theme park in Korea could be a tedious process and

takes typically 2 – 5 years before any approval could be granted. This is especially so within the

vicinity of major cities such as Seoul where land is scare. The land requires for building or

expanding a theme park normally involved considerable large land plot.

Ecological/environmental Issue

Political issues involving ecological/environmental concerns could hinder a theme park project.

Citizens or environmental group affected by the project could raise issue such as noise pollution,

traffic congestion, deforestation etc.

Premium Insurance for Accidents

Legislation requires theme park operators to carry premium insurance for accidents involving

visitors as a result of the rides, water sports facilitated.

Economic

After the Korean War of 1950-1953, South Korea has progressively evolved into a dynamic

industrial society through the decades. By 1990s, educational and public health standards were

high so as the average annual income at purchasing power parity (adjusting to the cost of living

in the country) standing at USD 13,350 and was growing. This gave indication of the spending

power of the population benefitted from the economy growth that experienced real GDP

expanded by an average of more than 8% per year from USD 2.7B to USD 230B in 1989.

Tourism in South Korea has been growing over the years. Majority of the South Korean tourist

industry was supported by the domestic tourism. Most non-Korean tourists come mainly from

Japan, China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Visitors from South East Asian countries were also on the

rise. The popularity of popular culture in these countries has increased tourist arrivals. Seoul is

the principle tourist destination for visitors.

For the theme park industry in South Korea, the business is one of seasonal and intermittent in

nature. The visitor attendance typically peaked during spring/summer and school holiday. For

those with outdoor facility, the parks would be affected by the bad weathers such as torrential

rains, severe winter condition. Likewise, during the peak period, the industry faced challenges in

upholding quality service standard in catering to large influx of visitors. Challenges included

manpower shortage, transportation, building management etc. Transportation means in getting in

and out of the theme park is an important consideration in attracting the visitors. That is, the

location and the accessibility of the park played important criteria in the success of the parks. In

South Korea, pacing with economic growth, the government has been developing transportation

infrastructure linking major cities and most parts of the developing regions with super-highways,

trains, subway, domestic air traffic etc to promote proximity and mobility of people in the

country.

It was also an important business feature in the theme park industry to continue upgrading its

infrastructure through investment in creating more attractions such as rides, shows etc to meet

customer loyalties, expectation and repeat business.

Social

Rapid economic growth, industrialization and urbanization has shifted the mobility of the

population and migration of large number of people from the countryside .Most people now live

in urban areas, and a complex structure of social classes had emerged that resembled the social

structure of developed Western countries. However, there was continuity with the past.

Confucian and neoConfucion ideas and institution continued to have important impact to the

society in the 1990s.Confucian influence was most evident in the tremendous value placed on

education, a major factor in South Korea’s economic progress. The population of South Korea,

sharing a common language, ethnic identity, and culture, was one of the world’s most

homogeneous. The attributes gave intense feelings of nationalism to the people of South Korean.

South Korea was one of the world’s most densely populated countries. The extremely crowding

in South Korea, especially in cities like Seoul and Pusan, was a major factor not only in

economic development and in the standard of living but also in the development of social

attitudes and the human relationships. The competition for limited resources including space

itself is intense.

Rapid economic growth, industrialization and urbanization have caused profound transformation

in the class structure of South Korea society. The most evidence is the emergence of new middle

class mainly residing in urban cities, consisting of civil servants, salaried white-collar workers in

large private companies and professionals with specialized training. The number of factory

workers has grown significantly as well.

Workers in South Korea have the longest work hours among the developed countries. The

typical workweek is 44 hours or longer, or five and a half days a week. Most people start their

day at 8am and end at around 10pm or later, often having dinner before returning from work.

In general, people living in the urban cities like Seoul is under tremendous stress due to the

working pressure – long hours, crowded environment –traffic jam, space constraint – small

apartment. Naturally, when come to pastime, people will incline towards going to places that

offer space and less crowded area to relax. Survey in 1994 shows that south Koreans scored high

on visiting places like theme park, nature and historical place for a short one-day holiday

pastime.

Technology

The theme park industry has three classes of technology inputs (1) the building and construction

services that provided landscaping and architectural support (2) the hardware providers that

supplied amusement machinery (3) the software providers that supplied management know how.

Building and Construction Services

South Korea has been a powerhouse in building and construction technology. Korean

conglomerate such as Samsung Corporation, Hyundai Corporation have been renowned for their

capability in taking on big and complicated building construction projects.

Hardware Providers

Hardware Providers are supplier that specialized in supplying amusement machinery such as

roller coaster, simulators, Virtual reality etc. to the theme parks. As the popularity of the theme

park grows, there is demand in more high technological amusement machinery in attracting

crowds. Suppliers of such high quality machinery are few and concentrated in Japan, Europe and

United States. They are costly in acquiring and require considerable operating cost in

maintenance.

Software Providers

It is most difficult in developing the management know-how in theme park industry. Theme park

leader like Disney has developed successful management know how tools in operating their

theme parks and make available educational program to train personnel in delivering world class

quality service. However, it was costly and difficult to engage such management software

through licensing.

Specific Problems

- Develop quality service to meet customer satisfaction

- Land use to develop theme park

- Transportation

Key Success Factors in Theme Park Industry

Quality, Safety and Security

Customers expect high level of quality along all areas of the theme park. Users also expect

adventures and experiences in an artificial environment at a calculable risk.

Multivarious, range of options and attractions

Theme parks have to offer a wide range of attractions and possibilities which meet the

requirement and desire of new multi-optional customers.

Emotion

Theme parks need to tell a story and have to impart impressions and emotions as persuasive as

possible.

Functionality and infrastructure

One stop solution taking into accounts of parking, accessibility to and from the park.

Branding

A corporate branding enables theme parks to create a good image, increase security, trust and

recognition to attract customers more efficiently.

Innovation

A continuing process of innovation and redesign hedges success against changing pattern of

customer behavior and fading customer loyalty.

Uniqueness

The offered product and set of experiences and attractions should be clearly defined to keep

uniqueness against competitors and focus on selected segment of customers

Weather independency

All weather operations ensure a continuous business and declutch service from environmental

factors

Involvement and interactivity

With an increasing involvement and interactivity of the customers the surplus (value added) rise

strongly for customers.

Escape and imagination

Visitors want to get away from everyday life and expect a temporary change by the artificial and

illusion stage.

Capacity and queue management

The management of the capacity during peak and off peak times and seasonal variations in

demand are a major factor for success and customer satisfaction

Continuity and theming

The whole product including all activities and designs should be themed. Customers need to find

them clearly.

Environment integration

Theme parks have to be integrated well into the economical, social and ecological environment

of the hosting destination.

The general causes for failure of the theme parks

Falling customer expectation

Improper marketing and branding

Failed location and catchment

Inept pricing and hidden cost

Negative innovation and investment spital

Lacking entrepreneurship and know how.

Poor human resource management, bad service attitude.