Student response to Disneykidds questions

[FantasticDisFamily]

Disneykidds posed several interesting questions in another thread and I mentioned I would take those into one of my management courses and see what sort of response the students had.

I have all freshmen/sophomores this semester so keep that in mind (although it did provide excellent talking points regarding gap analysis in their skill set, etc. but I digress).

Essentially they felt what happens to Eisner depends on the vote 3/3/04. If the stockholders vote ME off the board then the board should remove him as CEO.

None of them thought the possibility of a no vote would be enough incentive to persuade him to leave before that. Let me just insert here that the surrounding conversation indicated very little understanding of the sort of ego required to be in such a position in the first place. In fact most of them keyed in on why would someone not old enough to retire (?) leave before they were 62/65 unless forced to. Ok, another gap is that they don't comprehend how much money a CEO pulls in, they are thinking from a paycheck to paycheck until one can collect Social Security/pension standpoint.

Procurement of the Muppet rights was generally seen as an indication that ME still has Disney's "best interests" in mind.

There was difficulty getting past the gut response and supporting their positions. Which of course gave me an awesome opportunity to discuss the important of developing critical thinking and analysis skills along with the assignments that are used to do that!

So there you have it for what it is worth. We will continue to follow this situation through the semester. Stockholders meeting takes place during our spring break but I have told them to pay attention anyway.

Deb

 

[Chuck S]

Does you classroom have internet acces to the DISboards, or are you printing out some of the more interesting threads for your students to consider?

I agree, it is an interesting way to teach students about investing and business in general.

 

[FantasticDisFamily]

What I have done is set the whole Disney situation up as our ongoing "real world situation" to follow for the semester.

In part I am trying to get students to find, search out, become comfortable with sources of business "news" both formal - such as the Wall Street Journal and trade publications, and informal - such as internet boards.

So far none of them have identified the DISboards as one of the sources I'm using which tells me they still have a way to go in terms of internet searching!

In any event, I don't actually access the boards while in class, nor have I sent them to it specifically. Rather I print out bits of discussion I want them to consider and give it them orally in the classroom.

Deb

 

[KNWVIKING]

It's interesting to hear the opinions of non dis fanatics. I assume these are HS kids, not college, only because of the comment you made about CEO pay. I wonder what they know of Disney history ?

 

[FantasticDisFamily]

these are college freshmen and sophomores. Remember at this stage in their education they are only aware of salaries in theory. When they are scraping change together to cover a couple of brews on the weekend....those million dollar salary and bonus packages are just not real.

Deb

 

[raidermatt]

I thought we were talking college-level, as I don't think many high schools offer management courses in 9th/10th grade...

Interesting responses, and honestly, if I knew little about the situation, or had only read a few analyst comments, I'd likely have similar "gut" responses.

Of course, that would have also lead to a gut reaction that DCA was going to be a hit... (In hindsight, those analyst comments are downright funny.)

 

[DisneyKidds]

Interesting responses Deb...................and one's I'd consider typical of anyone who has not been following the business practices of Disney for any measureable lenght of time.

So here is another key question. Is the majority of the Disney stockholding public more like your students (ie. a limited or casual interet in the workings of the Walt Disney Company), or like us (truely interested in the Company's performance beyond a news bite or an assignment). The answer to that question could have some bearing on the Board vote next month........and I suspect the majority of the public has the same reaction to these events as your students . Of course it is really the institutional investors who hold the real power to sway the vote, and I wonder where they fall.....................

 

[FantasticDisFamily]

If only they were reading the reports of the analysts! That would be a huge step forward.

Please keep in mind these are students who are in their very first management class. And the vast majority in the particular section I had the discussion with this morning are computer science majors.

They actually expressed some concern about being able to make such decisions. Which of course provided a PERFECT teaching moment to connect the importance of conceptual skills and critical thinking skills, and so much more.

As for where the majority of stockholders fall....I think March 3 will tell us a great deal. The ISS report has the possibility of swinging some depending on the particular, dare I call it bias? of the fund managers.

Deb