Pixar Animation Studio

Pixar Animation Studio

Abstract

The animation film industry presents a highly diverse environment in recent years, considering that companies have noticed the demand for animation film across the world. Competition within the entertainment industry is very high, and thus, companies have resorted to incorporated different products in the market in order to ensure that they adapt to the changing market environment, which is tired of similar products in the market. It is very difficult to make a difference within the market while concentrating on the same product repeatedly. Technological innovation has made it possible for companies to incorporate better strategies, which aim at capitalizing on the existing opportunities in the market and create a huge market share and commitment in the industry. Pixar is a market leader in animation film creation, having established itself as the best company in terms of quality and content of the animation films produced by the company since its first full animation film toy story, which became the best animation film in 2016 winning an Oscar award. The success of the movie spurred on the development of other blockbuster animation films that have much dominated the animation industry. However, over the years, Pixar has only managed to produce a single movie each, which has created concerns providing a focus on the need for the company to step up its production strategy while maintaining the current operational standards. Being a subsidiary of Walt Disney has increased the demand for Pixar animation films immensely. This provides emphasis on the need for understanding the current company operations and significant decisions that need to be undertaken and improve the operational environment to meet the needs of clients in the market.

Business growth requires more substantial business planning that focuses on organizational needs as well as important measures that promote a stronger level of development. Maintaining a positive change development define a higher level of development where it would be possible to improve the level of development. Different companies employ different strategies that determine the level of success. Being successful attracts a new set of challenges that an organization must adequately consider in improving the level of development. It is integral to build a more influential organizational platform that emphasizes building strong relations both within the internal and external environment. Pixar animation studios have been one of the most successful animation companies since the launch of Toy story film in 1995.  Since this release, the company has produced more than 17 films that have established it at the top of the animation niche. The high level of success of the company has helped in maintaining a stronger emphasis on the quality and creativity levels of its films. The continued success of the company has played a central role in defining the company’s sustainability within the highly competitive industry. Pixar was acquired by Walt Disney in 2006 for around $7.4billion. The competitive nature of the industry requires a continued understanding of different approaches that help in shaping the level of organizational performance.  All of the Pixar film releases since its inception to date have all made it among the top animated films of all time based on revenue generation, which provides an understanding of the financial stability of the company.

Key strategic issue

Pixar has been well developed and remained committed to producing quality animation each time. The production process of the company has helped in maintaining a more influential platform for improved business development while also ensuring that there is a production of quality movies each time. Despite the success of the company over the years, there have been issues regarding the frequency in which the company has been producing its animated films. Pixar produces one movie each year based on the high standards that have been developed within the company and the preference of quality over quality (Bénard et al., 2013). Steve Jobs stressed that quality is more important than quantity. However, the animation market is growing significantly, which requires frequent content delivery, something that Pixar has been unable to achieve. The emphasis on computer-generated animated films means that there is a more extended period that is undertaken in helping create a more durable system where all the needed quality elements are integrated to assist in the development of the animation films.

Therefore stepping up the company’s production pace has been a significant limitation to the otherwise stellar performance. Building a robust change process presents a well-engaged system that focuses on improving the level of change. The company maintains a small group of employees who understand the demand for animation films and the quality needs of the company. Emphasis on positive change presents a more reliable platform that helps in maintaining highly integral attention on better changes that define positive business development (Alston, 2019).

Diagnosis of the strategic issue

The level of organizational performance is influenced based on the focus on the market and the needs of consumers. Even though a commitment to quality production is essential to maintaining the company development stratus, there are vital strategies that need to be implemented and help improve the level of organizational development. The diversity within the entertainment industry presents a specific approach that can be undertaken to assist in promoting the level of success (Villemin et al., 2018). The company needs to develop an understanding of the underlying operational standards and make a determination regarding the existing options that the company can undertake to improve productivity through sustainable techniques. This means that the company is ready for any challenges, which might arise based on the trends within the entertainment industry. The broad nature of the entertainment industry makes it difficult to predict the next step, which companies are likely to take, and the consideration of technology has made it even more diverse where the company will continue an emphasis on diversifying its operations within the industry. Diversity is a positive move, which aims to critically engage the broad market environment in order to ensure that the company has a competitive advantage in the market, which is crucial in controlling the market share and operations such as dictating the development path for the industry (Cheung, Hong & Thong, 2017).

Pixar has very strong management, and the level of operational development is essential in building a stronger system that produces the level of organizational development. The management is made of individuals who are passionate about animations as well as for the development of the company, which influences the decisions that are undertaken to help improve the level of performance (Lynch & Jin, 2016).  Thus, having such a strong operational environment means that it is possible for the company to assess the changes within the market and help adopt the current changes to ensure the company remains competitive and influence the trends within the industry.

Two solutions to the strategic issue

The company needs to identify the best practices that can help improve the level of engagement. The changes in society influence the demand for products.  Producing a single animation film for a company that has been in the industry for more than 15 years highlights the need to relook and integrate the strategies that can improve the company performance while ensuring that the quality is not compromised, which is held dearly by the company. Therefore the solutions that can help Pixar to overcome its current challenge include expanding the company or embrace division of work based on specialization and production phases within the company. These techniques focus on maintaining the company quality performance but provide room within which it would be possible to strengthen the company production.

Expand the company

Since its inception, Pixar has maintained a small level of individuals who are tasked with different strategies within the company. Every individual has a unique role within the company, which takes more time to conceptualize a story as identified by the Creative officer. Expanding the company will entail recruiting more quality professionals that can help in speeding up the company production process through improved teamwork and shared ideology development. Currently, the burden in story development falls on John Lasseter.  The expansion will mean that there is no over-reliance on a single individual to develop stories for the company (Lynch & Jin, 2016).

In its expansion strategy, the company can also consider embracing the online market through the development of additional short content to supplement the one full animation film that is produced annually. The online market within the entertainment industry is quickly evolving, and this means that the market is comprehensive which makes it possible for the company to emphasis effectively on its strategy and employ broader attention on what needs to be done in order to improve its performance in the field (Cheung, Hong & Thong, 2017). Pixar has not been engaged majorly within the online and mobile environment, and thus there exists a critical emphasis on the need to integrate a better understanding of the underlying issues within these environments and improve on its brand presence within a global context. Capitalizing on the existing opportunity in the market is an important consideration that any business would opt to consider. The overall engagement and consideration of the company are focused on ensuring that it puts into focus what needs to be considered in order to create a clearer and well-engaged environment.

Cons

Expansion of the company is associated with the increased operational area which means that there is the likelihood of a slight decrease in efficiency as a result of the need to produce more film although as long as the employees understand the business ideology of Pixar, they will focus on implementing positive strategies that promote quality film development.

Division of labor based on the area of specialization

As identified in the case study, the production of an animation film undergoes numerous strategies that are undertaken by a specific group of individuals within the company. These individuals have a higher burden, which presents a highly essential plan to improve the level of performance. It is crucial to help in maintaining a unified system that offers a well-defined approach to organizational development. Therefore ensuring that every individual specializes in a role that suits them best within the production process (Cheung, Hong & Thong, 2017).  Building s reliable operational platform outlines best practices that can be undertaken and help in defining a strong change process that builds vital issues that define quality production. Individuals who are highly skilled, creative, and with immense ability in different areas will perform exemplary tasks and promote a positive production process.

Cons

Despite the efficiency of this approach in improving the commitment to the company values, it is based on teamwork, where it would be difficult to understand individual input into the process. However, Pixar is a company that has been developed with a focus on teamwork, which are important elements that define the company’s sustainability. Another con is that it would increase company expenditure (Alston, 2019).

Recommendation

The success of the company over the years has been based on its ability to produce quality animation films over the years based on more exceptional teamwork among experts. Therefore the decision that needs to be made in this case should focus on limiting quality loss. Division of labor and ensuring that every individual work within the production process in an area that they are suited will be essential in improving content delivery as well as maintaining focus on the quality of films produced by the company. The changes within the society provide a different approach where, in order to remain sustainable, the company needs to adopt more recent techniques that emphasize quality and meeting the needs of consumers in the market. Market research provides a strong consideration of better measures that help in creating a profoundly transformed operational context.

References

Alden, D. L., & Nariswari, A. (2017). Brand Positioning Strategies During Global Expansion: Managerial Perspectives from Emerging Market Firms. In The Customer is NOT Always Right? Marketing Orientations in a Dynamic Business World (pp. 527-530). Springer, Cham.

Alston, E. (2019). Women and Pixar: The Creative Climate for Female Directors at Pixar Animation Studios.

Bénard, P., Cole, F., Kass, M., Mordatch, I., Hegarty, J., Senn, M. S., … & Breeden, K. (2013). Stylizing animation by example. ACM Transactions on Graphics (TOG), 32(4), 1-12.

Cheung, M. Y., Hong, W., & Thong, J. Y. (2017). Effects of animation on attentional resources of online consumers. Journal of the Association for Information Systems, 18(8), 605-632.

Lynch, R., & Jin, Z. (2016). Exploring the institutional perspective on international business expansion: Towards a more detailed conceptual framework. Journal of Innovation & Knowledge, 1(2), 117-124.

Villemin, R., Wrenninge, M., Fong, J., & Studios, P. A. (2018). Efficient Unbiased Rendering of Thin Participating Media. Journal of Computer Graphics Techniques (JCGT).

Zhang, X., & Warner, M. E. (2017). Business retention and expansion and business clusters–A comprehensive approach to community development. Community Development, 48(2), 170-186.