Late in 2013, KidZania’s management team, under the leadership of Xavier Lopez Ancona, held its latest meeting at the company’s Mexico City headquarters to discuss the possible roll-out to other locations of new experiential learning concepts tested at its Cuicuilco kids’ edutainment park.

The team had prepared itself over several months for what had become a complex discussion—based on 15 years of success developing and operating “parks” where children could role-play adult activities—about the direction the company should take. Having recently adopted experiential learning as its core strategy, the leadership team was challenged to understand what that meant in terms of priorities and tangible projects of the kind being brought to the company by potential partners as well as those tested at Cuicuilco.

With initial operating results from Cuicuilco in hand, Lopez’

team had evidence on which to base decisions about whether, where, and how experiential learning initiatives should be introduced elsewhere in the KidZania global network.

One important decision concerned the format for the first KidZania location in the U.S. In addition, franchising opportunities continued to arise. The two latest proposals were from Doha and London.

While working in the toy industry in 1996, Luis Javier Laresgoiti visited a small child care-center, located in Raleigh, North Carolina, that incorporated themed role-playing activities.
The children pretended they were visiting real-life destinations and used fake money and groceries as part of their play.
Upon returning to his home in Mexico, he formed a team with three of his friends to create a “city” for children that revolved around role-playing. Laresgoiti believed this concept would provide the perfect type of activity for the children of Mexico City who lacked an educational, fun, value-oriented and social entertainment center. The team formed a company and made plans to meet with developers and explore design options with architects.
After working together for a year, Laresgoiti introduced the group to Xavier Lopez Ancona, a friend from school who had attended business school at Northwestern University and was an executive at that time for GE Capital. Lopez’s experience working with major corporations provided him with an extensive perspective for running a company. To make the envisioned city a reality from both a structural and financial standpoint, the group agreed that the concept had to be changed from a day-care center to an entertainment and educational center. It would have to be large (4,000 square meters or approximately 40,000 square feet), be able to accommodate 3,500 to 4,000 people per day over one or two shifts of eight hours each, be equally entertaining and educational, be built within a shopping mall (an existing, successful destination), and be created through a partnership with several established and highly recognizable companies functioning as sponsors. The sponsorship angle was particularly unique because it provided the group not only with the financial support it would need but also assistance in the design of activities, architecture, and interiors.........................

Questions 

1. Using service management best practices are criteria, which of the things KidZania is doing impressed you the most/the least, and why?
2. What are the risks in this business? How does KidZania’s management ameliorate them?
3. What do you think are the main challenges and implications being faced regarding the changes in the service concept of KidZania, centered on experiential learning?
4. Considering the experience gained from all their current parks as well as the external forces including increasing competition, market regulations, diversity of potential new markets, and technology integration, what criteria should KidZania’s management follow in selecting specific activities for its future “cities” to enhance experiential learning while remaining profitable?