A Study Of Guggenheim Museum's Global Expansion-Analyses Of Guggenheim Museum Bilbao And Guggenheim's Tai-Chun Project

The Guggenheim Museum is regarded as the most controversial museum in the later years of the 20^th Century. Renowned for its outstanding contemporary western art collections and the unique architecture of its museums, the Guggenheim started to build a global presence when Thomas Kern took the helm as director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in 1988, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Spain, opened in 1997 and became a roaring success. It made the Guggenheim Museum the top international museum brand in the industry. The growth of Guggenheim from a mid-sized domestic American museum into a multinational force in such a short time and its global expansion strategy and model has become an important topic in the study of museum management and cultural economics.This thesis is focused on the Guggenheim's global expansion strategy. In order to arrive at a clear picture of its expansion model, the study is devoted to an in-depth analysis of the Guggenheim's franchised branches. Guggenheim Museum Bilbao not only miraculously revitalized Bilbao city, it also induced a global "Guggenheim Effect". The Guggenheim has become an effective solution for renewing a post-industrial metropolis and numerous cities worldwide compete to become targets for franchising. After Bilbao, the Guggenheim Museum turned its attention to find an outpost in Asia. Tai-Chun in Taiwan was the first city selected by Guggenheim for a feasibility study due to the aggressive initiatives of the city's mayor. This study is based on the Bilbao and Tai- Chun cases for analyzing the Guggenheim's global expansion model and determining the core factors of its success as well as failure. It concludes with suggestions for the Guggenheim's global expansion strategy and future development direction.