Dollywood: What Dolly Parton’s theme park can teach us about business, place and leadership
Posted on: 28 August, 2026
With tributes to country singer Dolly Parton pouring in, Dr Claire Hookham, Associate Professor of Management and Business Education and Programme Leader for our MBA, takes a look at the legacy Dolly Parton left behind, not just in the music industry, but in the built environment.
The passing of Dolly Parton this week has prompted reflection on an extraordinary career. She will rightly be remembered as a singer, songwriter, performer and philanthropist. But there is another part of her legacy which particularly interests me as a management academic: Dolly Parton was also a remarkably successful businesswoman, and perhaps nowhere is that more visible than Dollywood.
Find out more about our MBA, tailored to the built environment
Theme parks have been a longstanding part of my own research interests, primarily because they are fascinating businesses. They bring together strategy, marketing, operations, property, infrastructure, hospitality, human resource management and customer experience within a single built environment. Dollywood provides a particularly interesting example.
Founding a theme park
The park in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, existed in various forms from 1961, but its transformation came when Parton joined forces with the Herschend family and it reopened as Dollywood in 1986. In that first season it attracted 1.3 million visitors; around 75% more than the previous year. Today, the wider Dollywood destination encompasses the theme park, water park and resort accommodation, attracting millions.
What makes Dollywood particularly interesting from a business perspective is that its competitive advantage isn’t simply its rollercoasters: it is place.
A one-of-a-kind destination
Rather than constructing an entirely fictional environment, Dollywood draws heavily upon the culture, crafts, music and landscape of the Great Smoky Mountains. Parton’s personal brand is therefore inseparable from the geography and identity of the destination which offers an important lesson in strategic management: successful organisations need to understand what makes them distinctive.
There is also a fascinating relationship between investment and the built environment. Theme parks cannot stand still. Attractions age, customer expectations change and competitors invest. Dollywood has responded through continuous capital investment in rides, hotels, restaurants, parking, infrastructure and guest facilities. Following record-breaking attendance in 2025, its 2026 season has included NightFlight Expedition, an innovative indoor attraction representing an investment of more than $50 million.
Why an MBA qualification is important
Those decisions involve classic MBA questions. Where should capital be allocated? How do we assess risk and return? How does an organisation grow without diluting its brand? And how do operations, marketing, people and physical infrastructure work together to deliver the strategy?
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Dollywood, however, is its wider economic impact. What began as an entertainment venture became an anchor institution for tourism and employment in the region, with its economic impact estimated at around $1.8 billion annually.
That connects directly with what we think about at the University of the Built Environment. Buildings and infrastructure are not simply physical assets. They create places in which businesses operate, people work and communities develop.
Finding examples of built environment leadership everywhere
As MBA Programme Leader, this is also precisely why I find examples such as Dollywood so valuable. An MBA encourages us to look beyond individual business functions and understand how strategy, finance, leadership, marketing, people, innovation and the built environment interact.
Dolly Parton once had a dream of creating something in the Smoky Mountains that would provide employment for local people while giving visitors a reason to come. Four decades later, that vision became a significant tourism business and a powerful lesson in strategy, leadership and place-making.
Study with us
If questions like these interest you, perhaps it is time to start thinking about where an MBA could take you, and what you might build next.
