Cirque Du Soleil
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Cirque du Soleil was established in 1984.Unlike traditional circuses, Cirque offers exceptional circus shows combining street performers, clowns, acrobats and gymnasts and filling with music, lighting, dancing and props. The management at Cirque regards the company as an “artistic work” company instead of a product one. In addition to its main product consisting of a large variety of shows performed in permanent theaters and touring shows running on four continents, Cirques product diversification includes feature films, television specials and opens stores in its permanent theaters. Furthermore, Cirque is planning to construct entertainment complexes in each of which there is a permanent theater for a Cirque production. Its targeted customers are adults having middle or higher income. The company is a first circus without animals, which is the competitive advantage that enables Cirque to charge a higher price. It has been growing aggressively. However, Cirque faces several challenges. Firstly, with investing resources in other types of sectors, the management at Cirque thinks the company is on a different direction from the president Lalibertés original vision. Secondly, the external competition is quite intensive. Finally, Cirque will lose a considerable amount of potential customers due to high ticket prices. Referring to these problems and issues, some suggestions will provide via a strategic analysis.
Cirque positions in a high end business show market that is profitable, but it is very competitive. Cirque has to not only compete with other circuses, but also with other kinds of artistic performance both nationally and internationally. Currently, the touring market in North America is about to be saturation, so more creative and outstanding performances need to be provided in order to attracting more audience.
Since Cirque started up, the company has been largely focusing on creative and artistic issues. The company values and respects artists very much, working hard to support artists. Of over 2100 employees worldwide, there are over 500 artists hired from different countries. When hiring artists, besides the pure talent, the company also considers their non-artistic needs and whether he or she can be an effective team member. Performing on a stage requires effective teamwork. Clowns, trapeze artists, acrobats and dancers have different jobs, but they work together and cooperate to get an extraordinary show. Considering the background of artists varies, Cirque provides language training so the artists will be able to communicate each other, to learn skills and to share experience from one another, which is highly valued as “noneconomic benefit”. Because the artists are working in the touring shows most of time, there is little interaction between staff and artists. The company built a training studio around offices at headquarters so that personnel have contacted and do not feel being