Cirque_Du_Soleil

Cirque Du Soleil was founded by Guy Laliberte, Gilles Saint-Croix and Daniel Gauthier. The firm blends opera, dance, theatre and circus with live music, excellent choreography and amazing pyrotechnics. The firm intends to present the circus in a different way which moves people’s emotions and takes them to a happy peaceful world. The firm did not face much direct competition until very recently. Therefore now, the firm intends to improve and sustain their current position and move in new areas of similar kind of business. External and Internal analysis The external analysis comprises of industry analysis which includes the competitors and financial analysis. Cirque du Soleil started off as a street band and now is a very popular circus that blends opera, dance, and theater and is very popular since last twenty years. They performed in 90 cities and achieved many awards and still have a lot of demand for shows and there is also high demand for jobs, these shows that they have strong product features and brand positioning. They make small profit ranging from 15 to 20%. However it has local competitors who have international recognition and also foreign competitors. Even though these competitors are not very strong, they do create problems to retain top performers and create issues regarding payment. The financial analysis reveals that one problem the company is facing to diversify and expand its business is due to the lack of internal financial resource. Although the company has sufficient liquidity to maintain and sustain its position but in order to expand its business, the company requires large sums of money which it is unable to generate internally. The company is looking for partners and even came to arrangements twice with two institutions but both times the projects failed once due to exclusivity disagreements and the other time due to economic downturn. Analysis on resources and capability show that they have a very good Human Resource Management that takes care of their employees and even manage talent hunt so that there is never a shortage. There is both vertical and horizontal job mobility which allows employees to gather experience. The costumes are custom made including dying and treating their fabrics. Resource based view: 1. Technical skill: Cirque Du Soleil has a talented troupe. It recruits performer from major sporting events and train them for three months. These skilled performers are valuable for the company but it is not rare. Competitors like cirque Eloize, cirque Dos, Feld Entertainment may have skilled performers. So having skilled artist is not a competitive advantage of Cirque Du Soleil. 2. Brand Image: Cirque Du Soleil is very renowned in entertainment industry. They have twenty years of experience. They have been performed over ninety cities and about thirty seven million people have seen their show .In every show they performed stunning. The president of the organization Mr. Guy Laliberte is known as creative dreamer in the industry. Cirque Du Soleil also has garnered many awards in many categories. So the organization has strong brand image and it works as a competitive advantage for the organization as because this brand image is valuable .It is rare, inimitable and non-substitutable. 3. Management skill: Human Resources: Cirque Du Soliel is very sound in managing their human resources. As they have created an outstanding management strategy. In 2002 its HR department won “Workforce Magazine Optima’s award” in the global outlook category. Such management skill is a competitive advantage of the organization because it is valuable, rare, not imitable and non-substitutable. 4. Business Process: Vertical Integration: Cirque Du Soleil is vertically integrated. All the steps for providing superior entertainment service to the consumers are done by the organization itself like- recruiting, show theme creating, costume preparing etc. Vertical integration is valuable but it not rare or incomparable or non-substitutable. So it does not work as a competitive advantage for the organization. Headquarter: Cirque Du Soleil‘s headquarter is located on seventy five thousand square meters of land in the North End of Montreal. Formerly it was a waste dump area, Building the headquarters in that area was a part of an urban revitalization plan for that area. This large headquarter may give the organization a competitive advantage as it is valuable, rare, non-substitutable. And competitors cannot copy it very quickly. Organizational Culture: Cirque Du Soleil is a decentralized organization. It has offices in America, Middle East and Europe, Oceania and Africa. Very smoothly it is managing its twenty five hundred employees from forty nationalities speaking in twenty five different languages. Appropriate organizational culture may work as a competitive advantage for the company because it is valuable and rare..It is not easily imitable and substitutable. X Factors Creation and Innovation is an X factor of Cirque du Soleil. They have satisfied customer's pursuit of novel and their teams are highly motivated with creation and innovation. This comprised of the universal language and the fact that there are no animals in the shows. Strategy To ensure that Cirque Du Soleil stays at the forefront of the industry, the company should follow the following strategies. Due to competition in finding talent, Cirque must continue to scout for potential talent in the Olympics and the sporting events but also improve the training programs for their future performers. This would lead to an elevated talent pool and result in consistent quality of their shows. The company should diversify its product line which would include building the Montreal Mega Complex and improving the quality of the television show to add further value to their brand image. Implementation The company should go public and initiate an IPO to gather finance for its two strategies. Funds from the IPO should be used to finance the Montreal Mega Complex and provide extra benefits in discovering talent. This would add great weight to the company’s capabilities and increase its reputation and hopefully its success as well. Word Count= (978 words)