Background and Early years of Cirque Du Soleil:

Cirque Du Soleil blends the perfect combination of creativity and commercial business. It has given its own twists to our everyday circus, with mixture of live music, acrobatics, opera and dance. It has employees recruited from all corners of the globe which is also depicted in their shows where a made up Latin language is used, and audiences are lost in an alternate world. Cirque Du Soleil is the brainchild of Guy Laliberte and Gilles Saint-Croix, who happened to cross each others path in Quebec where they found they shared the same passion for live street performance. They performed in front of former Provincial Premier Rene Levesque, who donated $1.5 million to tour the rest of the province, which eventually led them to the Los Angeles Art Festival and the firm has not had to look back ever since.

Cirque du Soleil- Hardships being faced:

Even though being a pioneer of modern circus, Cirque du Soleil had to face difficulties through its journey. Being in the business for about 10 years now, Cirque has walked across 90 cities, thinking no one would come up with anything close to their style. However, their beliefs were very soon proven wrong when Cirque Eloize, Cirque Eos and the much bigger Barnum & Bailey Circus. As competition is increasing, it is becoming more difficult for Cirque du Soleil to retain its employees and still charge the higher ticket prices. Another problem for Soleil is that their market seems to be rapidly saturating, helped by the increase in competition. So another concern for them would be to figure out how they can expand their market, which areas to diversify in and whether or not to modify their shows. One attempt of diversifying was made when they planned to open a mega entertainment complex with the first in London. However the plan failed as the construction and Real Estate Company could not come to terms with Soleils complete creative control. Another venture was initiated in Montreal, which again could not see the light of day, presumably due to economic conditions.

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Cirque Du Soleil - Competitive Positioning and Resource based view

Competitive positioning: Cirque Du Soleil has positioned them as Differentiator as they are unique at what they do. They provide live entertainment merged with music and dance, not like our everyday circus. Their cost is also high and 80% of their revenues come from the ticket selling. They offer extra features, taking the viewers to another alternate world, blending opera, dance, theatre, circus and live music together.

Resource-based view:

Cirque Du Soleil has combined art and business spectacularly. Their biggest resource is their own expertise in the field. They hire the best performers even from the Olympics. They provide great facilities to the performers and also spend a lot in their training, accommodation and food. They have decentralized employee accounts for the convenience of the performers as well as of the authority.

Experience and Brand can be considered as competitive advantages for Cirque Du Soleil. To justify this proposition we can analyze whether these elements contain the distinctive traits of competitive advantage or not. Experience as a competitive advantage: Appropriable: At this stage, in the field of this unique circus, their experience is one vital asset they will be relying on. For the shows and as well as for the management experience is a crucial factor and relevant to the context. Sustainable: It is definitely a sustainable quality that Cirque Du Soleil has achieved from its over fifteen years of hard work and performances. As long as the owner Laliberte and the few old faces in the top management are with the company, it cannot lose its experience. Valuable: This experience is absolutely precious for the company and it is in fact needed in the circus industry to remain stable and booming in the long run.

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Rare: This characteristic is utterly a scarce one as none of its competition has such huge experience to rely on and it is difficult to achieve as well. Inimitable: This experience is impossible to copy or imitate. It will take other companies many years to reach this level. As Cirque Du Soleil has the first mover advantage, it knows the industry and the audience more than anyone.

Non-substitutable: No other company can actually replace the great artistic minds of Guy Laliberte or Gilles Saint-Croix, whose experience would be with Cirque Du Soleil forever.

Brand as a competitive advantage:

Approprible?
Non-substitutable?
The brand name is never substitutable.

YES!

Sustainable?
Brand name stays always there with the company.

Cirque Du Soleil :the

Brand
Inimitable?
You cannot copy the brand of this first unique live entertainment provider circus team.

Valuable? Rare?
No one can achieve the brand value of Cirque Du Soleil easily. It creates value for your company to the consumer's mind.

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Recommendations/ Strategies: Since Cirque Du Soleil had almost reached towards the edge of the growth stage, so it is essential to take some steps to amplify its life cycle. Since Laliberte was considered as the creative dreamer so it is immediately necessary to hire a replacement for the numbers man to take care of the financial side They might bring more variety to their shows. They can have diversified shows like Zumanity more. Produce one-day events like its competitors are to capture that market Laliberte should repackage the shows for a shorter period as that would cut down on the training costs and as such they would be able to offer cheaper and competitive ticket prices. They should start television episodes to diversify and differ themselves from their competitors. This would enable them to earn revenue from advertisements and other sponsorships. The company should keep going public as their last resort, when financing their company would not be feasible with their own funds, as they do not want to lose their creative control. They can also open retail outlets in the most popular mega malls, so that they can sell their merchandise directly to the consumers. This will help them to communicate directly with the consumers and know the consumers taste better. Although Cirque Du Soleil had been performing around the world, yet they have left a massive unconquered territory which they could approach. For example, India is always welcoming to entertaining shows, Cirque can capture this untapped market. They will simultaneously capture the entire South-East Asia audience as Indian media is very dominant in this region.

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