icking the following link, "Cirque du Soleil, a truly global workforce." As many have pointed out, Cirque du Soleil incorporates ideas from various cultures into each of its shows. This is achieved by obtaining input for shows from the employees of Cirque. Cirque is a diverse organization with members from over 40 different countries. Incorporating ideas from many cultures into the show creates a product that is multicultural and has appeal across cultures.
What are Cirque du Soleil’s most critical competitive advantages for doing international business? How did Cirque du Soleil develop their competitive advantages? What do you think are reasons Cirque du Soleil can achieve consistency in the quality of their shows and casts in different locations? What are other drivers of globalization that influence Cirque du Soleil?
Post1：
Cirque du Soleil is a Montreal-based entertainment company and the largest contemporary circus producer in the world. Located in the inner-city area of Saint-Michel, it was founded in Baie-Saint-Paul on 16 June 1984 by former street performers Guy Laliberté and Gilles Ste-Croix. Cirque du Soleil expanded rapidly through the 1990s and 2000s, growing from one show to 19 shows in over 300 cities on six continents. The company employed 4,900 people from 50 countries and generated an annual revenue of approximately US$1 billion in 2017. The company's creations have received numerous prizes and distinctions, including three Drama Desk Awards; seven Primetime Emmy Awards; multiple Gemini Awards; a Daytime Emmy Award; a Juno Award; and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2000, Cirque du Soleil was awarded the National Arts Centre Award, a companion award of the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards, and in 2002 was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame. ("Cirque du Soleil - Wikipedia", 2021)
The most critical competitive advantages for Cirque du Soleil are globalization. Guy hit the road around the same time the businesses worldwide were moving toward globalization, taking regional businesses into international markets. With the Cold War over and trade barriers dropping all over the world for the first time in history, companies like Cirque found it much easier to penetrate new markets. Cirque du Soleil creates a product that is multicultural and has appeal across cultures. Cirque du Soleil looks to the Olympics to find talent. They take care about the way that they will react and take care about the welfare of employees. Employee welfare is a 24-hour a day concern that includes everything from the type of food they serve to dealing with language barriers, housing, and even homesickness. ("Cirque du Soleil", 2021)
The reasons that Cirque du Soleil can achieve consistency in the quality of their shows and casts in different locations is the welfare. I think Cirque du Soleil have many measures about where their employee can live, and they can offer food and service to their employee to make sure everything is on time. However, there are other drivers of globalization that influence Cirque du Soleil. The biggest challenge is the culture difference. There are lots of employee who from different country. It’s hard to combine those different culture together.
Post 2：
When a person thinks of a global business their mind usually automatically redirects to a product more than a service. Cirque du Soleil is a perfect example of a service that operates globally. Their uniqueness in this industry really plays a role in the companies competitive advantage. When Cirque decided to expand into new countries, the barriers to entry were very low meaning they had a higher chance of being successful internationally. The reason they believe themselves to be so successful is that they stay true to their core values as well as be thoughtful of the cultures of their employees.
The competitive advantage of Cirque is evident because its profits are more significant than its competitors (Goncalves, 2021). There are many critical factors that give them that placement in the business world. One of the biggest competitive advantages is that they bring in the best artists from all over the world that specialize not just in acrobatics but also in giving the audience a performance that they will always remember ( McGraw-Hill., 2006). Cirque prides itself on going to particular countries where the acrobatics that they are looking for have been trained since youth. Another competitive advantage that they hold is the uniqueness of their show. Cirque is known for not just using silly clown shows but actually telling a story and letting the audience feel and grow throughout the process of the show (Almeida,2011).
The reason I believe that Cirque is able to stay so consistent in the quality of their work is due to the fact that they have such a diverse cast. Since their employees consist of people from all over the world, they have internal guidance on how to modify the show according to the audience of the particular country that they are in. They have been in this industry for over 30 years ( Simon, 2015), and have been continuously wowing the public all over the world. Another drive of globalization that drives Cirque to success is the fact that they are so unique in their industry. There are many circuses in the world but most are molded for younger generations, Cirque du Soleil provides an atmosphere that is not only relatable but fascinating for people of all ages. Overall, they really do stand out in the industry and that will always be the greatest competitive advantage that they hold. They are not only unique but also willing to modify the show in ways that are respectful and relatable to the audience in various cultures.
Post 3：
Cirque du Soleil began just from the small street performers and now become a big show in several countries. The development is fast, and it follows with the contribution of the Vice-President of the Digital and Customer Relationship, Martin Céré. According to the study of Courchesne et al (2019), the development of customer relationship management really helps the massive ticket sales of Cirque du Soleil shows.
The gradual integration of e-mail campaigns, ticketing management, online distribution, customer identification and modelling, data enrichment, sales forecasting, and dynamic pricing constitutes a unique example of how a cultural organization can increase customer knowledge and involvement, develop long-term loyalty, and create customized offerings using a CRM (customer relationship management) approach (Courchesne et al, 2019).
According to lecture notes, one of the Michael Porter value chain is technology development (Goncalves, 2021). Cirque has an opportunity to create virtual reality pro- ductions of its shows and enrich the experience of its customers through its Web site or to sell the intellectual property rights of its productions to a third party and contribute to their marketing afterwards. . In order to build long-term relationships, CDS now maps every contact point for each interaction with the company before, during and after the consumption experience (Rantisi & Leslie, 2015). Cirque seeks to monitor customers’ behavior in the search for and procurement, consumption and evaluation of its productions. As a result, CDS is able to tailor marketing communications accurately, identify any incongruity that might be found in customers’ reactions and build gradual commitment that will result in customer loyalty. By updating the website, customer can imagine the seating arrangement and buy the ticket according to their preference (Courchesne et al, 2019). In this case, Cirque du Soleil can set segmented pricing with different price depending on the seat arrangement. Cirque staff members also approach customers on site about the possibility of upgrading to a better seating category at a reduced price.
Cirque du Soleil can achieve consistency with the current situation with 10 stage productions on tour in 29 countries and 7 permanent shows in Florida, Las Vegas, and Mexico (Leslie & Rantisi, 2019). The consistency leads to a standardization of work which already set up by the creative team and the workers are not allowed to make changes rather just follow the script and job desk. The situation also has disadvantage for the artist, which is called “deskilling”, meaning that leading to routinization and degradation of work (Leslie & Rantisi, 2019). However, Cirque du Soleil always make changes in response to audience feedback or artist input into what was working and what was not. With the globalization and artist recruitment from all over the world, many new cultures being shared, and the complexity routines might lead to more creativity in creating new shows.
Post 4:
Cirque du Soleil is such a unique organization that operates all around the world. They are the only group in their industry that I am familiar with. There are various activities that can be used to help build an organizations competitive advantage. These activities include inbound logistics, operations, outbound logistics, marketing & sales and service In Cirque du Soleil case, they did an excellent job developing advantage in the marketing & sales and service realm.
As we watched in the video the company pulls their employees from around the world based off of their skills in that country. The video used contortionist from Mongolia and scuba divers from Hawaii as examples (McGraw-Hill/Irwin Management, 2006). Cirque du Soleil also focused on a marketing strategy known as Blue Ocean Strategy. This is referred to an industry that has little to no competition. Companies that operate with a Blue Ocean Strategy seek to avoid competition completely and focus more on growing their position within the market (Mumme, 2020). One blue ocean strategy that Cirque du Soleil used to set themselves apart is the largest controversies in the circus industry, abuse of the animals in the shows. Cirque du Soleil used this controversies to their advantage by setting themselves apart in the industry and not using animals in their shows. Cirque du Soleil prides themselves on the fact that the most important part of their shows is that they are animal free (Webber, 2020).
Because Cirque du Soleil employees so many people from all over the world, I think they need to have a strong structure and practices in place. Similar to what we talked about last week in regards to culture. As the video mentioned I think it is great that the company allows monthly events for employees to showcase their country (McGraw-Hill/Irwin Management, 2006). This is an excellent way to build cultural diversity. The fact that Cirque du Soleil can encourage, develop and create a sense of belonging for their employees, I think plays a big role in their consistency and success. Within Cirque du Soleil Corporate Social Responsibility guide that is published, CEO Daniel Lamarre addresses their four pillars of engagement; talent, community, procurement & partnerships and environment. Within the talent pillar, the organization address how they implement development programs, created a program called OPEN UP which allows employees to learn about each other’s work and give out peer recognition awards to each other (Lamarre). By having programs like this available for their employees is a great way for employees to bond and build relationships no matter what background they are from.
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