Cirque du Soleil Inc. (‘Circus of the Sun’; www.cirquedusoleil.
com) is a Canadian entertainment company, self-described as a ‘dramatic mix of circus arts and street entertainment’. Based in Montreal, Quebec, the company was founded in 1984 by two former street performers, Guy Laliberté and Gilles Ste-Croix.
Today Daniel Lamarre is the CEO of the company.
With numerous prizes and distinctions to its credit, Cirque du Soleil is a unique organization which has reinvented and revolutionized the circus arts. Since its beginnings in 1984, Cirque du Soleil has been entertaining the public with a novel show concept that is as original as it is non-traditional:
an astonishing, theatrical blend of circus arts and street performance, wrapped up in spectacular costumes and fairyland sets and staged to spellbinding music and magical lighting. There are no animals in a Cirque du Soleil production – only sheer human energy is at work.
The internationalization of Cirque du Soleil
Cirque du Soleil was founded in 1984 to produce an event in Quebec celebrating the 450th anniversary of Canada’s discovery by Jacques Cartier. It did so with a $1.3 million grant from the Canadian government.
During the first years, Cirque du Soleil was in serious financial trouble several times and in 1986 it came very close to bankruptcy.
These first two years for Cirque du Soleil consisted of touring around Quebec and neighbouring Ontario. By the end of 1986, however, the Cirque du Soleil management had become convinced of the concept’s broad-based appeal, and prepared to export it on a broad scale to their southern neighbours.
Thus, in 1987, Cirque du Soleil made its debut in the US.
The company’s managers were forward-thinking and objective-oriented, formulating and then pursuing successive five-year plans. The shows themselves were expressions of artistic and athletic ability, but the stewardship of the company was conducted in a businesslike way. This approach fuelled the geographic expansion of Cirque du Soleil’s touring schedule, diversified the company’s activities into new revenue-generating areas and, eventually, helped the Cirque du Soleil name become as well known as a popular consumer brand. Although the maturation of the Cirque du Soleil concept into an eccentric yet formidable marketing force did not gain momentum until the mid-1990s, some lucrative projects were started during the late 1980s. In 1988, the company began negotiations that would continue for the next four years for an Asian tour. In 1989, Cirque du Soleil sold its concept for European performances to Circus Knie (Switzerland), which subsequently began producing its own version in Europe.

Cirque du Soleil embarked on its first tour of Asia in 1990, financed by a $40 million investment from Fuji Televisions Network, which handled ticket sales and promotion for the tour. The production, whose budget rivalled that of a major Broadway musical, featured 72 international artists and musicians.
Cirque du Soleil also began a tour organized in partnership with Circus Knie, putting on shows in 60 towns in Switzerland. Busy on all fronts, the company also appeared in Las Vegas for the first time, bringing Nouvelle Experience to the Mirage Hotel for a year-long engagement in a tent behind the hotel.
Cirque du Soleil celebrated its 10th anniversary in 1994, its management having devised and fulfilled two five-year plans. For the next five years, management laid out a diversified blueprint for growth, the implementation of which would greatly increase the company’s financial stature.
Cirque du Soleil ended the 1990s with seven productions, performing in 22 countries in Asia, the Pacific, North America and Europe. Looking ahead, the company intended to use its worldwide exposure to build the Cirque du Soleil name into an internationally recognized brand.
Cirque du Soleil expanded rapidly through the 2000s, going from one show to 19 shows in 300 cities in every continent except Antarctica.......

Questions

1. Which sociocultural factors influence the sales of tickets for ‘Cirque du Soleil’ shows around the world?

2. What makes the business model of ‘Cirque du Soleil’ globally so successful?

3. What should be the criteria for selection of a theme for Cirque du Soleil’s next world tour after Messi10?