Cambodian Mekong University

Cambodian Mekong University Group Members • LENG SAVETH ID: 2265111351 • KHEM CHOMNAB ID: 4231120704 • SETH SREYMOM ID: 4233120330 • MAM CHANTHUON ID: 2265121220 • BAN CHANHENG ID: 2265121241 • BAN SEYHA ID: 2265121167 • OEURNG HONGSAN ID: 4231120376 YEAR 2013-2014

Lecture: Ok Samol Subject: MN101 Chapter 4 : Planning and Strategic Management (BusinessWeek)

Planning of Cirque du Soleil • In a huge, hanger-style training studio at the circus company’s Montreal head quarters, gymnast cletus Okpoh is perched on a trapeze some 45 feet off the ground. A coach yells instructions at him, and Okpoh, clad only in Lycra shorts, periodically drops from the trapeze and plunges toward the floor.

After bungee cords cath him and send him flying back up, he tries to grab the bar, usually misses, and ends up bouncing up and down on the elastic cords. ‘Focus is the key,’ the coach yells at one point. ‘And don’t forget to squeeze your bum together.’

Here’s hoping that executives at Cirque don’t miss the bar when they embark on an ambitious expansion plan that the company hopes will one day make it nearly as ubiquitous and multifaceted as Disney.

Already, Cirque du Soleil is a fascinating company. In additions to five unique traveling big-top shows, it now has three that are performed in permanent arenas: one at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, and two in Las Vegas, at the Bellagio and Treasure Island hotels.

. All told, the Cirque employs 2,400 people and will have revenues of an astonishing $500 million Canadian (about $325 million U.S.) in 2001, 90 percent of it generated by its whimsical circus shows.

The group was founded by a troupe of street performers 18 years ago, and its guiding genius is CEO Guy Lalibert, age 42, a one time fire-eater and street musician who ran away from home as a teenager. Early on he charmed the Quebec government into giving the troupe more than $1 million to buy equipment in 2000 Lalibert bought out the company’s cofounder, who had wanted to take Cirque public.

Cirque du Soleil’s top execs have laid out a new five-year plan. The company’s strategy will continue to be different from that of Disney, MGM, and other entertainment rivals. Cirque du Soleil styles itself as a pure content provider whose main business is harnessing the creativity of performers, producers, and other artists, not owning and operating hotels and other properties

Instead, it focuses its attention and finances on training and other activities related to the creative process. For instance, Cirque makes all its own costumers, and to ensure that its artists are well fed, it hires gourmet chefs to accompany the traveling shows.

Plan of DaneilLamarre • President of shows and new ventures • Predicts that Cirque du Soleil will expand at a rate of about 25% annually over the next five years • Which would boost its annual revenues to roughly $1 billion (U.S.) by 2007

(Cont.) • In mid-June it announced plans to open two more permanent productions in Las Vegas in partnership with MGM Mirage, and the companies are exploring other joint ventures around the world. Meanwhile, Cirque is talking with potential partners about opening new permanent shows in other cities, including London, Tokyo, and New York.

Around 2005 it expects to also start: • generating substantial growth from a panoply of new initiatives. • including Cirque du Soleil hotel/spas with a circus ambience. • The facilities also will be “heavily multimedia,” which might mean everything from airing films of Cirque performances to having computer-generated virtual characters strolling the halls.

As early as 2005, Cirque du Soleil hopes to have finished a prototype hotel/spa in Montreal that will be used as a “laboratory” to develop and try out its ideas.

Strategy • Meanwhile, Cirque du Soleil is rapidly expanding its film, television, and recording operations • It already has deals with a number of big partners, including the major Canadian TV networks, Bravo in the united states, Fuji in Japan, and Televisa in Mexico. An example of the kind of programming it hopes to do is a 13-part TV series (to be aired by Canadian networks and in the United State by Bravo) that will follow some of its performers as they prepare for a show.

(Cont.) • Unlike most circuses, Cirque du Soleil has a target audience that consists of adults, not children, with tickets going for around $100 per person • The company believes each individual show can be kept going for up to 15 years before it has to be retired

It has grown so rapidly because its productions- which combine circus acrobatics with the narrative of theater- fill a deep human need to gather together and experience something marvelous. It’s refreshing to see a company succeed so well by betting everything on its ability to astonish and amaze its customers.

THANK YOY

Cambodian Mekong University