文档介绍：STRATEG
by W. Chan Kim and ONETIME ACCORDION PLAYER, Stilt Walker, and
fire-eater, Guy Lalibertd is now CEO of one of
Renee ne Ai Canada's largest cultural exports. Cirque du
Soleil. Founded in 1984 by a group of street performers.
Cirque has staged dozens of productions seen by some
40 million people in 90 cities around the world. In 20
years, Cirque has achieved revenues that Ringling Bros,
and Barnum & Bailey-the world's leading circus-took
more than a century to attain.
Cirque's rapid growth occurred in an unlikely setting.
The circus business was (and still is) in long-term decline.
Alternative forms of entertainment - sporting events,
TV, and video games - were casting a growing shadow.
Children, the mainstay of the circus audience, preferred
PlayStations to circus acts. There was also rising sentiment,
76 HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW
fueled by animal rights groups, against the use of animals, porate clients who had turned to theater, opera, or ballet
traditionally an integral part of the circus. On the supply and were, therefore, prepared to pay several times more
side, the star performers that Ringling and the other cir- than the price of a conventional circus ticket for an un-
cuses relied on to draw in the crowds could often name precedented entertainment experience.
their own terms. As a result, the industry was hit by steadily To under