popular award

The Evolution of the Circus Industry (A)

Published 15 Apr 2002
Reference 4999
Topic Strategy
Industry Entertainment
Region Global
Length 5 page(s)
popular
Prizes & Awards

This case is amongst the top 50 most popular cases in the 50 years history of The Case Centre – 1973-2023

2022 The Case Centre Best-selling Classic Case in Strategy & General Management

2021 The Case Centre Best-selling Classic Case in Strategy and General Management

2020 The Case Centre Best-selling Classic Case in Strategy and General Management

2019 The Case Centre Best-selling Case in Strategy and General Management

2017 The Case Centre Best-selling Case in Strategy and General Management

2016 The Case Centre Best-selling Case in Strategy and General Management

2015 The Case Centre Best-selling Case in Strategy and General Management

2014 Case The Centre Best Selling Case in Strategy and General Management

2013 The Case Centre Best Selling Case in Strategy and General Management

2012 ecch Best Selling Case in Strategy and General Management

2011 ecch Best Selling Case in Strategy and General Management

2010 ecch Best Selling Case in Strategy and General Management

2009 ecch Best Selling Case in Strategy and General Management

Overall Winner of 2009 ECCH Awards

2008 ecch Best-selling Case in Strategy and General Management

2007 ecch Best-selling Case in Strategy and General Management

2006 ecch Best-selling Case in Strategy and General Management

Winner of the 2006 European Case Awards, Strategy and General Management Category

2005 ecch Best-selling Case in Strategy and General Management

Summary

This is the first of a two-case series. The first Case (A) discusses the evolution of the circus industry up until the emergence of Cirque du Soleil. This case provides a detailed discussion on the structure of the circus industry to make possible a rich analysis of how its industry attractiveness has changed over time and the challenges the industry now confronts. The case reveals that the industry had become a red ocean with limited profit and growth potential. To achieve this, students are asked to address the following questions: 1) How would they assess the attractiveness of the circus industry in the early 1980s? What would you conclude from your industry analysis? 2) What were the factors the traditional circuses competed on? What made these factors more or less relevant over time? The second case (B), shows how one company, Cirque du Soleil reconstructed the industry to create a blue ocean. It is an excellent and important complement to the first case. A video called 'The Evolution of the Circus Industry' is available for free faculty download at www.blueoceanstrategy.com.

Teaching objectives

The case series is designed to serve a variety of purposes in the value innovation and creating new market space teaching module of an MBA strategy course or executive education programme. The case series can be equally used individually in a standalone module on value innovation or as part of a sequence of three to four sessions. In both instances, the instructor can best use it to cover the following topics: (1) value innovation logic (as compared to industry and competitive analysis); (2) the concept of value curve; and (3) the six paths analysis for creating new market space. A teaching note is available to accompany this cases series. A video clip free for instructor download is available at www.blueoceanstrategy.com.

Keywords
  • Circus and live entertainment industry
  • Value innovation
  • Strategy
  • Blue Ocean Strategy
  • Creating new market space
  • Redefining industry boundaries
  • Competition. AR2002
  • RD0302