Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Technology & Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward
The case takes place in early 2008. It illustrates the remarkable use that Cirque du Soleil makes of information technology. The case is based, in part, on the keynote speech that Danielle Savoie - who was then Vice-President of Information Technology and Knowledge Management at Cirque du Soleil - gave at the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) in Montreal in December 2007. The case is structured around the touring show life cycle and describes how information technology supports the complete process involved in designing, producing, staffing and diffusing shows at Cirque du Soleil. The case presents key infrastructure and applications and offers insights into how IT can support the key operational processes in an artistic, creative and innovative organization.
Swot Analysis of "Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward" written by Suzanne Rivard, Alain Pinsonneault, Anne-Marie Croteau includes – strengths weakness that are internal strategic factors of the organization, and opportunities and threats that Cirque Soleil facing as an external strategic factors. Some of the topics covered in Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Knowledge management, Strategy and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward casestudy better are - – banking and financial system is disrupted by Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, there is backlash against globalization, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, there is increasing trade war between United States & China, increasing energy prices, challanges to central banks by blockchain based private currencies, increasing transportation and logistics costs,
cloud computing is disrupting traditional business models, geopolitical disruptions, etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward case study can use SWOT analysis as a strategic management tool to assess the current internal strengths and weaknesses of the Cirque Soleil, and to figure out the opportunities and threats in the macro environment – technological, environmental, political, economic, social, demographic, etc in which Cirque Soleil operates in.
According to Harvard Business Review, 75% of the managers use SWOT analysis for various purposes such as – evaluating current scenario, strategic planning, new venture feasibility, personal growth goals, new market entry, Go To market strategies, portfolio management and strategic trade-off assessment, organizational restructuring, etc.
SWOT Objectives / Importance of SWOT Analysis and SWOT Matrix
SWOT analysis of Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward case study
2. Improving business portfolio management of Cirque Soleil
3. Assessing feasibility of the new initiative in Technology & Operations field.
4. Making a Technology & Operations topic specific business decision
5. Set goals for the organization
6. Organizational restructuring of Cirque Soleil
Strengths Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Cirque Soleil in Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward Harvard Business Review case study are -
Diverse revenue streams
– Cirque Soleil is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward case study a diverse revenue stream that has helped it to survive disruptions such as global pandemic in Covid-19, financial disruption of 2008, and supply chain disruption of 2021.
Successful track record of launching new products
– Cirque Soleil has launched numerous new products in last few years, keeping in mind evolving customer preferences and competitive pressures. Cirque Soleil has effective processes in place that helps in exploring new product needs, doing quick pilot testing, and then launching the products quickly using its extensive distribution network.
Innovation driven organization
– Cirque Soleil is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
High brand equity
– Cirque Soleil has strong brand awareness and brand recognition among both - the exiting customers and potential new customers. Strong brand equity has enabled Cirque Soleil to keep acquiring new customers and building profitable relationship with both the new and loyal customers.
Training and development
– Cirque Soleil has one of the best training and development program in the industry. The effectiveness of the training programs can be measured in Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward Harvard Business Review case study by analyzing – employees retention, in-house promotion, loyalty, new venture initiation, lack of conflict, and high level of both employees and customer engagement.
Highly skilled collaborators
– Cirque Soleil has highly efficient outsourcing and offshoring strategy. It has resulted in greater operational flexibility and bringing down the costs in highly price sensitive segment. Secondly the value chain collaborators of the firm in Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward HBR case study have helped the firm to develop new products and bring them quickly to the marketplace.
Strong track record of project management
– Cirque Soleil is known for sticking to its project targets. This enables the firm to manage – time, project costs, and have sustainable margins on the projects.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Cirque Soleil in the sector have low bargaining power. Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward has further diversified its suppliers portfolio by building a robust supply chain across various countries. This helps Cirque Soleil to manage not only supply disruptions but also source products at highly competitive prices.
Analytics focus
– Cirque Soleil is putting a lot of focus on utilizing the power of analytics in business decision making. This has put it among the leading players in the industry. The technology infrastructure suggested by Suzanne Rivard, Alain Pinsonneault, Anne-Marie Croteau can also help it to harness the power of analytics for – marketing optimization, demand forecasting, customer relationship management, inventory management, information sharing across the value chain etc.
Digital Transformation in Technology & Operations segment
- digital transformation varies from industry to industry. For Cirque Soleil digital transformation journey comprises differing goals based on market maturity, customer technology acceptance, and organizational culture. Cirque Soleil has successfully integrated the four key components of digital transformation – digital integration in processes, digital integration in marketing and customer relationship management, digital integration into the value chain, and using technology to explore new products and market opportunities.
Sustainable margins compare to other players in Technology & Operations industry
– Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward firm has clearly differentiated products in the market place. This has enabled Cirque Soleil to fetch slight price premium compare to the competitors in the Technology & Operations industry. The sustainable margins have also helped Cirque Soleil to invest into research and development (R&D) and innovation.
Organizational Resilience of Cirque Soleil
– The covid-19 pandemic has put organizational resilience at the centre of everthing that Cirque Soleil does. Organizational resilience comprises - Financial Resilience, Operational Resilience, Technological Resilience, Organizational Resilience, Business Model Resilience, and Reputation Resilience.
Weaknesses Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward are -
Workers concerns about automation
– As automation is fast increasing in the segment, Cirque Soleil needs to come up with a strategy to reduce the workers concern regarding automation. Without a clear strategy, it could lead to disruption and uncertainty within the organization.
Need for greater diversity
– Cirque Soleil has taken concrete steps on diversity, equity, and inclusion. But the efforts so far has resulted in limited success. It needs to expand the recruitment and selection process to hire more people from the minorities and underprivileged background.
No frontier risks strategy
– After analyzing the HBR case study Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward, it seems that company is thinking about the frontier risks that can impact Technology & Operations strategy. But it has very little resources allocation to manage the risks emerging from events such as natural disasters, climate change, melting of permafrost, tacking the rise of artificial intelligence, opportunities and threats emerging from commercialization of space etc.
Interest costs
– Compare to the competition, Cirque Soleil has borrowed money from the capital market at higher rates. It needs to restructure the interest payment and costs so that it can compete better and improve profitability.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward has high operating costs in the. This can be harder to sustain given the new emerging competition from nimble players who are using technology to attract Cirque Soleil 's lucrative customers.
Skills based hiring
– The stress on hiring functional specialists at Cirque Soleil has created an environment where the organization is dominated by functional specialists rather than management generalist. This has resulted into product oriented approach rather than marketing oriented approach or consumers oriented approach.
Capital Spending Reduction
– Even during the low interest decade, Cirque Soleil has not been able to do capital spending to the tune of the competition. This has resulted into fewer innovations and company facing stiff competition from both existing competitors and new entrants who are disrupting the industry using digital technology.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Cirque Soleil, firm in the HBR case study Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Lack of clear differentiation of Cirque Soleil products
– To increase the profitability and margins on the products, Cirque Soleil needs to provide more differentiated products than what it is currently offering in the marketplace.
Compensation and incentives
– The revenue per employee as mentioned in the HBR case study Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward, is just above the industry average. Cirque Soleil needs to redesign the compensation structure and incentives to increase the revenue per employees. Some of the steps that it can take are – hiring more specialists on project basis, etc.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward HBR case study mentions - Cirque Soleil takes time to assess the upcoming competitions. This has led to missing out on atleast 2-3 big opportunities in the industry in last five years.
Opportunities Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward | External Strategic Factors
What are Opportunities in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The opportunities highlighted in the Harvard Business Review case study Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward are -
Increase in government spending
– As the United States and other governments are increasing social spending and infrastructure spending to build economies post Covid-19, Cirque Soleil can use these opportunities to build new business models that can help the communities that Cirque Soleil operates in. Secondly it can use opportunities from government spending in Technology & Operations sector.
Using analytics as competitive advantage
– Cirque Soleil has spent a significant amount of money and effort to integrate analytics and machine learning into its operations in the sector. This continuous investment in analytics has enabled, as illustrated in the Harvard case study Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward - to build a competitive advantage using analytics. The analytics driven competitive advantage can help Cirque Soleil to build faster Go To Market strategies, better consumer insights, developing relevant product features, and building a highly efficient supply chain.
Developing new processes and practices
– Cirque Soleil can develop new processes and procedures in Technology & Operations industry using technology such as automation using artificial intelligence, real time transportation and products tracking, 3D modeling for concept development and new products pilot testing etc.
Lowering marketing communication costs
– 5G expansion will open new opportunities for Cirque Soleil in the field of marketing communication. It will bring down the cost of doing business, provide technology platform to build new products in the Technology & Operations segment, and it will provide faster access to the consumers.
Use of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies for transactions
– The popularity of Bitcoin and other crypto currencies as asset class and medium of transaction has opened new opportunities for Cirque Soleil in the consumer business. Now Cirque Soleil can target international markets with far fewer capital restrictions requirements than the existing system.
Loyalty marketing
– Cirque Soleil has focused on building a highly responsive customer relationship management platform. This platform is built on in-house data and driven by analytics and artificial intelligence. The customer analytics can help the organization to fine tune its loyalty marketing efforts, increase the wallet share of the organization, reduce wastage on mainstream advertising spending, build better pricing strategies using personalization, etc.
Building a culture of innovation
– managers at Cirque Soleil can make experimentation a productive activity and build a culture of innovation using approaches such as – mining transaction data, A/B testing of websites and selling platforms, engaging potential customers over various needs, and building on small ideas in the Technology & Operations segment.
Reconfiguring business model
– The expansion of digital payment system, the bringing down of international transactions costs using Bitcoin and other blockchain based currencies, etc can help Cirque Soleil to reconfigure its entire business model. For example it can used blockchain based technologies to reduce piracy of its products in the big markets such as China. Secondly it can use the popularity of e-commerce in various developing markets to build a Direct to Customer business model rather than the current Channel Heavy distribution network.
Remote work and new talent hiring opportunities
– The widespread usage of remote working technologies during Covid-19 has opened opportunities for Cirque Soleil to expand its talent hiring zone. According to McKinsey Global Institute, 20% of the high end workforce in fields such as finance, information technology, can continously work from remote local post Covid-19. This presents a really great opportunity for Cirque Soleil to hire the very best people irrespective of their geographical location.
Reforming the budgeting process
- By establishing new metrics that will be used to evaluate both existing and potential projects Cirque Soleil can not only reduce the costs of the project but also help it in integrating the projects with other processes within the organization.
Harnessing reconfiguration of the global supply chains
– As the trade war between US and China heats up in the coming years, Cirque Soleil can build a diversified supply chain model across various countries in - South East Asia, India, and other parts of the world. This reconfiguration of global supply chain can help, as suggested in case study, Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Low interest rates
– Even though inflation is raising its head in most developed economies, Cirque Soleil can still utilize the low interest rates to borrow money for capital investment. Secondly it can also use the increase of government spending in infrastructure projects to get new business.
Buying journey improvements
– Cirque Soleil can improve the customer journey of consumers in the industry by using analytics and artificial intelligence. Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward suggest that firm can provide automated chats to help consumers solve their own problems, provide online suggestions to get maximum out of the products and services, and help consumers to build a community where they can interact with each other to develop new features and uses.
Threats Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward are -
Consumer confidence and its impact on Cirque Soleil demand
– There is a high probability of declining consumer confidence, given – high inflammation rate, rise of gig economy, lower job stability, increasing cost of living, higher interest rates, and aging demography. All the factors contribute to people saving higher rate of their income, resulting in lower consumer demand in the industry and other sectors.
Aging population
– As the populations of most advanced economies are aging, it will lead to high social security costs, higher savings among population, and lower demand for goods and services in the economy. The household savings in US, France, UK, Germany, and Japan are growing faster than predicted because of uncertainty caused by pandemic.
Increasing international competition and downward pressure on margins
– Apart from technology driven competitive advantage dilution, Cirque Soleil can face downward pressure on margins from increasing competition from international players. The international players have stable revenue in their home market and can use those resources to penetrate prominent markets illustrated in HBR case study Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward .
Easy access to finance
– Easy access to finance in Technology & Operations field will also reduce the barriers to entry in the industry, thus putting downward pressure on the prices because of increasing competition. Cirque Soleil can utilize it by borrowing at lower rates and invest it into research and development, capital expenditure to fortify its core competitive advantage.
Technology disruption because of hacks, piracy etc
– The colonial pipeline illustrated, how vulnerable modern organization are to international hackers, miscreants, and disruptors. The cyber security interruption, data leaks, etc can seriously jeopardize the future growth of the organization.
Shortening product life cycle
– it is one of the major threat that Cirque Soleil is facing in Technology & Operations sector. It can lead to higher research and development costs, higher marketing expenses, lower customer loyalty, etc.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward, Cirque Soleil may face longer learning curve for training and development of existing employees. This can open space for more nimble competitors in the field of Technology & Operations .
Backlash against dominant players
– US Congress and other legislative arms of the government are getting tough on big business especially technology companies. The digital arm of Cirque Soleil business can come under increasing regulations regarding data privacy, data security, etc.
Increasing wage structure of Cirque Soleil
– Post Covid-19 there is a sharp increase in the wages especially in the jobs that require interaction with people. The increasing wages can put downward pressure on the margins of Cirque Soleil.
Stagnating economy with rate increase
– Cirque Soleil can face lack of demand in the market place because of Fed actions to reduce inflation. This can lead to sluggish growth in the economy, lower demands, lower investments, higher borrowing costs, and consolidation in the field.
High dependence on third party suppliers
– Cirque Soleil high dependence on third party suppliers can disrupt its processes and delivery mechanism. For example -the current troubles of car makers because of chip shortage is because the chip companies started producing chips for electronic companies rather than car manufacturers.
Technology acceleration in Forth Industrial Revolution
– Cirque Soleil has witnessed rapid integration of technology during Covid-19 in the Technology & Operations industry. As one of the leading players in the industry, Cirque Soleil needs to keep up with the evolution of technology in the Technology & Operations sector. According to Mckinsey study top managers believe that the adoption of technology in operations, communications is 20-25 times faster than what they planned in the beginning of 2019.
Barriers of entry lowering
– As technology is more democratized, the barriers to entry in the industry are lowering. It can presents Cirque Soleil with greater competitive threats in the near to medium future. Secondly it will also put downward pressure on pricing throughout the sector.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward Template, Example
Not all factors mentioned under the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants in the SWOT Analysis are equal. Managers in the HBR case study Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward needs to zero down on the relative importance of each factor mentioned in the Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats quadrants.
We can provide the relative importance to each factor by assigning relative weights. Weighted SWOT analysis process is a three stage process –
First stage for doing weighted SWOT analysis of the case study Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward is to rank the strengths and weaknesses of the organization. This will help you to assess the most important strengths and weaknesses of the firm and which one of the strengths and weaknesses mentioned in the initial lists are marginal and can be left out.
Second stage for conducting weighted SWOT analysis of the Harvard case study Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward is to give probabilities to the external strategic factors thus better understanding the opportunities and threats arising out of macro environment changes and developments.
Third stage of constructing weighted SWOT analysis of Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil: Looking Back, Moving Forward is to provide strategic recommendations includes – joining likelihood of external strategic factors such as opportunities and threats to the internal strategic factors – strengths and weaknesses. You should start with external factors as they will provide the direction of the overall industry. Secondly by joining probabilities with internal strategic factors can help the company not only strategic fit but also the most probably strategic trade-off that Cirque Soleil needs to make to build a sustainable competitive advantage.