Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
Technology & Operations
Strategy / MBA Resources
Case Study SWOT Analysis Solution
Case Study Description of Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil
The case describes Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil in 2000, when a new Chief Information Officer was hired. The main challenge of the CIO was to find out how IT could best serve the Cirque. She was convinced that to meet this challenge, she had to develop an IT strategic vision that would be accepted by the top management of Cirque du Soleil, to deploy a highly professional IT group and increase the credibility of IT among the firm's leaders.
Authors :: Suzanne Rivard, Anne-Marie Croteau, Jean Talbot
Swot Analysis of "Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil" written by Suzanne Rivard, Anne-Marie Croteau, Jean Talbot 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 Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil case study are - Strategic Management Strategies, Strategic planning and Technology & Operations.
Some of the macro environment factors that can be used to understand the Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil casestudy better are - – there is increasing trade war between United States & China, wage bills are increasing, increasing inequality as vast percentage of new income is going to the top 1%, increasing commodity prices, increasing household debt because of falling income levels, there is backlash against globalization, customer relationship management is fast transforming because of increasing concerns over data privacy,
geopolitical disruptions, supply chains are disrupted by pandemic , etc
Introduction to SWOT Analysis of Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil
SWOT stands for an organization’s Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats . At Oak Spring University , we believe that protagonist in Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil 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 Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil can be done for the following purposes –
1. Strategic planning using facts provided in Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil 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 Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Strengths in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The strengths of Cirque Soleil in Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil Harvard Business Review case study are -
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.
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 Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil 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.
Superior customer experience
– The customer experience strategy of Cirque Soleil in the segment is based on four key concepts – personalization, simplification of complex needs, prompt response, and continuous engagement.
Low bargaining power of suppliers
– Suppliers of Cirque Soleil in the sector have low bargaining power. Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil 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.
Ability to lead change in Technology & Operations field
– Cirque Soleil is one of the leading players in its industry. Over the years it has not only transformed the business landscape in its segment but also across the whole industry. The ability to lead change has enabled Cirque Soleil in – penetrating new markets, reaching out to new customers, and providing different value propositions to different customers in the international markets.
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.
Diverse revenue streams
– Cirque Soleil is present in almost all the verticals within the industry. This has provided firm in Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil 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.
Innovation driven organization
– Cirque Soleil is one of the most innovative firm in sector. Manager in Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil Harvard Business Review case study can use Clayton Christensen Disruptive Innovation strategies to further increase the scale of innovtions in the organization.
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.
Ability to recruit top talent
– Cirque Soleil is one of the leading recruiters in the industry. Managers in the Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil are in a position to attract the best talent available. The firm has a robust talent identification program that helps in identifying the brightest.
Operational resilience
– The operational resilience strategy in the Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil Harvard Business Review case study comprises – understanding the underlying the factors in the industry, building diversified operations across different geographies so that disruption in one part of the world doesn’t impact the overall performance of the firm, and integrating the various business operations and processes through its digital transformation drive.
Effective Research and Development (R&D)
– Cirque Soleil has innovation driven culture where significant part of the revenues are spent on the research and development activities. This has resulted in, as mentioned in case study Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil - staying ahead in the industry in terms of – new product launches, superior customer experience, highly competitive pricing strategies, and great returns to the shareholders.
Weaknesses Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil | Internal Strategic Factors
What are Weaknesses in SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The weaknesses of Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil are -
High dependence on star products
– The top 2 products and services of the firm as mentioned in the Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil HBR case study still accounts for major business revenue. This dependence on star products in has resulted into insufficient focus on developing new products, even though Cirque Soleil has relatively successful track record of launching new products.
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.
High operating costs
– Compare to the competitors, firm in the HBR case study Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil 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.
Products dominated business model
– Even though Cirque Soleil has some of the most successful products in the industry, this business model has made each new product launch extremely critical for continuous financial growth of the organization. firm in the HBR case study - Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil should strive to include more intangible value offerings along with its core products and services.
Slow to strategic competitive environment developments
– As Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil 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.
Employees’ incomplete understanding of strategy
– From the instances in the HBR case study Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil, it seems that the employees of Cirque Soleil don’t have comprehensive understanding of the firm’s strategy. This is reflected in number of promotional campaigns over the last few years that had mixed messaging and competing priorities. Some of the strategic activities and services promoted in the promotional campaigns were not consistent with the organization’s strategy.
Low market penetration in new markets
– Outside its home market of Cirque Soleil, firm in the HBR case study Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil needs to spend more promotional, marketing, and advertising efforts to penetrate international markets.
Slow to harness new channels of communication
– Even though competitors are using new communication channels such as Instagram, Tiktok, and Snap, Cirque Soleil is slow explore the new channels of communication. These new channels of communication mentioned in marketing section of case study Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil can help to provide better information regarding products and services. It can also build an online community to further reach out to potential customers.
Aligning sales with marketing
– It come across in the case study Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil that the firm needs to have more collaboration between its sales team and marketing team. Sales professionals in the industry have deep experience in developing customer relationships. Marketing department in the case Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil can leverage the sales team experience to cultivate customer relationships as Cirque Soleil is planning to shift buying processes online.
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.
Opportunities Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil | 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 Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil are -
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.
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.
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.
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, Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil, to buy more products closer to the markets, and it can leverage its size and influence to get better deal from the local markets.
Creating value in data economy
– The success of analytics program of Cirque Soleil has opened avenues for new revenue streams for the organization in the industry. This can help Cirque Soleil to build a more holistic ecosystem as suggested in the Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil case study. Cirque Soleil can build new products and services such as - data insight services, data privacy related products, data based consulting services, etc.
Changes in consumer behavior post Covid-19
– Consumer behavior has changed in the Technology & Operations industry because of Covid-19 restrictions. Some of this behavior will stay once things get back to normal. Cirque Soleil can take advantage of these changes in consumer behavior to build a far more efficient business model. For example consumer regular ordering of products can reduce both last mile delivery costs and market penetration costs. Cirque Soleil can further use this consumer data to build better customer loyalty, provide better products and service collection, and improve the value proposition in inflationary times.
Redefining models of collaboration and team work
– As explained in the weaknesses section, Cirque Soleil is facing challenges because of the dominance of functional experts in the organization. Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil case study suggests that firm can utilize new technology to build more coordinated teams and streamline operations and communications using tools such as CAD, Zoom, etc.
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 Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil - 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.
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.
Better consumer reach
– The expansion of the 5G network will help Cirque Soleil to increase its market reach. Cirque Soleil will be able to reach out to new customers. Secondly 5G will also provide technology framework to build new tools and products that can help more immersive consumer experience and faster consumer journey.
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.
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.
Manufacturing automation
– Cirque Soleil can use the latest technology developments to improve its manufacturing and designing process in Technology & Operations segment. It can use CAD and 3D printing to build a quick prototype and pilot testing products. It can leverage automation using machine learning and artificial intelligence to do faster production at lowers costs, and it can leverage the growth in satellite and tracking technologies to improve inventory management, transportation, and shipping.
Threats Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil External Strategic Factors
What are Threats in the SWOT Analysis / TOWS Matrix / Weighted SWOT Analysis
The threats mentioned in the HBR case study Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil are -
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 Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil .
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.
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.
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.
Instability in the European markets
– European Union markets are facing three big challenges post Covid – expanded balance sheets, Brexit related business disruption, and aggressive Russia looking to distract the existing security mechanism. Cirque Soleil will face different problems in different parts of Europe. For example it will face inflationary pressures in UK, France, and Germany, balance sheet expansion and demand challenges in Southern European countries, and geopolitical instability in the Eastern Europe.
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.
Trade war between China and United States
– The trade war between two of the biggest economies can hugely impact the opportunities for Cirque Soleil in the Technology & Operations industry. The Technology & Operations industry is already at various protected from local competition in China, with the rise of trade war the protection levels may go up. This presents a clear threat of current business model in Chinese market.
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.
Regulatory challenges
– Cirque Soleil needs to prepare for regulatory challenges as consumer protection groups and other pressure groups are vigorously advocating for more regulations on big business - to reduce inequality, to create a level playing field, to product data privacy and consumer privacy, to reduce the influence of big money on democratic institutions, etc. This can lead to significant changes in the Technology & Operations industry regulations.
New competition
– After the dotcom bust of 2001, financial crisis of 2008-09, the business formation in US economy had declined. But in 2020 alone, there are more than 1.5 million new business applications in United States. This can lead to greater competition for Cirque Soleil in the Technology & Operations sector and impact the bottomline of the organization.
Capital market disruption
– During the Covid-19, Dow Jones has touched record high. The valuations of a number of companies are way beyond their existing business model potential. This can lead to capital market correction which can put a number of suppliers, collaborators, value chain partners in great financial difficulty. It will directly impact the business of Cirque Soleil.
Learning curve for new practices
– As the technology based on artificial intelligence and machine learning platform is getting complex, as highlighted in case study Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil, 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 .
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.
Weighted SWOT Analysis of Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil 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 Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil 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 Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil 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 Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil 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 Visioning Information Technology at Cirque du Soleil 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.
