Cico Du Soleil

9-403-006
REV: OCTOBER 15, 2002

THOMAS J. DELONG
VINEETA VIJAYARAGHAVAN

Cirque du Soleil
Murielle Cantin dragged her suitcases through the lobby of the hotel. It was one of the nicer hotels
in Rio, but she missed her own bed, her own home back in Montreal, Canada. As casting director for
Cirque du Soleil, Cantin was on the road for weeks, even months at a time, trying to find the besttalent from the far reaches of the globe. Some of her artistic advisors were urging her to add Peru to
this trip because they had scouted out some promising performers. Cantin considered whether she
should make a detour to Peru. Had she seen enough artists already? Even if there were good possibilities in Peru, was she fresh anymore to evaluate them? Could she trust someone else to go andevaluate them in her stead? Cirque used to need 50 new artists every two years. Now it needed 100
artists every year. How would it handle the growth and keep the shows and the staff fresh? How
would it keep the magic? Cantin wondered whether the touring performers felt as weary on the road
as she felt now.

History
Cirque du Soleil was formed in 1984 by a troupe of street performers known as “LeClub des
Talons Hauts” (The High-Heels Club), which had earlier founded the first street performers’ festival
in a small town outside Quebec City. Some members of the original group were still active at Cirque
du Soleil, including Guy Laliberté, then a musician and firebreather, now president and chief
executive officer. In 1984, 73 people worked for Cirque du Soleil. At the end of 2001, theorganization
had over 2,100 employees worldwide, including over 500 artists. Initially, Cirque du Soleil toured
only one show at a time. From 1984 to 1989, Cirque played to an average of 270,000 people a year. In
2001, nearly 6 million people saw a Cirque du Soleil show. In 2002, there would be eight Cirque
productions running on four continents.
For most of Cirque’s existence, it was ownedand managed equally by two men, Laliberté and
Daniel Gautier. Laliberté had responsibility for most of the creative production of the company, and
Gautier managed most of the business, especially external partnerships and financing. In 1998, when
Laliberté bought out Gautier’s half, Canadian Business Magazine valued the company at $800 million.
Managing a company full of creative people was notalways smooth. In 1987 and in 1988, there
had been “artists’ rebellions” where many of the performers disputed whether management was
doing what was best for them and consistent with the original spirit of the group. In the mid-1990s,
Cirque had tried decentralizing management into three regional divisions, one in North America, one
in Europe, and one in Asia, to better support its showstraveling around the world. But this model
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Professor Thomas J. DeLong and Research Associate Vineeta Vijayaraghavan prepared this case. HBS cases are developed solely as the basis for
class discussion. Cases are not intended to serve as endorsements, sources of primary data, orillustrations of effective or ineffective
management.
Copyright © 2002 President and Fellows of Harvard College. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, call 1-800-545-7685,
write Harvard Business School Publishing, Boston, MA 02163, or go to http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu. No part of this publication may be
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photocopying, recording, or otherwise—without the permission of Harvard Business School.

This document is authorized for use only in Gesti?n Humana (Sandra Patricia Moreno Garc?a) by Ana Carmenza
Neira from February 2012 to August 2012.

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Cirque du Soleil

had not worked, and eventually all management was centered at the...