A Critical Review of Contributing Theories in Cirque du Soleil's Innovation Process
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INTRODUCTION
The
discourse of innovation is dominated by its implementation in technological
landscape which divides the history of
innovation into several phases of long
waves. Until nowadays, there are 5 types of long waves with their very own
characteristics. Eventually, one cycle of the long
wave will change to another cycle in a period of 50 years (Schumpeter, 1936;
Dosi, 1982; Tylecote, 1992). While this is true, there is less discourse
related to non-technological innovation, hence this essay will discuss innovation in terms of creative
industries. The purpose is to strengthen understandings about innovation as a versatile
concept that covers a wide range of
subjects.
This
essay will review and analyse how theories of creativity and innovation are
applied in the performing arts industry as one of the sectors of creative industries (DCMS, 2001) with a focus on Cirque
du Soleil (CDS) as a real-life
organisational example. The essay’s structure is based on Smith’s (2006) three
stages of innovation theory, which consists of: (1) invention; (2)
commercialisation; (3) diffusion and completed with a review of CDS’s diurnal
innovation process, corporate culture, and leadership practice.
 |
| 'Totem' Show by Cirque du Soleil (Source: www.magchild.com/2015/activities/cirque-du-soleil-totem) |
INVENTION
Innovation
is ‘an idea, practice, or object that is perceived as new by an individual or another unit of adoption’ (Rogers, 1995, p.11). From
the previous statement, it can be inferred that novelty is the most important
factor for the invention stage. However, there are several ways to generate
novelty. According to Henderson and Clark (1990), there are four types of
innovation: (1) incremental innovation; (2) modular innovation; (3)
architectural innovation; and (4) radical innovation. The distinctive features of these types are the usage of core concepts
(reinforced or overturned) and systems (unchanged or changed) to build
something new.
In
relation to this theory, CDS can be classified as an architectural innovation.
Architectural innovation is defined as ‘the reconfiguration of an established
system to link together existing components in a new way’ (Henderson &
Clark, 1990, p.10). In architectural innovation, the core concept is reinforced
while the system is changed to obtain some degrees of novelty. It is embodied
in CDS because it aims to offer a one-of-a-kind alternative to enjoy the
old-fashioned concept of the circus for a
new market target, specifically for adult and professionals. The invention
stage of CDS begun with this notion in mind.
Historically,
CDS was first initiated by Guy Laliberte in Quebec, Canada circa 1984. As a street
performer himself, he pursued his own dream to set up a more modern circus that
will be appealing to wider audiences. He
pitched the concept and acquired CDS’s first funding from a governmental body, the
Canadian Arts Council. In line with CDS manifesto of ‘we reinvent the circus’
(Cirque du Soleil, n.d.), Laliberte combined several already existing
components such as human acrobatic, musical score, and theatre to frame a whole
new circus experience. From that on, CDS has transformed the nearly sinking trend
of traditional circus industry into a sense-indulging performance that is more
likely to be accepted by contemporary audiences.
The
innovation of CDS is started by an individual but throughout the years it
adopts an employee-based innovation source. Nowadays, it is claimed as the
biggest theatrical performance company with more than 5000 international workers
and 30 show productions. It succeeded to beat the other previously established
circus companies, namely P.T. Barnum and The Ringling Brothers (Grant and
Jordan, 2015).
COMMERCIALISATION
In order
to make innovation works for CDS, Laliberte’s idea has to be commercialised. To
do so, it utilises an innovation model theory. Rothwell (1994) coined five
different innovation models: (1) technology push; (2) demand pull; (3)
coupling; (4) integrated; and (5) network. In this case, CDS adopted the demand-pull model to prepare its launch to the
public.
Demand
pull is a market-centred model which prioritises
consumers’ needs and expectations. Because of that, the embodiment of the
product or service that will be offered depends on prior consumer and market research.
The opposite for this model is technology push which puts technology first and
then finds a strategy for the product or
service to be accepted by the public.
Another
contributing theory is blue ocean strategy by Kim and Mauborgne (2005). Blue
ocean strategy believes that it is better to be different by cultivating new
market or propose distinctive value rather than defeating existing competitors
as a follower. In other words, a good business must find a gap between existing
product, consumer preference, and future emerging trend which is not created
yet. It has to break the boundaries and create a breakthrough as a competitive
advantage. The formulation of blue ocean strategy starts with evaluating other
competitors’ value proposition to find the gap.
Kim and
Mauborgne chose CDS as one of the notable examples
for their theory. In practice, CDS eliminate the use of animal and reduce the
outsourced star performers which both require high cost and mostly offered by
their competitors. It exchanges those eliminations and diverts their source to
fortify their performers’ ability (human capital) and build enchanting story
line while maintains the
hallmark of the circus, like the
signature red and white tent. Therefore, the artistic-focused show will be more
appealing to targeted audiences.
 |
| Cirque du Soleil's Blue Ocean Strategy (Source: www.herald.cauon.net adapted from Blue Ocean Strategy) |
In
addition, blue ocean strategy is almost similar to
first mover strategy. First mover company acts as a pioneer in an unestablished market with the ability to
generate revenue and profit because not
all pioneer will be accepted by the market (Liebermen and Montgomery, 1988). The
main advantage of these three theories is they can begin to build customer base
ahead from their followers. At the time of the product launching, there are no other similar products thus the company
will predominate the entire market share.
On the
contrary, the risk and uncertainty of cultivating uncontested market are high. To such degree, not all companies which implemented these strategies are succeeding. That is why some companies prefer to choose safer follower strategy such
as latecomer or side-entrance strategy (Smith, 2006).
DIFFUSION
The
diffusion of CDS innovation strategy can be explained by the dominant design theory. This theory explains one particular design
that emerged as a favoured product rather than other competitors’ product. Consequently,
the dominant design product is often copied by competitors as a benchmark. That
is why the appearance of similar mass products as a spreading trend can also
indicate the emergence of a dominant design. Nevertheless, the product may not
offer the best quality of them all, but it is more acceptable to the public because it offers compatible
value (Srinivasan et al., 2016).
Before
CDS emerged as the dominant design, there is a ‘period of flux’ (Anderson and
Tushman, 1990, p.604) in the circus industry. Circus has been developed since the
1760s but none of the companies can be
considered as thriving and as widely recognised
throughout the world as CDS. Moreover, by the end of the wars in the 1940s, the
circus audiences and revenues kept declining until finally, CDS invigorated the circus industry by the end of 1980s
(Grant and Jordan, 2015). The grand production and outstanding quality of CDS
may be hard to imitate, but the adaptation can be seen when a circus embeds a
story line and resembles the concept of theatrical performance. Before CDS, a circus is merely a series of unrelated acts
between the performers with no affiliated theme (Rantisi and Leslie, 2014).
Another theory
that can complement it is disruptive innovation theory by Christensen (1997). Disruptive
innovation revokes current trend and significantly
shift it to follow the offered innovation product. The shifting of the trend can
lead other established companies to lose
their consumer base and revenue. If those companies do not have a strategy to
prevent this, they may go bankrupt. For this reason, disruptive innovation is
often seen as an alarming threat to
industries. Industries have to prepare and innovate persistently in order to sustain
their business and avoid their products being replaced by another industry.
In this
case, CDS not only disrupts the circus industry, but also other performance
arts industry such as theatre and dance recital. Furthermore, it competes as a
strong rival with another entertainment industries as an alternative option (Kim
and Mauborgne, 2005). For instance, people who are bored with cinema can go to
attend CDS show instead. None the less, CDS must improve their technological
aspects of the show consistently (e.g. inventing new performing device, using
latest advanced technology such as
hologram) to assert itself as the leading performance arts industry.
In
relation to this matter, CDS established C:LAB,
the creative laboratory of CDS in 2014. C:LAB
gathers ideas from all of the workers and tries to make the ideas come to
reality (Cirque du Soleil, 2016). One of the most prominent projects is Sparked. It combines the ability of
performers and the technology of quadcopters to create a poltergeist-like
effect in a show (Cirque du Soleil, 2014).
DIURNAL INNOVATION PROCESS
The term
diurnal is used to differentiate between the early stage innovation and the day
to day innovation process that occurred afterwards. The innovation process in CDS
starts with ‘idea development funnel’ (Smith, 2006, p.227). CDS utilises
co-creation design from its workers to develop new ideas and get insights as
much as they can. After that, the creative director and production director
will curate the ideas and further discuss it to construct future show theme and
story line. This process may also include historian to assist them in exploring the traditional culture reference in a
theme.
Rantisi
and Leslie (2014, p.159) undertook this approach as an ‘open-ended nature of creation
process’. Another evidence of this process can be seen during the time of the
development when the production process is open to
additional idea and improvement from all of the workers, not just the head
directors. For instance, a dancer can invent his own movements which interpret the show’s theme and perform it in
the show as long as it passes the quality control.
Each
show in CDS has its own Creative Director who possesses
the highest authority in the show. CDS’s shows can run for several years and
some of them are performed as tours to different countries. In the period of
the long contracts, one circus performer will act as one character only. This
obligates the performers to have acting skills and build an emotional connection with the characters in
order to make them believable (Dan, 2012).
A show needs
at least two years’ preparation stage before the show is ready to be performed.
While some divisions develop the script, musical score, and choreography, at
the same time the behind the scene divisions work together to design the
costumes, properties, and stages. Generally, all of the preparation happens
simultaneously with the workload distributed evenly in several divisions (Dan,
2012).
LEADERSHIP & ORGANISATIONAL PRACTICE
Guy
Laliberte has the biggest influence in CDS. He is the founder and Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) of CDS. Despite the 90% acquisition of the company in
2015, he continues to manage the company. Laliberte’s leadership style can be
classified as situational leadership. Situational leadership’s purpose is to
understand working conditions and choose the best method to address that
situation rather than being an authoritative figure with passive followers.
There are two classifications of situational leadership: (1) task-focused and (2)
people-focused (McCleskey, 2014). The second approach fits better with Laliberte’s
leadership in CDS.
As a
former street busker himself, Laliberte acknowledges the joy and hardships of
being performers, thus he leads in a more horizontal approach. He encourages
participation from all of the workers to pursue CDS’s goals in a communitarian
manner. His position in CDS resembles the role of quality control or supervisor
and often stated as the father of CDS (Dan, 2014). He emphasises on ‘decision-making at lower levels’ (Rothwell,
1994, p.16) to cut away ineffective bureaucracy. Moreover, situational
leadership style corresponds with CDS’s approach to creativity and innovation
which fosters ‘collaborative creative process’ (Simon, 2015, p.59) in its
corporate culture.
To
overcome public perception who often discredits performers’ occupational
well-being, all workers in CDS are bounded by at least two years contract with
benefits ranging from health insurance to training facility (Rantisi and
Leslie, 2014). In regard to organisational practice, the challenge of working
within creative industries is to avoid tension between creative and non-creative
workers. For instance, the creative
director can propose state-of-the-art ideas but production director must
evaluate the feasibility of these ideas in terms of technological capacity,
financial cost, or audiences’ preference. However, these two components cannot
be separated since creativity in the organisation
means a collective process between creative & non-creative who complemented each other (Bilton, 2012). Essentially,
CDS celebrates the differences among its workers because it demands
transdisciplinary knowledge to build a single show.
Furthermore,
CDS did corporate venturing and built two independent-venture unit: (1) C:LAB which has been mentioned earlier and (2) Cirque du Monde (CDM). CDM is a social program
from CDS. It invites ‘marginalised and
disenfranchised youth’ from across the globe to engage in a workshop to improve
their circus-related skills and builds community networking. This program was
launched in 1995 and it is accomplished with the aid of prominent non-profit
organisations such as Oxfam (Branswell, 2003, p.64).
Another
challenge is to avoid what Amabile (1997) mentioned as creativity killer and ‘over-familiarisation’
(Bilton, 2012, p.33). They believe that freedom and creativity are interrelated hence managers must provide
the supportive working environment. CDS adopted this theory in its PARADE (Programme de Realisation Artistique de
Employes) scheme.
This
program liberates CDS’s performers, artists, designers, and other creative workers
to experiment with their own creative interest and pursue their personal ideas.
CDS even supplies them with the incubating
process including mentorship and funding for those ideas. Later, CDS will
evaluate the ideas and calculate the idea’s viability to be implemented in the
upcoming show. However, this is not a mandatory process because the primary
intention of this program is to maintain the creative workers’ productivity (Rantisi
and Leslie, 2015). Besides that, Amabile (1990) assured that intrinsic
motivation is the best practice to sustain innovation in companies.
CONCLUSION
The
previous image represents the summary of numerous theories that are implemented
in Cirque du Soleil’s innovation, leadership, and organisational management.
All of the contributing theories are shaping CDS’s prosperity in the creative
industries. Moreover, innovation is not only important in the beginning, but it
is a continuous process that evolves alongside with the latest organisational
and external environment landscape. The management role is to ensure that the
organisation does the process well.
From
this review, it can be concluded that one single theory is not enough to
explain the innovation process in an organisation since innovation covers a
wide dimension. Furthermore, the mentioned theories are able to complement each
other. All in all, from the earliest idea to focus on the unique value proposition that satisfies neglected market’s needs up to the reconciliation
of creative and non-creative workers, Cirque du Soleil succeeded in managing innovation
and creativity as a part of its intrinsic corporate culture.
DISCLAIMER |
| Cirque du Soleil Performers (Source: www.tellwut.com) |
This is an essay for Managing Creativity and Innovation Assignment for Creative Industries and Cultural Policy Course at the University of Glasgow. Please provide proper citation if you use this as reference.
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