Transcript Slide 1

CIRQUE DU SOLEIL CANADA’S “GREATEST COMPANY
ON EARTH”
Comparison of Canada and Belarus
Paul Tsvetkov
INTRODUCTION
Belarus is a ex-Soviet Union area that broke off after the communist unions official collapse in 1991. In that same year,
Belarus declared and became an independent country. This is a landlocked country that is located in the middle of Russia,
Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia. Approximately 40% of the country is forested and helps provide the resources for one of
its two major industries; agriculture. The other main industry in Belarus is manufacturing of which, Heavy Machinery is one of
the country’s biggest exports. Russia is considered Belarus’s largest trading partner, followed by the European Union. Due to
the country’s failure to protect its labor laws, the country now suffers from high tariff rates to most of its favored nations. The
population of the country now rests at approximately 9.68 million, with 80% native Belarusians and 20% Russians, Poles, and
Ukrainians. This country can be easily compared to Canada due to its relatively close specifics. The specific aspects that I will
use to analyze and compare the two country's are population, percentage of population below the poverty line, GDP (Gross
Domestic Product), GDP per Capita, unemployment rates,
The Quebec-based company, Cirque du Soleil has become one of Canada’s pride and glory entertainment companies that has
reached the point of “the greatest company on earth”. Cirque du Soleil is a entertainment company that focuses on circus
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acts, gymnastic acts, and magic tricks. Starting in 1984, with just 20 street performers, it has now grown to employ over 4,000
employees all over the world. The company has 6 permanent shows located in Las Vegas and Orlando, as well as 8 touring
shows that tour the world and perform in places like St. John’s, Macao, New York, Tokyo, and Dubai.
1 – “The Greatest Canadian Company on Earth”, Konrad Yakabuski
STANDARD OF LIVING COMPARISONS
Feature: Population
Belarus: 9.68 million
Canada: 33.21 million
Importance
or
Definition
Comparison and
significance
Importance to Cirque
du Soleil
Defined as the people who
inhabit a territory or state;
essentially the people that live
within a specific area.
Helps businesses decide
whether or not to participate in
foreign investments.
Decision determined on the
potential customers,
employees, and sales.
Important for Standard of
Living due to the effect on
factors like poverty,
employment, and the amount
of doctors available to the
public.
Canada has a population of
33.21 million people which is
roughly a 3:1 ratio when
compared to Belarus’ 9.68
million.
In this case, the population
is strongly affected by the land
mass of the two countries, in
which Canada has practically
a 3:1 ratio as well when
compared to Belarus.
The population allows the
companies to create an
estimate for sales,
employment, and these
estimates would lead to a
conclusion on whether the
country is a worthy full
investment.
The Cirque has built its
company initially off the
Canadian population. Belarus
has a third of Canada’s
population and could provide a
good source of sales.
The population is also
relatively high and could
provide the Cirque with a good
amount of employees.
Also, when compared to the
sales that they received in
Canada, they could estimate a
third of it to be received in
Belarus due to the relative one
third population.
STANDARD OF LIVING COMPARISONS
Feature: Population
below poverty line
Belarus: 27.1%
Canada: 10.8%
Importance
or
Definition
Comparison and
significance
Importance to Cirque
du Soleil
 Population below poverty is
the percentage of the
countries population that is
below a certain amount (line)
of income; essentially poor.
Helps businesses decide
whether the foreign
investment will generate
enough sales (along with the
total population).
Will affect the businesses
service or goods price
dependent on the percentage
of the population below
poverty.
This also effects the
Standard of Living because it
effects the populations ability
to afford necessities like
clothing, food, shelter, and
medical assistance.
 Belarus has a 27.1% poverty
rate which is almost a 3:1
ratio when compared to
Canada’s 10.8%.
The poverty rate has many
factors that affect it, primarily
the lack of jobs and education.
This is significant to the
companies decision making
because it would further
supply the company with
information on the estimate of
potential sales, employees,
and it would influence a
change in the companies
prices if they were to invest.
 In this case, the Cirque
would have to decrease its
estimated sales respective to
the 27.1% of Belarus’
population being below
poverty.
However, the Cirque could
increase the estimated
amount of employee’s
because there is a good
amount (roughly 2.62 million)
of people that would be
looking for a job.
The Cirque could also offer
lower wages to these
employees rather those that
are hired in Canada because
of the high poverty rate
(people would just be looking
for a job that pays at least
minimum wage).
STANDARD OF LIVING COMPARISONS
Feature: GDP (Gross
Domestic Profit)
Belarus: $116.7 billion
Canada: $1.336 trillion
Importance
or
Definition
Comparison and
significance
Importance to Cirque
du Soleil
 GDP (Gross Domestic
Profit): total value of all of the
countries domestic goods and
services.
The GDP shows how much
money the country makes
through domestic sales and
exports during the one year
period.
Used to rank up against
other countries of the world.
Important because it shows
essentially how much money
the country makes because
you can not import anything
without having domestic
profits to use or domestic
goods and services to provide
in exchange for the import.
 Canada’s $1.336 trillion GDP
 Cirque would have to
estimate whether or not the
country has enough of a
domestic profit to support its
service.
 The low GDP would mean
that there is a low possibility
of increasing the companies
profits because there is little
possibility that the industries
will grow and increase in
efficiency and productivity.
 In turn, this would influence
the Cirques decision on
investing or not and also if it
should be a tour or a
permanent expansion.
is approximately 13 times
Belarus’ $116.7 GDP.
 The GDP of each country can
be effected by both natural and
civilized reasons.
Natural being no access to
natural resources; minerals, gas,
or unattainable agricultural land.
Civilized being small industries,
low efficiency resulting in low
productivity, cant compete in the
markets of nations that have a
better quality product or can sell
in bigger quantities.
These would all effect the GDP
of a country and essentially the
decision of any company that is
considering investing in it.
Business would focus on these
factors along with the GDP to
estimate whether the country
makes enough money to support
the foreign expansion.
STANDARD OF LIVING COMPARISONS
Feature: GDP per
Capita
Belarus: $12,000
Canada: $40,200
Importance
or
Definition
Comparison and
significance
Importance to Cirque
du Soleil
 GDP per capita is the
country’s total GDP divided by
its population.
Essentially is the amount of
money that the each person
living in Belarus spends a year.
This would help businesses
decide on a specific cost of
their service to the public and
would be relative to the GDP
per capita.
 Canada’s GDP per capita is
roughly 3.5 times more with
$40,200 compared to
Belarus’ $12,000.
This means that the average
Canadian spends 3 times that
amount of money every year
when compared to the of an
average Belarusian.
This is also heavily affected
by the population and GDP;
primarily population because a
country could have a
ridiculous population and
would allow a less GDP per
capita for the country.
Businesses would use this
amount to create an estimate
on the cost that they will
implement and essentially
their potential sales and
profits.
GDP per capita is provided
quarterly.
The Cirque would use this
information to determine
whether there is a specific
quarter (season if provided on
a regular calendar) that would
be the best time to invest.
Also, would allow Cirque to
create an estimate on the cost
of a ticket and the total profits.
In turn this would influence
the decision on investing or
not because the expenses of
sending a show to Belarus
could be more than this
estimated profit and in that
case, it would be worthless to
invest.
STANDARD OF LIVING COMPARISONS
Feature:
Unemployment Rates
Belarus: 1.6%
Canada: 6.1%
Importance
or
Definition
Comparison and
significance
Unemployment Rate: the
percentage of the population
that is unemployed, not
working.
Helps businesses decide
whether there is a potential for
investment.
Decision would be based on
the fact that there is not
enough working people,
therefore there would not be
enough potential customers
for the business to earn its
required profits and vice
versa.
Could also provide the
company with a general
estimate of the potential
employees that can be hired.
Canada’s unemployment
rate of 6.1% is 6 times
Belarus’ 1.6%.
This means even though
Canada has 3 times the
population and almost 13
times the GDP, it also has
about 6 times the amount of
people that are unemployed
and have no job.
This can be effected by a low
economy or sinking markets
(current reason), and could
also be effected by the
education provided to the
public.
This could effect the
decision because it could
lower potential employees but
at the same time could show
an increase in potential or
estimated profits.
Importance to Cirque
du Soleil
 In this case, there is a bigger
unemployment rate in Canada.
This alone could influence the
Cirque to invest because by this
figure, practically 99% of the
almost 10 million people in
Belarus are employed and are
seeing some kind of income.
Alternatively, if you pair this up
with the poverty rate, you can
determine that a good chunk of
the employed population is
working for a very low income
and this would potentially lower
the Cirques estimated sales.
However, this could also give
the Cirque potential to higher
people for their business
because they could lower their
pay and pay them less but still
seem a great business.
STANDARD OF LIVING COMPARISONS
Feature: GDP Growth
Rate
Belarus: 8.1%
Canada: 0.7%
Importance
or
Definition
Comparison
significance
Importance to Cirque
du Soleil
The GDP growth rate is just
the percent that the GDP will
grow by for next year.
Can represent the
urbanization of the country as
well as the increase in
efficiency and productivity of
the countries industries.
This could would let
businesses know that there is
great potential for them to
increase their profits as the
GDP increase because the
population will essentially
become more flexible with
where they spend their income
due to the increase in their
income (respective to the
increase in GDP).
The GDP growth rate in
Belarus is practically 8 times
that of Canada’s.
This could be due to
Canada’s already very high
GDP and when something is
that high, it could be hard to
increase further.
Shows how the country is
becoming more productive
and efficient with its industries
and is making and providing
more domestic goods and
services.
Would provide the
businesses with a slight
foresight of the country; could
tell if the country is worth
investing for the long run or
just for a quick visit here and
there.
 Cirque uses this information to
forecast the countries profits and
the increase in the populations
money available to spend.
This would in turn, help better
determine the companies
estimated future profits and the
maximum cost of a ticket (GDP
per capita).
Also, this would help provide
the Cirque with a good piece of
information that they could use
to determine whether to invest
fully or just send a tour to the
country.
Primarily because if the GDP of
a country is increasing, there is
an increased potential for the
company to increase its profits
and vice versa through the
country making more money and
being able to better afford the
Cirques service.
STANDARD OF LIVING COMPARISONS
Feature: Currency
Value
Importance
or
Definition
Comparison and
significance
Importance to Cirque
du Soleil
Belarus: $1 BYR is $0.00 CAN
(Its very small and not all
currency converters provide
the correct decimal).
 The currency value is the
currency of the country
compared to the currency of
another country.
The currency of a country is
based on the strength of the
countries economy.
A low currency value would
pose a inexpensive
investment.
However it could also pose a
lower profit because the
companies profit would be in
the local currency and they
would lose money on the
conversion.
As you can see from the little
side note, Canada’s currency
is ridiculously higher than that
of Belarus’.
Essentially, it is $2232
rubles for $1.00 Canadian.
This would essentially be the
biggest or one of the biggest
factors that the company
would have to take into
account before investing in
any foreign country.
However, this could be
influenced by the low GDP of
the country and could see a
better conversion in the future
as the GDP increases.
For Cirque, this would probably
be the cut line.
The company would have a
great time establishing
themselves because the
Canadian dollar goes a long way
in the country, but it could also
be a low amount of rubles
dependent on the pricing on the
countries goods and services.
Also, the company would gain
their profits through rubles and
would have to convert but
dependent on the economy
(pricing of the countries goods
and services), the Cirque could
charge more for its ticket.
Essentially, if this did happen,
then you would be operating at
the same rate, just would be
dealing with higher numbers.
Canada: $1.00 CAN is $2232
BYR
STANDARD OF LIVING COMPARISONS
Feature: Exports
Belarus: $31.81 billion
Canada: $461.8 billion
Importance
or
Definition
Comparison and
significance
Importance to Cirque
du Soleil
Exports: the sell or transfer of a
domestic product abroad.
Used to gain profits; practically
a countries sales.
This could influence the
decision of investment because it
would show how much money
the country makes through
international sales.
As well hinting towards the
possible foreign relations that the
country has.
This is also a good
representation of how
competitive the country is in its
industries because if their GDP is
high and their Exports are low,
then majority Is being sold or left
in the country which isn't always
good.
Also, shows whether the
country makes more money
through domestic or international
sales.
Canada has an export
amount that is about 14.5
times the amount of Belarus’
total exports.
This is reflective on their
GDP because if a country
makes a greater domestic
profit then it would essentially
have a higher export.
In this case, Canada has a
higher GDP which is almost
relative to the difference in
Exports; Canada’s GDP is 13
times that of Belarus’.
Also, Belarus’ Exports
account for approximately
27.5%.
The Cirque would use the
exports to measure how much
money the country receives
through international trades.
This would be important to the
Cirque because they cannot
invest in a foreign country if they
don’t do foreign trade.
Also, this could mean that
about 70% of the countries
domestic products are being sold
or held within the country.
If they are sold then there’s no
problem, but if they’re just being
held and awaiting sales, then
that cant be good because its
like a retailer holding on to its
products. They become out of
date, expired, or inefficient and
will never sell.
Thus, still increasing the
countries GDP but doing nothing
to they're actual money.
STANDARD OF LIVING COMPARISONS
Feature: Stock of
money
Belarus: $4.065 billion
Canada: $391.6 billion
Importance
or
Definition
Comparison and link to
Cirque
Significance and
explanation of
importance to Cirque
Stock of money is just how
much money the country,
essentially the government
has to use for specific
situations.
This would represent the
countries ability to support its
population and industries in
an economic recession or
depression.
Also, this is the ability to
support the percentage of the
population that is below
poverty.
Could be a safety issue for
the business looking to
expand to the country.
Canada has a stock of money
that is almost 100 times the
amount of Belarus’ stock.
This is probably due to
Canada’s huge advantage in GDP
and exports.
Also, by these figures, Canada
has a better position to support
its industries and population in
the time of a crisis like now.
Belarus will definitely not have
the cash to support the
industries when a crisis hits (they
aren't connected as much to the
US thus there is no immediate or
serious crisis in its economy).
Could be a serious safety issue
for investors because they could
not be able to afford to operate in
a crisis and the country wont be
able to support it.
Cirque du Soleil would use
this information to determine
whether the country would be
a safe permanent investment
in the time of a crisis which
can happen at any time as
seen from today's events.
Essentially Belarus would
definitely not be able to
support its industries and its
population, not to mention the
Cirque which is just a
entertainment company.
If investing this would
definitely throw the ball in the
“lets tour there” court.
STANDARD OF LIVING COMPARISONS
Feature: Literacy
Importance
or
Definition
Comparison and
significance
Importance to Cirque
du Soleil
Belarus: Age 15 and over can
read and write, 99.6% of total
population can read an write
This shows the age of the
average citizen that can read
and write.
Also shows the percentage
of the total population that
can read and write.
This essentially shows the
accessibility of education to
the public and if its expensive
or not.
If the poverty rate is high but
there is still a good amount of
educated, then there is a good
possibility that the schools are
either inexpensive or actually
free.
Both countries teach their
citizens to fully read and write at
the age of 15.
However, Belarus has a 0.6%
higher percentage of its total
population that are fully
educated.
This could potentially be to
Canada’s huge multicultural
population because an immigrant
might not be exactly as educated
in the English language as a child
that has gone through school or
a Canadian.
Also, Belarus is educating in a
totally different language and the
comprehension difficulty can be
very different.
This is a plus to businesses
because it means that almost
every citizen has been educated
and can be employed.
The Cirque would use this
information to determine if the
citizens in the foreign country
are educated enough to be
employed by the company.
Belarus has a good
percentage of educated
citizens but due to its different
language and different
schooling systems, the
population could be above or
below the Cirques standards.
Also, since it is a different
language, the Cirque would
have a hard time finding
employees that talk in English
or that are worthy enough to
be trained.
Essentially this isn't a bad
thing because the population
is educated to some point
which is always better than
nothing.
Canada: Age 15 and over can
read and write, 99% of total
population can read and write.
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION
I would consider Belarus to be a good country to expand to but only for tours. Reason being, even though the country has a
decent population, it has a low economy and would essentially not provide the Cirque with enough profits for a permanent
show. Due to the countries low currency value, it would be inexpensive to tour there and the cost of the cirques tickets would
have to be high to make up for the loss in the conversion back to Canadian dollars. According to the population below poverty,
a good amount of the population will not be able to afford this spike in ticket pricing. The general population is indeed well
educated, more so than Canada, but due to the aforementioned information, its not the best place to be hosting a permanent
show. Also, the amount of money that the Belarusian government has stock pilled is very low and would not be enough to
support the industries and population, not to mention the Cirque which is just a entertainment company. When a crisis would
happen, the Cirque would actually have no customers and profits and would essentially need to pull out of Belarus. Thus my
general recommendation to Cirque du Soleil would be that they could tour to Belarus, primarily to Minsk, the capital city for a
decent amount of profit and this would work multiple times a year because word would spread and popularity would increase
and the Cirques sales on the next tour could potentially increase as well. But definitely not a country that Cirque should send a
show permanently.
WORK CITED
Source for Cirque du Soleil:
http://www.cirquedusoleil.com/en/about/faq/faq.asp
 Source for Canada:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/ca.html
 Source for Belarus:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/bo.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belarus (for historical information)
