Top 40 Bestselling Case Authors 2016/17

This case discusses the evolution of the circus industry up until the emergence of Cirque du Soleil. It offers a detailed discussion about the structure of the industry to enable a rich analysis of the challenges it now confronts. Students discover that the industry had become a red ocean with limited profit and growth potential.

Cirque du Soleil very successfully entered a structurally unattractive circus industry. It was able to reinvent the industry and created a new market space by challenging the conventional assumptions about how to compete. It value innovated by shifting the buyer group from children (end-users of the traditional circus) to adults (purchasers of the traditional circus).

The case describes a series of blue ocean strategic moves made by Salesforce.com in the CRM application market. In particular, the case addresses the concern of business executives over the applicability of blue ocean strategy in the B2B area. Salesforce.com's strategic moves provide an exemplary demonstration of how a company can effectively create and renew its blue ocean in the B2B field by value innovating its single business on the product, service and delivery platforms alternately.