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.

Louise Murray, Vice-President of Tour Planning and Partnerships at Cirque du Soleil, has been informed that the company has received two unsolicited partnership proposals to present a show in Istanbul, Turkey. Both offers are serious and the projects are potentially interesting. The first offer comes from a government agency in partnership with the City of Istanbul, while the second was submitted by a leading Turkish media group. Louise Murray must now decide on the suitability of this destination and analyze the proposals themselves. She also has to assess the different scenarios for inserting this destination in Cirque's planning horizon and choose the best one. The choice of work and the type of partnership agreement to be negotiated with the potential promoter must also be decided. The tight deadlines imposed by the proposals are an opportunity for Louise to make a critical assessment of the flexibility of the planning process, which she has been working to standardize over the past few years. The case thus encourages a broader reflection on the delicate balance between flexibility and standardization in the context of an organization that still has a strong circus culture. As such, the case is an opportunity to reflect on the organization of the planning process and to propose improvements.