Comparison of Canada and BelarusPaul Tsvetkov

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 countrys biggest exports. Russia is considered Belaruss largest trading partner, followed by the European Union. Due to the countrys 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 Canadas 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 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. Johns, Macao, New York, Tokyo, and Dubai. 11 The Greatest Canadian Company on Earth, Konrad Yakabuski

Feature: PopulationImportance orDefinitionComparison and significanceImportance to Cirque du SoleilBelarus: 9.68 millionDefined 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 Canadas 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.Canada: 33.21 million

Feature: Population below poverty lineImportance orDefinitionComparison and significanceImportance to Cirque du SoleilBelarus: 27.1% 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 Canadas 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 employees 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).Canada: 10.8%

Feature: GDP (Gross Domestic Profit)Importance orDefinitionComparison and significanceImportance to Cirque du SoleilBelarus: $116.7 billion 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. Canadas $1.336 trillion GDP 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. 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.Canada: $1.336 trillion

Feature: GDP per CapitaImportance orDefinitionComparison and significanceImportance to Cirque du SoleilBelarus: $12,000 GDP per capita is the countrys 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. Canadas 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. Canada: $40,200

Feature: Unemployment RatesImportance orDefinitionComparison and significanceImportance to Cirque du SoleilBelarus: 1.6%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.Canadas 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. 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.Canada: 6.1%

Feature: GDP Growth RateImportance orDefinitionComparison significanceImportance to Cirque du SoleilBelarus: 8.1%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 Canadas.This could be due to Canadas 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.Canada: 0.7%

Feature: Currency ValueImportance orDefinitionComparison and significanceImportance to Cirque du SoleilBelarus: $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, Canadas 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

Feature: ExportsImportance orDefinitionComparison and significanceImportance to Cirque du SoleilBelarus: $31.81 billionExports: 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; Canadas 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 dont 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 theres no problem, but if theyre 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.Canada: $461.8 billion

Feature: Stock of moneyImportance orDefinitionComparison and link to CirqueSignificance and explanation of importance to CirqueBelarus: $4.065 billionStock 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 Canadas 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. Canada: $391.6 billion

Feature: LiteracyImportance orDefinitionComparison and significanceImportance to Cirque du SoleilBelarus: Age 15 and over can read and write, 99.6% of total population can read an writeThis 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 Canadas 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.

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.

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.htmlSource for Belarus: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/print/bo.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belarus (for historical information)