Theatre Review: Mamma Mia

INTT 434
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT & ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Case Write-up

Mama Mia Case

GokhanCaylak
Ersin Ayli
Yusuf Cihan Yagsatan
Batuhan Durak
Mustafa Bulut

Istanbul, Turkey
2013
Decision Problem:
Mamma Mia is a successful stage show, their success leads to more demand from audience which leads to more performances resulting in a lot more critics. What can be done to sustain its success without being a moderate commercialized play?

As we have yet to define the main decision problem, there are two possible solutions step up within the set. First one is to add up more feature to the stage plan, play content, etc… simply by adding up something new to discover to the audience. The other one is to perform a new reviewed scenario with more visual content. We have decided that fisrt solution is much more appropriate for this masterpiece. Rather reviewing the whole scenario and corrupt its origins, adding up some small but modern details, like integration of the play with augmented reality and social media will be a very good idea. If Mamma Mia can enable an online experience of Mamma Mia during the play it would receive much more attention than the original version. Since the attention is considered as the new curreny, these increased attention rates will result in as an increase in the cash flow. IF think about a performance play while you can actually interact with the play real-time that would be the next level for entertainment and stage performance industry. With the help of hashtags and QR codes audience can experience more about the play, a counter argument may be put on this measure of change like what if the new adaptations will ruin the uniqueness of the play. This could be right to some extent but offering something new to the audience is mostly perceived as an update, something more advanced by the people. Enhancing the play with various utilities of modern technology or a screenplay it can enrich the whole experience of Mamma Mia

Mama Mia Case Questions
1. Can the performing arts be considered “an industry”?
WE can say that its an emerging industry all exclusive for 1st world countires due to importance given to art & entertainment rather than stability of economy. It is not hard to see that this is becoming an industry slowly and gradually in the United States of America. We can definitely say that they are creating a momentum in the sub-categories of daily consumption.. People who came to see the shows spend their money on activities, local products, services, and employees, etc… these momentum created by viewers also creates a cash flow within its range. In USA where performing arts are spread widely and happens on a large scale and therefore ends up contributing a whole lot to the overall economy. According to the Broadway statistics it is estimated as per the years 2006-2012 that the estimated direct spending, indirect spending and related audience spending in total amounts to be more than 1 billion dollars per year, which happens to be a huge amount in this industry.. Even Mama Mia ended up brining a large sum of million dollars since 2003, contributing to the economy. http://broadwayworld.com/grossesshowenlarge.cfm?show=MAMMA-MIA!

In conclusion we can say that its still premature to call that as an industry however there are a lot of potential, as resulted from statistics its growing and reaching huge numbers not just only revenue scale but also the magnifiying effect of side-expenditures, created job opportunities, promised increase of audience life quality and maybe the more important aspect. Inspiration created by these masterpieces to posterity of society.

2. From an entrepreneurship perspective, highlight the issues that must be considered when dealing with creations in the performing arts that have cultural or classical roots.

The most important issue of the cultural root is the audiovisual content of the show. The story and the songs must be familiar to the culture of the audience of the region where the show is first debuted. However, it is not likely to success in the industry by only considering cultural requirements of the show since art is still art and it is widely criticized about its artistic value. There should be a perfect balance between what the audience can find familiar to their lives in the show and what takes artists breath away in details and in the framework.

Also from an entrepreneur’s perpective there are some key indicators that should not be forgotten, evaluation of different alternatives while only the one having potential is further finalized ,does not always mean the results of natural selection is succesfull. An entrepreneur must watch over whole process from beginning concept stage to commercialization., he must constantly evaluate the idea throughout the processes to successfully finalize the project.Fresh ideas are the hardest ones to evaluate on their value so first challenge is this one to cope up with the newness of the idea, thinking like an entrepreneur is no easy task.

3. Are there special conditions or conflicts of interest, which apply, in the quasi-public sector of the performing arts to businesses such as Mamma Mia? Yes there are actually there are numerous conflicts of interests between a quasi-public sector of performing arts and a regular business, as a quasi-public sector which is backed by the government causes different margin rates than the regular business since they are not strict as regular business element of retention rate is higher and much more flexible.

The first conflict arises from distribution of benefits, for quasi-public organizations which is the cost of provision of goods is not proportional to the number of people who benefit from it, as it is typical in the regular business. The more the cost is involved by means of investment, the more is value added in the product and therefore it can reach more people. However, its not like when an organization is backed up by the government. as they have a mandated activities to be performed by a particular number of people which they can afford as they are backed by the government. On the contrary in regular business, people who did not pay for the good are being excluded from the provision of goods or services which is not the case in government based products or services, since they have regulated and mandated activities and audience. As we can conclude from this , the quasi-public organization or activities have a advantage over the regular business activities due to the backing of government in case of any kind of crisis or unexpected situation. Slight losses are easily recovered by the services as opposed by annual funding which regular businesses cannot support these situations so in case of a loss this may take up to years to recover properly.

4. What do you think of the Mamma Mia! Show? Is it entrepreneurship?

Definitely. The “Mamma Mia!” show is considered nothing new but the story of it reveals a great success of a determined entrepreneur. The show comes to life as a result of the hard work of Judy Cramer who for a decade pursued her dream to come true. Years of development and carefully selected staff made nothing new into something huge. It is not undone, yes, but entrepreneurship cannot be considered as a concept where at the something new has been done. Accomplishing something marvelous from and old idea is a typically not fit for the definition of entretpreurship however the idea itself is a way of entrepreneurship. Only this kind of way of thinking can redefine old tastes and turn them into something new to experience.

Conclusion:
Developing amazing ideas does not mean that they had to be brand new ideas. Some amazing projects such as Mamma Mia is a combination of quality and new tech, only an entrepreneur can combine the past with present. It is one of the most successful plays of the world and a lot people making a living out of it so stage performances can be considered as an industry up to some extent