External environment is made out of the external elements or impacts that effect

the business activity. Alters in external environment of the touring theatre company
could lead to the alter of its objectives.

For the past few years, our country had our growth of economy but our culture
industry or creative industry is still at a weaker position compare to other industries.
In year 2014, our creative industry contributed 1.6% to the gross domestic product of
our country. However, our neighbour countries are able to reach 5% to 7% of
contribution to gross domestic product at that time(MyCreative Ventures, 2019).
Hence, there must be some reason that cause this industry stand in a weaker position.
The touring theatre company can be counted as one of the creative industry and the
external environment may cause big impact to the company. The culture industry is a
talent industry. The growth of this industry requires the mutual support and flow of
internal resources of the industry. When it occupies the smaller amount social
percentage, it will be difficult to form a larger structure, and high-quality employees
and related resources will be lacking. Like a pond and a lake, the type, quantity, and
size of the fish they hold must be different, not to mention that culture and creative
industry are a very small part of Malaysia's industry. Why can the long queues be
released in New York and London once the recruitment information for musical cast
members is released, and the candidates come from all walks of life, but not in
Malaysia? According to the information searched, the employment of arts,
entertainment and recreation industry have only 0.7% of share in Malaysia's
industry(Treasury.gov.my,2019). From one aspect, this has explained the big and
small differences in the industry. Thus, it could be difficult for touring theatre
company to get more talented people.
Besides that, living in the era of pan-entertainment, live entertainment is diluted.
Not just in Malaysia, this is a problem facing in the world. If there are enough good
and cheap entertainment options, why go to the theater? If you've been flooded with
rude stage performances, why reject TV, movies, or other entertainment that might be
more exciting? In this era, the entertainment choices and temptations we face are far
greater than in the past. In other words, when we have not yet formed the habit of
enjoying musicals, other entertainment may occupy our habits. Broadway and the
West End are still active today, but don't forget that they have a history far longer than
movies and television, where watching movies is traditional and watching movies is a
way of life. Until this day, the largest passenger flows supporting Broadway and West
End are tourists. Nowadays, the imagination and appeal of 3D or 4D movies are not
what they used to be, and the interconnection and interaction of online entertainment
is also unimaginable in the past. So is the advantage of stage art so obvious? The price
disadvantage is obvious. Today, Broadway's "Mary Poppins ", "Wicked", and other
plays are actually trying to amplify the shock of the scene to surpass the look and feel
of the movie. However, can we do these technologies ? Or do we need to do it? It is
obvious that the youngster now are more interested to watch "Avengers" in the
cinema. How many left are interested to watch shadow puppet play in the theatre.
These external factors and mutual influences also restrict each other, forming a huge
platform and background, which determines how huge and how far the culture and
creative industry can go in a historical development stage. In fact, these external
factors are also applicable to many other types of stage art. Our culture and creative
industry is not thriving, this is because we do not have a classic performance that
attract more people especially youngster and teenager. In the opposite, a classic
performance may lead to the thrive of our culture and creative industry. Thus, a
classic performance from touring theatre company can raise the awareness of the
importance of our culture.
Moreover, there is overburdened in the performing arts industry. For a couple of
years the culture and creative industry delighted subsidised in loans at interest rates as
low as 2% to 4% due to the outlays of RM200 million(MyCreative Ventures, 2019).
This was an incredible assistance to the business. In Federal budget’s new direction, a
lot of government allowance are to be cut down. So was interest rates allowance for
the Creative Industry loans. Instead, the interest rates increased from 6% to 8%
(MyCreative Ventures, 2019). Finally, the venue rent. Most of today's theaters,
whether state-owned or private, do not treat them as public cultural facilities. Theaters
do not have regular large-scale subsidies. As a result, theaters that have to be operated
commercially must have their rents set according to operating costs. Especially for
large theaters, the high operating cost made it difficult for theaters to lower their rents,
so the pressure was transferred to the performers and the market. Thus, all of these
lead to the higher price of the ticket.
In conclusion, the solution to the external environment is another major issue.
There are many paths, but the most important thing is that the government must
change its previous support attitude and model for the cultural and creative industry,
just like South Korea’s attitude and model for supporting the cultural and creative
industry in recent years, in order to promote the transformation of industrial structure
and enhance the country’s soft power. Strategically look at the performing arts
industry with a public cultural nature, reduce the pressure on the industry's midstream
(theater) and downstream (market), and free up the upstream (creation and
production) space.

Treasury.gov.my.(2019).[online]
Available at: https://www.treasury.gov.my/pdf/economy/er/1718/chapter3.pdf
[Accessed 3 Dec. 2019].

MyCreative Ventures. (2019). The Gap in the Creative Industry Ecosystem of

Malaysia (Chapter 3 of Fuelling the Kreativ Malaysia) - MyCreative Ventures.
[online] Available at: http://www.mycreative.com.my/news_events/the-gap-in-the-
creative-industry-ecosystem-of-malaysia-chapter-3-of-fuellin [Accessed 3 Dec. 2019].