Olympic Games in London 2012 - Term Paper Example

 «Olympic Games in London 2012» Olympics are the largest sporting activity that takes place internationally. They are organized every four years and lots of work, planning and programming goes into its organizing. This year England has got the honors of organizing the great event in summer. The events will continue for month and a half from 27th July to 12th August 2012 and will contain nearly 300 gaming events in various categories. This is the third time England is organizing Olympics. Prior to this, England had the honors of arranging them in 1908 and 1948(Barrow, 2011). There are number of goals behind this mega event: The Upcoming Olympics would bring together people from different backgrounds and various continents on to one single platform and promote healthy activities and harmony and feeling of well being towards each other and reduce the differences. It would further enable at promoting international tourism and send a message across the board that England can organize such large events successfully . An event of such large scale needs lots of planning and homework. The preparations are almost complete and properly structured management effort has been put into it. From the games internal perspective, it will facilitate around 14,700 athletes under one platform. 5 Questions: 1-What are the objectives of London Olympics? 2-How would it impact the economy and rest of the political standing of England? 3-How would it impact the ties between various Nations? 4-How would it impact the local transportation system during the entire duration of events and what measures have been taken to avoid inconvenience? 5-How would it test the strength of England for conducting such a mega event? Has LOGOG communicated the airline/tourism requirements effectively to passengers/visitors and businesses, how?  Answer: LOCOG has conducted number of pilot tests prior to the official launch of the event and those were focused to ensure that the general public transport and working routine does not get affected by the event. For this purpose walking tracks have been established that would lead to the sports park and would avoid large lanes of traffic in form of visitors visiting the place. Manuals and city maps are being spread online and at local level. The daily telegraph reported large number of bookings from the visitors in advance who are bound to visit the city during the event. For the entire purpose London Transport Plan ( 2nd edition) was released in 2009 which took into consideration factors like passengers routes, visitors stay, businesses and motels handling and all other factors that were necessary to be taken into account (LOCOG, 2010). The entire project was split into various sections that lasted for a particular period .Between 2007 and 2011 the development process was named as “Building the stage” which included establishing the infrastructure of the entire event taking into consideration all the variables involved. (LOCOG, 2012) while the second part (2011 onwards plan) constituted the final touches and enabling the successful organization of the event. The internal environment includes the gigantic sport stadium arena termed the Sports park can accommodate over 80 thousand spectators at one time. It is the first Olympic even that will be HD-TV supported. It has a separate broadcast center that will have capacity for over 20 thousand media representatives. For ensuring error proof performance and event organization, number of pilot events were organized in bid to analyze the level of preparation. The management team needs to facilitate not just the organizers and media person but the athletes as well. For this purpose effective strategy has been devised that will meet the needs. The Risk factor consideration is also taken into account and impact of various issues on the mega event. LOCOG board has established a panel for this purpose that involves active participation of senior management for mitigating the risks. LOCOG has prepared a complete plan for the incidents and risks by issuing incident report cards that are connected with the data bases. Intranet risk and incidents prevention tools have also been initiated with individual user account details. The external environment factors involved participation of major stakeholders and addressed all issues of importance. It is the first major international event that has taken the environmental factor into consideration and has set its motto in view with the environment. SWOT Analysis: Opportunity: the opportunity is in the area of tourism and earning a respectable name to England as the country that managed to stage such a great event. Threat: the treat could be in form of ensuring a successful organization of the entire event. This also includes the safety of the officials, players, and ensure that all requirements are met to the international standards. Strength: The large amount of funds dedicated towards the project, international sponsors participating, and contributing towards the project serve as the Strength of the Project. Robust security mechanism is in place in collaboration with Scotland Yard Department that has taken into consideration all the necessary measures. Weaknesses: The entire plan has been prepared in a manner to minimize the weaknesses, risks and unforeseen situations could serve as the weaknesses. Since they are beyond the control of mankind (Borowski,2011). PEST Analysis: While certain aspects can be determined only after the event has taken place, however, an analogical study and idea can be presented in form of PEST analysis of the upcoming mega event. Economical: It would benefit the local economy in general and International in particular to some degree, since large number of sponsors are involved and investing in this mega event. Political: This event will serve as a benchmark and opening sporting ties both on local front and international front. Sports bring together people and nations, these games could open bilateral ties between nations who have gulfs established between them for years (Bombourg, 2012)). Social View: Games always play the role of mediating force between nations; these games might become the reason for many countries to come closer to each other. Further, these games would enable large number of participants from various countries to get to know each other and the cultures. Technological View: On technological front, it is bound to profit the technological sphere all round. These Olympics will be first of its kind in terms of HD –TV transmission; it will be a test of incumbent technology on such a mega platform. Further, use of various state of the art electronic devices would on the rise. Major international electronic equipment manufacturers and brand dealers are expected to turn up for the event, which will result in paying foundation for further technological advances in England LOCOG in its pre event report in April 2012, highlighted these areas and provided details of work and management conducted (LOCOG, 2012) The upcoming Olympics are estimated to have nearly four billion viewers from across the globe. For tourists coming from different parts of the world, arrangements are made and number of tickets this time for entire event are nearly around 10 million. Keeping in view the environmental considerations, four thousand trees are being planted, and for this reason United Nations Environmental Chief applauded the efforts undertaken in consideration of the environmental safety. Factors taken into consideration included no or limited wastes emission and carbon free environment (Committee, 2012) With over ten million tickets allotted and large number of international visitors expected, an organized travelling and tourism structure has been put in place under the Active Travel program which will facilitate the local traffic within the city and around the sports park .Large amount has been invested in to improve the walking and cycling tracks that lead to the sports city. Transportation issue is resolved through a partnership between the LOCOG team, Transport for London and ODA’s team. The traffic plan is devised in such a manner that would ensure no disturbance of the rest of the city’s traffic that is engaged in the daily routine activities. Underground Rail DLR Bus Car Transport Mode 37 percent 26 percent 18 percent 3 percent 2 percent Source: UEL visitor survey, September 2011(London, 2010). For keeping the environment clean it has been aimed at reducing the usage of vehicles to minimum and for this purpose walk and cycle traveling is largely promoted and will be in use. Customer perspective is further addressed by creation of a professional catering team that will cover the meals section. Considering the customers view, Olympics will provide large number of people with employment and bring stability to the economy of England and pave way for future projects and development. According to the LOCOG report, over 25 thousand people have worked at a different time in this mega project from 2008 (LOCOG, page 59, 2012) Bibliography: 1- Barrow,M“LondonOlympicGames 2012”. [Online] Availableat:http://projectbritain.com/olympics/ [Accessed 29th April 2012]. 2- Bombourg, N., 2012. Olympics 2012: The Economic Impact Market Assessment 2012. [Online] Available at: http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/olympics-2012-the-economic-impact-market-assessment-2012-147927585.html [Accessed 5th May 2012]. 3- -Borowski, A., 2011. Adidas Marketing Strategy - An Overview, s.l.: GRIN Verlag. 4- -Bowdin, G., 2010. Events Management, s.l.: Routledge. 5- -Committee, L. O. O., 2012. London 2012 sustainability measures praised by UN Environment Chief. [Online] Available at: http://www.london2012.com/news/articles/london-2012-sustainability-measures-praised-environment-chief.html [Accessed 29th April April 2012]. 6- -Commons, G. B. P. H. o., 2005. London 2012 Olympics. s.l.:The Stationery Office. 7- -Fussey, P., Coaffee, J., Armstrong, G. & Hobbs, D., 2011. “Securing and Sustaining the Olympic City: Reconfiguring London for 2012 and Beyond”. s.l.:Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. 8- -Girginov, V., 2012.” The London Olympics: Volume One: Bid, Delivery and Engagement”. s.l.:Taylor and Francis. 9- LOCOG. (2010). 2012 transport arrangements. Retrieved May 15th, 2012, from London Business Network: http://www.londonbusinessnetwork.com/2012-information/2012-transport-arrangements 10- -LOCOG, 2012. “Pre Game Sustainability Report : Delivering Change”, London: London Organizing Committe of Olympic Games. 11- -LOCOG, 2012. “Pre Game Sustainability Report London Olympics”, London: London Organizing Committe of the Olympic Games(LOCOG) 12- -London, U. o. E., 2010. “Olympic Games Impact Study – London 2012” , s.l.: Economic & Social Research Council. Read More