The Effect of the Global Recession on the Event Management Market in London - Research Paper Example

Research proposal on the effect of the global recession on the event management market in London s: Introduction Event management is said to be one of the most exciting and at the same time most dynamic professions. The profession entails conceptualizing, planning, organising and ultimately executive an event. The profession involves other aspects of business and commerce like PR, marketing and at times even project management. This sector has tremendously grown over the past decades. The sector initially lacked professionalism and specialization. According to Bladen, Kennell, Abson, & Wilde (2012, p. 138) there were no universities training individuals in Event management. But times have changed and Universities are offering Certificates, Diplomas and even Degrees in Event Management. As a strong economic sector, this industry did not escape from the global recession of 2009. As a matter of fact, the sector was greatly affected that some companies had to literary shut down their operations. According to Wale, Robinson, & Dickson (2010, p. 203) in recent years, the event management sector has experienced allot of innovation due to the global recession. Particularly, the recession has formed a vehicle for technological development and also innovation at very lower costs. The economic impacts of the 2009 global financial crisis have not yet fully been experienced in the events sector. The events sector majorly depends on tourism sector, cooperate functions and a few social functions. This range from music concerts, product launch, festivals, weddings among others. Florence & Defraigne (2012, p. 54) says that the events management industry heavily relies on other factors which include decrease or increase in flight costs, security matters among other related factors. The UK has over 300 registered companies that specialize strictly on event management and planning. Out of the 300, 200 are based in London though their operations are not limited with London. The global recession of 2009 affected most of the industries in Europe and specifically the UK. Very little information is given about how much impact this recession had on the events management industry. The fact that we cannot single out a possibility of a new recession, calls for an immediate research to establish how much the industry was affected and in the event come up with possible solutions to help curb the impact. 1.1. Research Problem The research problem is to understand the impact of the global recession on event management market in London. This study will make an effort to try and understand the extent to which the events companies and their take holders were affected by the 2009 world economic crisis that led to global recession. The study will try to establish the impact on the whole event management industry 1.2. Research Purpose The events management industry is wide and plays an important role in the growth of the Britain’s economy. As a key player, there is need to ensure protection of the industry and the investors in who have sacrificed their resources in this market. This research aims to understand the impacts of the global recession on the events management market with the aim of developing a better management strategy for the events management companies. We cannot single out a possibility of another global recession. This necessitates the need for preparedness and to do that, we need to review and analyze the past episode. 1.3. Research Objectives This research is predominantly quantitative. The research will be wide and we will use the following hypothesis; The effect of global recession did not have a greater impact on the event management market in l London. The objectives of this research are; a) Determine the financial implications of global recession on events management market in London. b) Determine the unemployment/employment rate in the events management market in London. c) Establish the number of registered companies in the period 2009 to 2011 in the events management market in London. d) Review the profit and loss statements of events management market in London in the years 2009 to 2011. e) Analyze new management strategies used by leadership in the events management market in London. f) Determine the list of clients for the events management market in London. 1.4. Research questions Below are research questions that have been formulated in order to help achieve the research objectives, a) What are the financial effects and implications of the global recession on events management market in London? b) What is the employment and unemployment rate in the events management market in London? c) What is the number of registered companies the events management market in London within the period 2009 and 2011? d) Did the events management companies in London make losses or profits in the years 2009 and 2011? e) What are the new management strategies used by the events management market in London? f) Who are the major clients for the events management market in London? 2. Literature Review The global recession did affect the citizens living within London and this consequently affected all aspects of their lives including the social wellness. The relationship between people and events is illustrated by Bowdin, Allen, Harris, McDonnell, & OToole (2012, p. 35) when they say that event management is an important economic industry that plays a crucial role especially for young people. The industry has grown to be a vital tool for cooperate marketing and at the same time as a tool of social integration. He argues that events have values that are far much beyond just tangible benefits economically. Events create a very important aspect of human nature which is socialization. Events have the ability to put in danger the human social cohesion and confidence as well. The event management market just like other industries was affected by the global recession. According to Wale, Robinson, & Dickson, Events Management (2010, p. 210) mega events had been planned only to be cancelled to due to the recession of 2009. The Heavenly Planet Festival had been planned to take place in UK on 10th and 11th of July in the year 2009. The organizers had to cancel the event. This was mainly caused by initial poor ticket sales. Later, the organizers decided to carry on with the festival but made it free of charge. The majority of the targeted people could not afford to purchase the tickets. The event management company that was involved was greatly affected by this decision. The events companies are majorly involved in sports series and activities. The motorsport in particular is greatly run by event management companies. According to the report by Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Business, Innovation and Skills Committee (2010, p. 17) event management companies play a key role in delivering services to the sports in the UK. These services account for about 30% of the sporting industry total annual turnover. This can be translated to about £1.7 billion. The recession on the motorsport sector directly affected the other industries hat offer services to the motorsport sector. 3. The proposed methodology The research will be run on survey that will be conducted to major event management companies that are based in London. The survey will see us collect sample data will help us complete the research. 3.1. Research Design This research is exploratory as we are trying to explore the effects and impacts of global recession on the events company in London. We will use different tools to achieve this. The research also tries to prove the hypothesis of whether or not the effect of global recession had a greater impact on the event management market in London. In doing this, the research will be following both qualitative and quantitative research designs. This mixed approach will help us attain adequate, reliable and accurate data from our target groups. 3.2. Data sources This research needs to have as accurate information as possible. For that reason, the sources to be used have to be authentic and reliable too. The sources listed below have been scrutinized and found to be more reliable. The primary sources will mainly help us get first hand data and original data. This will help us understand the companys perspective. On the other hand secondary sources will mainly help us understand other peoples perspective. The research will collect data from the following sources; Secondary sources a. Survey data b. Transcripts of the interviews c. Journals d. Financial Reports Primary sources a. Company CEOs b. Accountants 3.3. Data collection technique The type of data source will basically determine the best technique to be deployed in collection. The interviews will mainly be used to collect data from the CEOs and accountants from the events companies based in London. The above mentioned personal will be informed and an interview date will be requested. Preferably, the interview for both should happen the same day. This will help save time of going and coming back again. While doing this, we will do survey of other information concerning employment and laying off of employees in the company. While doing this, we shall also be collecting data from the financial reports for the years 2009 to 2011. This will not be part of the interview with the CEO or the accountant. The data from the secondary sources will come from journals, reports and transcripts of interviews that have been done before. Most of these will be found either from the libraries, book stores or the internet. These data is vital as it will give us further details concerning the impact of the recession on other economic industries. Understanding this will enable us compare the effect on the events management market in London. After the recession, most companies recording the activities that occurred in their firms. We intend to dig out these details in order to get an overall picture of how much impact and effect the recession had. 3.4. Issues of reliability and validity The research as mentioned eelier will be dealing with a mixed approach of both quantitative and qualitative. These calls for a high standard in reliability and validity of the data we use and their sources. The quantitative approach particularly calls for the research to be able to handle aspects of equivalence, consistency and stability. This will be attained by getting data from primary source. The fact that we will carry out interviews with company CEOs and accountants means that we will get data that is realisable and consistent. These data will be considered valid because they will be part of official statement from the company management. In effort to ensure that we are able to fully use qualitative approach effectively, the research will also need to be credible, transferable and also confirmable from any other source. Working with official company financial statements and doing the interviews will give credit and authenticity to our data. The use of secondary sources might be a challenge but this will be solved by working with sources that are recognized and acknowledge by our target group or the general public. Government publications are more reliable and credible. This is one of the secondary sources we will use in order to get credible journals and financial statements. The ministry of labour also is a credible organization that will give is enough data on employment and laying off in the events management industry. 3.5. Sampling techniques As mentioned earlier the research will use both quantitative and qualitative approaches. This therefore means that the research will deploy several sampling techniques. These techniques are being based on the following factors; purpose of the research (aim), research objectives, time frame for the research and also the resources that are available to carry this research. The research will use purposeful Random sampling, criterion sampling and systematic sampling. All the three sampling methods will be deployed in order to come up with effective, reliable and most credible information. The purposeful Random sampling and criterion will help the research by singling out specific group of interest. This technique will enable us to get our specific events management companies based in London that might have been affected by the global recession. The use of these two techniques will ensure that we have wider and more richly-informed sources of data because we will select them randomly but at the same time, they fall under the target group. This is important in ensuring that we are able to get wider and variable data. There are over 200 companies and randomly selecting them will be more effective unlike selecting specific companies that might have experienced minimal or no effect at all. The fact that the research will use mixed approach, it is equally important to use a series of sampling techniques. Apart from the two that seem to specifically fall on qualitative approach, the use of systematic approach will facilitate the quantitative approach. Systematic technique calls for use of more defined and planned criteria in selecting the research group. This will be seen when selecting events management companies that are only based in London and that existed between the years 2009 until to date. With this technique, the research will be able to capture data primarily from the affected companies. Random technique might capture companies of no interest to our research and therefore the use of systematic technique is very vital in this research. 3.6. Definition of Key terms, concepts and variables Event Management Company - This is a company that is involved in conceptualisation, planning and executing of events. The events range from cooperate events, festivals, weddings, funerals, concerts, musical tours, among others. Market- This is the operations and functioning within events management industry together with their clients. The market is mainly based on the events companies getting jobs from clients and executing the jobs adequately. Global Recession- The period between 2009 to 2011 when there was a global economic crisis that saw a fall in economic productivity, high rate of employment, high rates of laying off of employees and general fall of nations Gross Domestic Product (GDP) 3.7. Data analysis and interpretation The fact that this research will collect data from 20 companies is call for a more reliable method to analyse the data collected. In order to fully comprehend the financial implications and the impacts on the companies the research will be dealing with vast data from the period 2009 to 2011. It is important to note that most of the data will be analysed with the use of computers. The collected data will be collected, checked and verified manually before being entered into the computer. All the recordings from the interviews with the CEOs and the accountants will be collected together and transcript to written form. All necessary data will then be extracted and put into the data base. The figures from the financial reports and the employment/unemployment rates will also be collected through emails or printed copies and assembled categorically. They will then be entered into the data base in the computer The research will use Data Mining to do data processing. The research involves al lot of data from different sources. This data will be collected and combined into a single entity. The data at this point will be verified and corrected. The research will use General Linear model to analyse the data. This is because we are trying to assess and effect that might have several predictors. 3.8. Ethical considerations The research will involve individuals working on different capacities in different companies. It is therefore very important to make sure that the research does not intentionally or unintentionally go against their rights or freedom. The research will observe all necessary ethic obligations. 3.8.1. Confidentiality Every company has work ethics and policies that govern their operations. To ensure this is not violated, an agreement between the researcher and the company management will be signed to give the researcher complete freedom to use the authorised data and information. The companies will be informed of the purpose of the research and the audience that will be able to access information from the research. This will ensure that the company knows what levels of confidentiality they will be taking. However, the researcher will encourage the companies to be as open and transparent as possible to ensure credibility of the data. 3.8.2. Informed consent All participating individuals will sign an agreement indicating that they are doing the interview willingly with full consent of what the research is all about. They will also acknowledge and affirm that the information being given to the researcher is facts and that are reliable. Any data obtained from other sources like journals and reports will also be confirmed with the original publishers and authors. The information from their work will be confirmed to be fact and reliable. 4. Conclusion The effects of global recession affected all economic industries including the event management industry. There is very limited research or literature that tries to explain the extent in which this specific industry was affected. Morgan, Pritchard, & Pride (2011, p. 332) tries explain this by saying that the fact that the events management industry offers services to other major services might be the reason why little attention has been given to the impacts and effects experienced due to the global recession. From literature review, there is little information concerning the extent of the impact. The losses made, the impact on employment, company operations affected, events cancellation and so on. This research will establish such important information which will act as basis of coming up with all the necessary measures to against a repeat of the same. The literature reviews has been keen to talk about the implication of the recession on other related industries like the motorsport but there is little to know concerning the companies involved in offering event management services. In addition, there are companies that are still recovering from the recession of 2009. An important aspect of recovery is strategy. Very few companies have developed strategies to fight a possible recession in the near future. Better strategies can only be developed if a review and analysis of the past recession is carried out in order to understand reasons why the impact was so high or low on the company. There is need to understand how much effect the global recession had on the event management market. The world is currently experienced high infatuation of oil prices with low costs being announced very month. This might sound like good news but might lead to another global recession. Before this happens, the events management market needs to be prepared for the worst lest they are found unawares and unprepared. This research will come up with necessary recommendations on best way forward and precautions to put in place. 5. Timetable STEPS IN THE RESEARCH PLAN DEADLINE FOR COMPLETION Submission of the proposal Design of a research plan Gaining access and permission to work in a particular area/have access to data. Literature review Setting up of selection criteria. Design and testing of questionnaire. Design of final questionnaire/schedules. Interviews/posting of questionnaires. Editing and coding of dataS Testing and retesting of appropriate computer program Tabulations/draft analysis of qualitative data Data analysis Findings report Final research product(s) presentation Reference list: Axson, D. A. (2010). The Management Mythbuster. London: John Wiley & Sons. Bladen, C., Kennell, J., Abson, E., & Wilde, N. (2012). Events Management: An Introduction. New York,NY: Routledge. Bowdin, G., Allen, J., Harris, R., McDonnell, I., & OToole, W. (2012). Events Management. Abingdon: Routledge. Florence, É., & Defraigne, P. (2012). Towards a New Development Paradigm in Twenty-first Century China: Economy, Society and Politics. Abingdon: Routledge. Great Britain: Parliament: House of Commons: Business, Innovation and Skills Committee. (2010). Full Speed Ahead: Maintaining UK Excellence in Motorsport and Aerospace, Sixth Report of Session 2009-10, Report, Together with Formal Minutes, Oral and Written Evidence. Norwich, Norfolk: The Stationery Office. Morgan, N., Pritchard, A., & Pride, R. (2011). Destination Brands: Managing Place Reputatio. Abingdon: Routledge. Wale, D., Robinson, P., & Dickson, G. (2010). Events Management. Wallingford: CABI. Wale, D., Robinson, P., & Dickson, G. (2010). Events Management. Wallingford: CABI. Read More