Stephen Henderson

The development of competitive advantage through sustainable event management

Purpose – Whilst the debate rages between progressive and destructive considerations of economic development, this paper aims to develop thinking around the sustainable event and its contribution to competitive advantage.Design/methodology/approach – The paper defines the sustainable event and considers different position that might be adopted by private and public sector organisations when addressing the triple bottom line of sustainable development.Findings – Cost leadership strategies are unlikely to work and the event organiser must address competitive advantage via differentiation and focus strategies.Practical implications – Event managers must gain a better understanding of the motivations of their audience in relation to sustainability and work towards clearer means to demonstrate that their event meets these sustainable development needs.Originality/value – The intention being that if event organisers can see a competitive advantage in the sustainable event, their contribution to sustainable deve...

The Ethnicity Impact on Attitudes toward Country of Origin for Products with Different Involvement Levels

ABSTRACT The effect of the country-of-origin cue on product evaluation by different ethnic groups is considered for the purchase of high- and low-involvement products. A review of the literature in relation to country of origin, product involvement, and ethnicity effects is followed by primary research to untangle some of the purchase-evaluation complexities. It was observed that the impact of ethnicity was more pronounced for the high-involvement product, contradicting the proposals of some other researchers, though it is argued that this experience is well aligned with not only the thinking on national brands but also the ideas behind extrinsic cues and their moderators. Furthermore, the work considers the implications that this work has for marketing communication strategies.

Changing audience behaviour: festival goers and throwaway tents

Purpose – To translate theory into a practical tool, the purpose of this paper is to provide a conceptual framework for the development of social marketing strategies to modify event attendee behaviour in a sustainable direction. Design/methodology/approach – Consumer value is synthesised with social marketing and consumer behaviour theory to develop the framework. A major problem for festivals (throwaway tents) and current pro-environmental practices are used to determine the frameworks applicability. Findings – The conceptual framework suggests that achieving desired behaviour(s) within an audience requires consideration of the added value at the downstream level, strategies that recognise offsite/onsite behaviour settings, engagement of upstream advocacy and more attention to the evaluation of success. Research limitations/implications – A single low-involvement behaviour example is used to validate the conceptual framework suggesting further work is needed to widen tests of its applicability. Originality/value – This paper synthesises theory into a framework that has significant potential as a tool to develop behavioural change strategies at events.

From Serious Leisure to Serious Work, or, When Folk Music Struck a Chord: Careers, Habermasian Rationality and Agency

This article uses the English folk music scene to consider the career arc that can develop when leisure turns to work for folk musicians. In considering this move from amateur to professional, it draws together ideas of casual leisure, serious leisure and work, highlighting the agency exercised in their career, the centrality of a familial and musical habitus, and the structured network of the scene based around various actor roles. Whilst some seek out and others stumble across professional careers, each shifts from communicative to instrumental rationality creating tensions in a tightly knit Professional, Amateur, Public (P-A-P) network. In this article, we see how folk musicians are involved in various leisure or professional actor roles but it is in the latter that individuals are seen to benefit from the hedonic elements of casual leisure and the learning of serious leisure whilst being paid as a professional.

“Oh! What a tangled web we weave”: Englishness, communicative leisure, identity work and the cultural web of the English folk morris dance scene

In this paper, we consider the relationship between Englishness and the English folk morris dance scene considering how the latter draws from and reinforces the former. Englishness is considered within the context of the cultural web, a tool more often applied to business management but linked to a sociological viewpoint here. By doing so, we draw the connections between this structured business model and the cultural identity of Englishness. Then, we use the framework of the cultural web and theories of leisure, culture and identity to understand how morris dancers see their role as dancers and “communicative leisure” agents in consciously defending Englishness, English traditions and inventions, the practices and traditions of folk and morris and the various symbolic communities they inhabit. We argue that most morris dancers in our research become and maintain their leisured identities as dancers because they are attracted to the idea of tradition – even if that tradition is invented and open to change.

Sustainable touring: exploring value creation through social marketing

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the social marketing-based approach to live performance adopted by Jack Johnson and its potential as the basis of a developmental model for sustainable touring. Design/methodology/approach – Musician Jack Johnson has been recognised as a leader in his approach to sustainable touring. The research approach uses stakeholder interviews to examine his “Sleep Through the Static” tour from a phenomenological perspective. Findings – The activities adopted during the global tour provide “upstream” contributions to social change agendas as well as “downstream” contributions to change behaviour. “Downstream” contribution leans towards closed behaviour settings for the corporate community and open behaviour settings for the social community. Limitations are the extent of resources required; better understanding of audience targets and their perceived value of behaviour change. Research limitations/implications – The use of a single example means that consideration of...

Football broadcasting: tipping point or bleeding edge?

Football in the UK took a dramatic turn with the establishment of the Premier League in 1992. Since then, like many industries, globalization in the sport has been driven by technological change. This article considers the change taking place and how it reflects within the income streams of football clubs. With broadcasting driving the major growth in revenue, the response of the global football fan feeding this revenue stream is considered. A limited understanding of their specific needs and level of satisfaction is found alongside broadcasting deals of significant value. In the midst of this are communications companies with high‐risk strategies and football clubs who seem intent on frittering away their rights money on player salaries. It begs the question – has the broadcasting revenue stream reached a lucrative tipping point or will there be casualties on the bleeding edge of technology?

Large cohort assessment: depth, interaction and manageable marking

Purpose – Whilst other researchers have emphasized the use of online discussions in support of either class based or distance learning, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how this technique works as an alternative form of assessment for large student groups mainly learning in class.Design/methodology/approach – A review of the literature in related areas of assessment led the team to develop the use of asynchronous online discussions and the primary research involves a trial of this method. The trial included monitoring participation, engagement and results and a comparison of these with previous, more traditional, assessments. Staff and student opinions were also sought through interviews and focus groups.Findings – The results reveal similar findings to other researchers in this area. Specifically, the findings show some behaviour similar to that found in other assessments (lack of engagement by some, enthusiasm of others, for example), difficulties for some students to engage in critical discu...

Cayamo – a case study of a music themed cruise

Purpose – This paper aims to provide a look at an unusual emerging market though its main aim is to provide a rich and colourful exercise for teaching marketing. Rich in that the teacher has a variety of options, colourful in that the student will be engaged by the language and content.Design/methodology/approach – The case study focuses on an unusual and relatively new leisure product that combines two growing areas: cruise tourism and music festivals. The case is written in a narrative style to allow student interpretation of the material and application to a range of marketing concepts. The information within the case is derived from a number of published sources including market data, internet chatrooms, blogs and an interview with a customer.Findings – The case builds to provide a picture of an innovative niche product in an emerging growth market. In the introduction, it demonstrates that popular music is no longer limited to low‐income youth. The sections that follow the introduction set the scene ...

Weight Watchers: Social Event Centered Marketing

ABSTRACT This article looks at an international weight loss service company known as Weight Watchers and evaluates the promotional effectiveness of their social event focused business. Secondary research highlights their approach to the marketing mix and the significance of perception within this particular market and the marketing mix per se. Research of their traditional social event based business is reported in terms of the effect of the promotional tools used by Weight Watchers, influences on consumer decision making, consumer behavior, and internal and external factors which influence marketing decisions. The conclusions drawn are that there are significant issues for Weight Watchers to consider in terms of their future approach to the weight loss market. Firstly, the need for Weight Watchers to differentiate themselves further from their competitors and, secondly, to ensure they have distinct differentiation strategies for their social event and online businesses.