CHAPTER 1 EVENT MANAGEMENT: CHARACTERISTICS AND

DEFINITIONS

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
■ Appreciate the growth of the event industry and its different
characteristics ■ Understand a range of useful definitions used within the
operational management and project management literature ■ Explain the
importance of having a clear mission and how this must translate in to
‘making it happen’ for the customer

IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS
First, we will define the terms industry, market and strategic group. Evans
et al. (2003) make an important distinction between markets and industries,
and other competitors within the same strategic grouping. They believe that
a market refers to the needs of the customers and potential customers,
whereas the industry refers to a group of products linked by common
technology, supply or distribution channels. A strategic group refers to
those organizations that are identified as being the major competitors.
Modern organizations may operate in more than one industry, and in more
than one market. Each industry and market has its own distinctive structure
and characteristics. Industries are centred on the supply of a product, while
markets are concerned with demand.
Campbell et al. (2003) define the two concepts clearly:
● Industries produce goods and services – the supply side of the economic
system ● Markets consume goods and services that have been produced
by industries – the demand side of the economic system.

Who is the customer?

In events, customers can be the audience, a group of spectators, visitors,
delegates or sponsors, or the individual client. From a commercial point of
view, customers are the people who pay for the service.
Kandampully (2002) categorizes customers into four groups: 1. External
customers – a firm’s end users 2. Internal customers – employees and
managers of the firm 3. Competitors’ customers – those the firm would like
to attract 4. Ex-customers – those who have chosen to leave.

Slack et al. (2004) believe that there are four important characteristics
which can be used to identify different operations, and these distinctions
are also useful and valid within the event industry: 1. The volume of service
delivered at an event 2. The variety of the service delivered at an event 3.
The variation in demand for the service delivered at an event 4. The degree
of customer contact involved in producing the service delivered at an event.
Similar attributes to these were discussed earlier, although slightly
amended. We remind you again of these four, adjusted by ourselves, to
take into account the peculiarities of the event marketplace: 1. Size and
volume of output 2. Complexity and variety of services/products offered to
the consumer 3. Uncertainty of numbers attending, cost, time schedule and
technical requirements 4. Interaction with the consumer, and degree of
consumer and customer contact.