Strategy is a major approach towards ensuring the success of any venture which takes place. It is worth noting that strategy exists where there are activities which need to be achieved and conquered. This implies that the world in which we live in requires approaches which ensure that the events which come up in the course of life are realized. There are global events which require strategy.
In this case, these global events are embraced by many nations because they mostly have a positive impact to the nations in which they are hosted. In addition, they enable the participants to enjoy the new environment in which they are hosted. It is however worth noting that the economic benefits of hosting major events are not clear cut.
For instance, hosting the Olympics, the soccer world cup and European championships generate economic benefits to the host cities and as a result there are massive competitions between nations and cities to host these events.
Given our present state of knowledge of the economic importance of major sports events, it seems that the global demand of cities to host them exceeds the supply of economically significant events. Any single city therefore will struggle to devise an economic development strategy based on sport solely on the basis of sports events.
This essentially leads to what we have mentioned in this paper as strategy. This paper is a briefing that covers the issues surrounding Olympics event which took place in the Beijing city of China in 2008.
Olympics is a global event that is held after every four years at predefined destinations around the world. This event is associated with opening up of economic opportunities for the host country. Hosting such an event opens market opportunities for different organizations.
History of the Olympics
No other sporting event in the last 100 years has had the widespread effects of the Olympic Games. Along with providing a venture for the finest athletes from a variety of sports, the games provide opportunities for spectators to enjoy international competition in virtually every world nation. Through the years, nationalism developed in the Olympics as every nation took pride in its athletes and created heroes for youth to emulate.
Modern Olympic Games started with the 1896 games in Athens, and they have taken place every four years since then, with some gaps due to world wars. Madrid is one of the four candidate cities currently bidding for to host the 2016 edition of the Olympic Games.
The ancient Olympics were founded as a festival to honour the king of Greek gods, Zeus. The games were held every four years for more than 1,000 years, from 776BC to 393, AD. Only Greeks were allowed to compete, although athletes from Greek colonies in countries that are now Spain, Italy, Libya, Egypt, Ukraine, and Turkey gave the Olympics an international flavour.
The last games were held in 393 AD, after which the Christian Emperor of Rome, Theodosius I, banned pagan worship. The Olympic Games are one of the enduring contributions of Greek civilization. In addition to fostering a strong belief in the value of athletics, the games produced notable works of art, music, and culture and celebrated individual achievement.
Those characteristics sparked the rebirth of the Olympics not more than a thousand years later, in 1986. The games began again in Athens, with just 14 countries competing in sports: track and field, cycling, fencing, gymnastics, wrestling, swimming, weightlifting, tennis, and shooting.
These modern Olympic Games have continued through political conflicts, world wars, and the passing of generations.
The modern Olympic Games were revived by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, a French educator. His vision was to replicate worldwide the positive effects of the original Greek Olympics founded in Athens.
According to the Olympic charter, “Olympicism is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of the body, will, and mind. As these games take shape, they blend sport with a cultural touch.
This creates a way of life which is based on the joy which is founded and established in efforts put in place by the athletes and the host cities. Consequently, this gives the educational value which is used as an example and respect for the universal and fundamental ethical principles.
Effects of the Olympic Games
The games profoundly affect their host city, the media who cover the contests, and the athletes who compete. This effect is felt in the years leading to the competition, and in many cases it lasts for years afterward. Most Olympic competitors devote their early years to development and training in the hope of some day qualifying for the Olympics. Once they finalize their dream, it becomes the defining factor in their life and sets the path for the years ahead. Many trade on their Olympic success as they move on to other professions.
Host city
Cities from around the world compete furiously to host the Olympic Games because of the potential prestige and financial benefits they offer. Sport venues are created or refurbished and endure once the Olympics end, used by athletes from the host country.
Yet the costs of hosting can be daunting. In spite of the huge financial risks, the race for potential host cities has only heated up. Leading contenders for the 2012 summer Olympics were Paris, London, New York, and Moscow, and the city of London was awarded to host the event.
For instance Beijing underwent rigorous vetting and presented their plans to the international Olympic committee boasting of their assets and the benefits of awarding the bid to them in the build up to these games. The city of Beijing worked towards establishing a serene city.
This was achieved by sprucing up the city, removing decaying slums, and constructing new high rise buildings. Traffic and transportation are always the concern with so many people concentrated in one city during the games that new roads need to be built, transit system refurbished, and travel capacity expanded.
New stadiums and athletic facilities are required for every Olympic Games. The host city begins by assessing the current facilities that are suitable and then constructs needed arenas, pools, and so on. The funding becomes complicated as various groups pitch in money in return for use or ownership of the facility long after the games end.
The Beijing 2008 Olympics significantly affected the long term economic of the city and state. These Olympic legacies can be grouped into three categories:
1.The creation of world class facilities
2.The national and international recognition of the city through extensive media exposure.
3.Community benefits such as local volunteerism, job creation and training, youth programs, and funding for community development projects.
It was in July 13, 2001, and the people of Beijing, china anxiously waited to hear the results. The election being held on this day could leave a unique legacy to the country of china and especially the city of Beijing. This was an important day since the 112th International Olympic Committee session which was being held in Moscow, Russia was to conclude and state which city was going to host the 2008 summer Olympic Games.
Eventually, the city of Beijing was honoured to host the games and this meant that they had seven years to prepare. Essentially, when the IOC chooses a host city, there are many factors to consider which include the city’s history of terrorism, environmental concerns, and recent locations of the games.
Hosting the Olympic Games is a great honour for a city and country; however it is also a very expensive business. Host cities need to prepare for the games; which is why the host city is chosen seven years before the Olympics they are to host.
The city of Beijing had immense work to do in order to ensure that it had placed itself strategically for the vent. A careful plan which was prepared estimated that the planners needed over 5,000 tons of vegetables to feed everyone during the games. In addition, water was a big concern for this drought prone city.
Essentially, the city needed approximately 3.89 billion cubic meters of water in 2008. There were 650 star – rated hotels and 4,000 common hotels to accommodate up to 500,000 visitors but homes and increasing its security in anticipation of the games.
In order to keep the city safe, there was need to deploy about 20,000 policemen and 10,000 professional security staff for the event. One of the biggest challenges that the organizers had to deal with was the stadium. That is the stadium where the opening and the closing ceremonies as well as the track and field events would be held.
The Beijing developed a national stadium which was later known as the “Bird’s Nest” which was located on the Olympic Green next to Beijing National Aquatics Centre. This design was arrived at after the Chinese government hosted a design competition in 2002 and awarded the design to architects Herzog and deMeuron with ArupSport and China Architecture Design and Research Group.
Work commenced on March, 2004. The stadium which was developed could seat as many as 91,000 spectators during the games and is 330 meters long, 220 meters wide and 69.2 meters high. Built with 36 kilometres of unwrapped steel, the stadium cost over 423 million U.S dollars.
PEST Analysis
Performing a PEST analysis on the event involves analyzing all the Political, Environmental, Social and Technological factors for purposes of strategic management.
Political factors
Political factors play a great role in the success of this event. Since it is a global event, the interaction between citizens from different countries is inevitable. If there is political tension between a hosting country and any of the participating countries, many followers of the event may avoid travelling to the hosting country for fear of their safety.
For example, political differences between many nations disrupted the occurrence of this event between 1938 and 1950. As a result, the event’s mission suffered a major setback. Therefore, the existence of a favourable political atmosphere between the event’s hosting country and the participating nations is vital for the success of this event.
Environmental factors
The environmental factors include the surrounding conditions for example weather and climate. The weather conditions that surround this event are those of the hosting nation. Because of differing weather conditions in different countries, moving to the hosting country for this event presented many weather related problems.
In some extreme cases people avoided travelling to China because of the fear for harsh weather conditions. This negatively impacted on the event’s mission. It is therefore important that the stakeholders give environmental factors a serious consideration before choosing a location for this event.
Social factors
Social factors usually entail the cultural aspects of a population. These may include race attribute, articulations about health, distribution of age and gender. The Beijing based Olympic event only attracted people in their prime age.
Therefore the target group for this event is people in this age bracket. About gender, it is evident that World Cup attracts more males than females. The strategies employed to attract people should therefore put these social factors into consideration.
Technological factors
These factors include various Olympic events got transmitted through television to interested parties at different parts of the world. This is an excellent aspect of technology that makes it possible for those who unable afford to travel to china to follow the main events at the comfort of their homes.
Advancements in technology have also made it possible for people to book tickets and hotel accommodations online. This enhances customer satisfaction and an increase the chances of getting more customers.Through technology the mission of the event gets easily fulfilled.
External Analysis
External analysis of the event involves looking at the potential threats and opportunities that the event would face when aspiring to achieve its mission.
Threats
The successful occurrence of this event faced several threat factors. The first threat is political differences between participating countries. The presence of political differences among different nations increase the likelihood of the outbreak of war in the course of or before the event occurs.
An example of the effect of politics on this event is the Second World War that brought the event to a dormant state between 1938 and 1950. During this period, the mission of this event was shattered because the political tension existing then could not allow it to occur.
It is therefore worthy to mention that a detailed analysis of the political situation around the world is necessary before choosing that location for this event. The second threat is criminology. During this event most criminals take it as an opportunity to carry out their criminal activities.
Those individuals who fall victim of these criminal activities may vow never to attend a similar event in future. As a result, the event would end up losing its popularity and this would only work against its mission. It is therefore important for the stakeholders to put in place security measures aimed at unmasking any planned criminal activity.
The third threat to this event is competition from similar events which would result in divided attention consequently limiting the impact of the event on its potential customers and the economy at large. To avoid this, it is advisable that the major stake holders and those involved in planning for this event ensure that it does not coincide with any other similar or competing event.
Opportunities
Even though this event faced many threats it is important to consider the many opportunities that it faced externally. First, Millions of people struggle for the opportunity to witness a live coverage of the event while others opt to follow the same series of events through television.
Therefore the impact of this event will be far reaching and it is an essential tool in carrying out what the mission statement says. Secondly, the event provides an opportunity for some Chinese business organizations to penetrate new markets. Through sponsoring this activity, the sponsoring company gets the rights to freely advertise its products to the people attending the event.
As a result, it will manage to expand its current customer base to a greater size and diversify its product variety through the inception of a new brand to the market during this period. Besides, it will increase its popularity beyond international boundaries. Consequently, the organization will have a competitive advantage over its rivals over a period that extends the whole event coverage period.
The third opportunity lies in the impact of this event on the destination (China). Through china, the event gets the opportunity to popularize itself to the people of that country. Before this event is hosted in any country, adequate preparations in terms of infrastructural facilities are made.
Some of the infrastructural facilities that underwent remarkable improvement are roads and play stadiums for example the Yankee stadium and the birds nest. Citizens from China benefitted greatly from this infrastructural advancement and back in their minds, they attributed them to the event. As a result they developed positive opinions about the event hence making it to technically promote itself.
Recommendation of Strategic Approach for Future Improvement
In order to give the most appropriate strategic approach for future development, Porter’s five-force model will come in handy. This model is essential in determining an organization’s position in relation to the impact of the forces described by Porter.
According to porter, all organizations are affected by forces such as supplier power, buyer power, threat of new entrants, and threat of substitutes, buyer power and rivalry By using this five force matrix, a strategic manager is able to strategize on how to gain a competitive advantage over its rivals.
Supplier power
Since the application of this force is based on an industry that has suppliers of raw materials, another approach is applicable for the event under consideration. In the event’s case, the suppliers can be likened to sponsors of the event. Without suppliers, organizations would collapse.
Similarly, without sponsors, the funding of the month old event would certainly be a difficult task. In order to ensure constant support every time the Olympic event is held the organizers of or stakeholders should endeavour to foster a good relationship with the potential sponsors. If this happens, then they would be certain that the event would always succeed in achieving its mission.
Buyer power
Like supplier power, buyer power would imply the people interested in attending or following the series of activities that underlie the start and completion of this event. The income generated comes from none other than the fans and viewers in various stadia for example Gold mountain stadium, Birds’ nest stadium and the Worker’s stadium among others.
When their turnout is low, the revenue falls but when it is high, the revenue shoots up. Therefore the way the stake holders impress the fans through the event will always determine how much they generate or how many business opportunities they create for business organizations such as tourist hotels.
Threat of New Entrants
The threat of new entrant to the event comes in the form parallel events that may emerge and divert people’s attention from this event. The parallel events could be other sporting activities that threaten to fight for a share of attention from the event’s customer base.
To overcome this threat, the event organizers and stakeholders should aspire to make this event their favourite. The reality on the ground, however, is that the world cup event does not face any threat of new entrants.
Threat of Substitutes
In the context of the event, a threat of substitutes refers to a new event that would emerge and take the place of this global event. Over the years, such threat has not been witnessed and it is unlikely that it may occur soon.
Rivalry
In the context of this global event, rivalry would refer to other events that seem to compete for attention from the event’s customer base. It would come from other sporting activities like rugby, athletics and football among others. Indeed, this event has many potential rivals. As a result, its organizers and stakeholders should put up measures that help to overcome this force.
Conclusion
The Olympic event played a major role in the creation of business opportunities and opportunities for enhancing its popularity. Through various advertisements in electronic media, the event promoted sales of products from its main sponsors for example Coca Cola.
Holding this event also came with numerous benefits to the citizens of China. They benefited from improved or high quality road networks, high-class stadium facilities and high class hotel facilities among others. The influx of tourists both in the local and the international scale also generated foreign income whose time has already started.
Locally made products got international recognition and this formed a new source of income. As a result, the economy of China got a major economic.
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