Introduction
The recent decades have been characterized by an industrial increment in the experience economy sector. This sector comprises of organizations/ institutions that include art, sports, tourism or events-based, mainly meant to suffice as a game for human entertainment, refreshment and adventurous endowments.
Firms that operate in the experience economy sector often generate high profits, owing to the high demand that increases as technological advancements are more frequently witnessed. In addition, the dotcom era is more interested in entertainment, as well as fun places that are in the professional grounds.
There is a variety of firms operating in this sector worldwide, some of which have become famous due to the services they provide to their esteemed clientele. A perfect example that is chosen for study in this case is the Opera concert theatre in Sydney, Australia, the third largest entertainment center in the globe.
A variety of related activities is offered in the theatre relating to the experience economy, making it become part of the rapidly growing economy. On the other hand, demand conditions in the experience economy are highly dependent on the types of services or products that are offered (Fitzpatrick, 2004).
More over, today’s business environment is characterized by a state of fatal competitions, such that every organization has to develop unique strategies that would help overcome the challenge or even survive in a very competitive environment.
It is also evident that many firms offering any of the experience economy product or service has a characteristic of an all-round business, where all types of related services are offered under the same roof. The experience economy is also regulated and their activities controlled by the government, regardless of their ownership and management, for every organization has to operate in accordance to a nation’s authority.
Such control and regulation and many other identified and unidentified factors pose a major challenge to the sector. However, overcoming challenges has been a goal for all institutions that operate in the experience economy (Fitzpatrick, 2004).
Objectives of the paper
The main objective of this paper is to investigate into the experience economy in the arts sector; a case study of opera house concert theatre in Sydney. In relation to this study, it will be crucial to describe the concert theatre in terms of the experience they offer to customers as well as its location. An analysis of the demand conditions that relate to the provided experience will also be provided.
It is also deemed crucial to analyze the key features of supply as well as the competitive environment in which the theatre thrives. More over, it will establish how government entities do control the activities of the firm. Finally, establishment of key anticipated challenges by the firm in future is also established.
Description of the firm; Opera house concert theatre
The Sydney opera house concert theatre is not only recognized in Australia, but also in the whole world. It is located on the western side of within the Opera house institution. The Opera house institution is one of the largest entertainment centers in the World, as well as the largest and most beautiful in Australia.
The fabulously expressionist design that was conceived in the mind of John Utzon during bits construction is quite extraordinary. The Australians often refer to it as the largest iconic building in the world. Offered in the concert hall is entertainment to people from all over the world. The institution is one that offers entertainment to all people around the world, in the make of an all round business.
It is a large-sized house with approximately around a hundred rooms, large roofs made up of precast concrete, long estimated to be around 2,914 pieces. Swedish ceramic tiles have been utilized in covering precast concrete sections, estimated to amount to 1056056 ceramics.
The building is also known to rise up to 67 meters above sea level. 161, 000 tones are the approximate weight of the entire building. The Opera house building has become a real marvel today, and considering its construction time in 1959, there is no doubt that, this building has a marvelous shape (Murray, 2004).
The firm consists of a variety of rooms that have been set for provision of distinct services and products to their esteemed customers. A number of large halls have also been partitioned within the building. The concert theatre occupies the largest space within the building and has a space for placement of around 2679 seats. Therefore, it is referred to as the home of Sydney work of art.
A vast number of concert and fun presenters have access to this facility and often utilize it for their activities. It constitutes of the principal organ meant for trapping mechanical sounds and waves in the whole world, which is estimated to have around 10,000 pipes (Murray, 2004).
On the other hand, evidences from documented research findings indicate that theatre as a government-owned non-profit firm, its construction having been proposed by a government entity in 1940. Eugene Goossens, the Director of NSW succeeded in his proposal for the construction of the hall at Bennelong Street in Sydney.
This is the place of its construction by John Utzon from 1959-1973, when it was officially launched for use in art performances by Queen Elizabeth II. The largest entertainment concert theatre is managed by Sydney Opera House Trust, mainly under the Ministry of Arts operating in the New South Wales.
An imperfect relationship has been thriving in the Opera house due to inadequate control by the government. The government seems to interfere with the activities of the management trust in very many ways, thus declining its expected performance (Newton, et al., 2009).
An analysis of the experience offered by the firm
Sydney Opera house concert theatre provides economic experiences of all types since it has been designed to house all varieties. However, some related experiences are offered at large within the institution. The largest hall within the building is that of concert performances, formerly a multipurpose hall at the inception of the performances in 1973.
The pine and Gilmore framework relates the experiences of the experience economy in accordance to their closeness to one another. It is said that a vast number of concert presenters are always found in the concert hall, with at most 2700 seats of audience.
It is true from this report that concerts are valued by the presenters, the country, as well as the Australian audience, basing the argument on the continuity of the hall since its launch in 1973. The concert theatre is also utilized for international cultural and social performances, and is rated as the second largest hall allover the world. Records suggest that almost 1500 events take place in the concert theatre hall within one year.
Therefore, they are fabulous experiences often attracting customers, both locally and internationally, and making the Opera house concert theatre an international entertainment centre (Freestone, et al., 2006).
An analysis of the demand conditions relating to this experience
The concerts and performances are highly desired by clientele in the Opera house concert hall, due to the presence of many presenters. Presentations range from cultural dances, social activities as well as other live performances. History has it that these services have been highly demanded in the recent past up to date.
This must have been facilitated by the fame has received over the years due to its abundant beauty as awesome appearance. Owing to the level of sustainability of this experience economy, some factors are found to influence demand for concerts and drama worldwide.
First, the level of supply is a crucial consideration in this field. The suppliers of the services, the presenters, and events organizers for concerts and desired performances supply their services extra well, a factor that increases the demand for these experiences (Ruwanpura and Mohamed, 2010).
The fact that a very big hall exists for the supply of these services is enough to make more clientele appear since they are liable to enjoy the comfort. Secondly, quality is a long-term determinant of the level of demand. It is evident from research that the institution is perfect in producing quality concert performances as well in addition to having adequate facilities.
This is a sign that quality services would be offered in the place. Furthermore, cost is a long-term determinant of the level of demand. However, this may be a contributing factor to failure in this organization due to high costs that are charged to the clientele for the performances.
High costs are demand reducers while low costs are demand promoters. Alternatively, high supply increases the level of demand while low supply reduces the demand (Canonico and Sunderland 2009).
Additionally, Elasticity of demand in terms of price, income as well as cross elasticity determines the success of the Opera house concert theatre. The price that is charged to the organizations clientele determines the level of demand for the experiences. The challenges in demand are also influenced by the incomes of the expected clients within business organizations.
An increment in the salaries influences demand positively while the vice-versa is true. In addition, changes in cross elasticity affect demand as well as organizational productivity. The experience at the concert theatre is highly yielding only when the demand factors are put into consideration in terms of prices as well as quality of services provided.
Nevertheless, rampant reductions in demand have sometimes been experienced in the institution when the clients realize of cut-off entrance to the concert hall prices as well as when incomes are available to the working class. There is also a tendency for demand to increase during the holidays and vacations due to an increased resting populations.
Therefore, it would be professional if the management, the government, as well as the management organization were able to identify their peak periods. Furthermore, the demand for Opera concert theatre performances never goes below the minimum, owing to the beautiful scenery that is able to attract thousands of people worldwide.
Tourism has become the order of the day to the Australian Opera concert theatre in an urge to be acquainted with the beautiful sceneries at the site by tourists. Thus, as tourism demand increases, Opera experiences get to feel the same move. It is true that demand has always been high most of the times in the year (Canonico and Sunderland 2009).
An analysis of the key features of supply and the competitive environment in which this firm operates
The Opera concert theatre features are ample to facilitate supply of the services to their sustained as well as target clientele. However, surviving in a vastly competitive environment has not always been an easy task for the stakeholders as well as the management. Sydney’s culture encompasses high value attachment virtues to entertainment, especially from the three-fold economic experience sectors.
Arts are highly valued within the Australian scope, seeing the country own massive art performance centers. Some centers were long established before the establishment of the Opera house. Thus, though an international economic experiences supplier, challenges of competition are a drawback to the management as well as the presenters.
Some competitors like the city theatre and the Thomason house etc have always been threats to the center over the years, but it is true that their strategies have been well laid to promote business sustainability as well as productivity, and have made it to survive in a competitive context (Dagnino and Rocco, 2009).
On the other hand, supply in terms of the economic experiences has been vastly influenced by demand. The theatres have become multinational entities that attract even foreign clientele due to the supply design. First, the expressionist design has really acted as a good supply to market itself as a result of its autonomy among all other entertainment centers in Australia and in the world.
The center is the third largest in the world, thus supplying the whole world with entertainment experiences. Secondly, the concert hall is the largest with approximately 2700 seats that can accommodate a huge population, a factor that increases client anticipation.
The concert hall is found in possession of the largest mechanical tracker organ for sound and other mechanisms. Thus, despite the competitive scope of operation as well as expensive prices, the Opera are good and efficient suppliers for economic experience services (Dagnino and Rocco, 2009).
Regulation of the firm by external government entities and the economic rationale
Organizational success is determined by a number of factors that are deemed crucial in every aspect. Among the most crucial is the governments control over firms as well as its influence on the management. The construction of the concert theatre was as a result of a proposal by the Director NSW at Wales in 1940. This automatically declares the entity as a government liability.
Government control is often expressed in a variety of ways, including funding the entity, taxing as well as ensuring appropriate management within the organizational scope. In addition, being an international organ, a lot of influence must be felt to an extent of causing poor relationships between the management and the government, because of over-control (Rawlings-Way, 2010).
The Sydney government has involved itself directly in the control of the main asset, the Opera house building to facilitate its preservation as a source of income. It is evident that the government has taken the entity as one of the most resourceful asset in the country due to rampant tourism attractions by the architectural design, to an extent of making it a state-owned and managed institution.
In its campaigns to protect the local ad international clients, the government entities have cheeped in to regulate the prices that experiences must be charged in relation to the appearance of the demand curves. Sometimes they have found it ample to fund the entity to enhance its sustainability as well as productivity.
On the other hand, the government requires returns from the Opera international to ensure its economic continuity. Policy-implementation by the managing trust has as well been overseen by the state-authority, in an urge to ensure customer satisfaction as well as to prevent exploitation. The standards of the organization must also be regulated to ensure conformity with the country’s policies.
Checking in and out of the visitors and tourists has been a routine by the government officers to enhance security and safety of both the visitors as well as the local people. Contract performances, in the case of those clients that are in need calls for maximum government involvement for conformity with contract laws and principles (Ruwanpura and Mohamed, 2010).
Economically, it is very crucial for government to exercise control of Opera concert hall. Generally, maintenance of the structure and business sustainability is enhanced because of government control; this is despite the various arguments that are against the intervention of government in the world of business.
Moreover, competitive advantage can easily be promoted because of government involvement in funding the entity, especially considering that the business conducted by the entity is likely to serve the interests of the whole economy. Given the nature of International markets, outsourcing strategies implementation requires government involvement, especially when involving outside countries.
The government is also the main player in enhancing organizational resource-based view, as well as corporate social responsibility; this is usually done through formulation of policies and facilitating logistical support.
Funds collected by the government are crucial in the promotion of Sydney and the entire Australian economy. However, excessive government control is fatal to an organization since it may tend to shift the supply curve negatively, greatly affecting the demand curve in the same direction (Ruwanpura and Mohamed, 2010).
Key economic challenges likely to confront the firm in the next five years
The firm has long survived in a challenging environment, owing to the rampant competition in the business environment. However, a number of challenges are anticipated to target the firm in the coming five years. First, competition seems to be an everlasting trouble to all organizations in the business environment.
The fact that other organizations are upcoming daily in the economic experience sector will be major threat to the company, calling for extra-ordinary competition overwhelming strategies implementation. Secondly, with the recent technological advancements, the Opera concert theatre need be on the forefront to update their systems to enhance sustainability. Failure to accomplish such goals is a main threat to the company.
Furthermore, the government of Sydney tends to over-control the economic experiences sector, a factor that may discourage the management in terms of new strategies implementation (Seaman and Young, 2009).
Conclusion
The recent decades have been characterized by an industrial increment in the experience economy sector. The Opera concert theatre in Sydney is the third largest entertainment center in the world, but it has an expressionist architecture. This is due to its being most beautiful and famous building designed by John Utzon at the street of Bennelong and having been proposed by Eugene Goossens, the director of NSW.
Demand has been high throughout the operation of the theatre as well as supply, despite it having been operating in a highly competitive environment.
Another challenge faced is the close control exercised by the government on the economic experiences sector; however, although government intervention and control may be beneficial in the long run especially when it facilitates fare competition, it may erode the powers from the players, thus leading to problems of strategy implementation.
Pine II & Gilmore (1999) argue that the experience economy sector operators must enhance theatre performances since they become their products for sale to their customers. Nevertheless, future success will be facilitated by implementation of new strategies that are aimed at enhancing sustainability, productivity, as well as performance in the economic experiences sector.
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