Event Operations Management – 2019 Coventry Half Marathon (Part 2)

Hey Guys,

Today, I’m going to continue last week’s post, by analysing the 2019 Coventry Half Marathon (CHM) event impacts.

First of all, an event impact assessment is crucial as such commemorations can result “in (both) short and long-term impacts which can lead to a net positive benefit to communities from the host area and beyond” (International Association of Event Hosts n.d.).

So, I’m going to individually assess, the economic, environmental and social impacts and then provide a conclusion.

Economic Impacts

According to Raj and Musgrave (2009:56), economic impacts regard the measurement of financial benefits to the local economy, and benefits that local communities have “over longer periods without putting greater pressure on natural resources“.

These can be measured as direct, indirect and induced impacts. However, for this example, only the direct impacts are important to mention, which refer to consumers purchases that are directly linked to the event. Thus, meaning local purchases related to the event, while at the event or within the host community.

Table 1: Economic Impacts | Source: Researcher

Andersson and Lundberg (2013:100), added that there are a number of factors that contribute to economic impacts, such as the “timing of a festival“, meaning if it was organised in a peak season, as well as visitor’s expenditure.

According to King’s (2015) research, the majority of visits to the Coventry area have the purpose of a one-day trip rather than overnight visits. However, the peak seasons for one-day trip visitors are in April and September, and these visitors’ main expenditures regard shopping (44%), food and drinks (37%) (King 2015). On the other hand, the peak seasons for the overnight visitors are in March and August, and these visitors’ main expenditures regard accommodation (30%), shopping (24%), food and drinks (21%) (King 2015).

Environmental Impacts

According to Raj and Musgrave (2009:66), staging events has “direct and indirect connections with the environment“, since these are “responsible for a set of environmental impacts that vary in nature, timescale and geographic scale” (eventIMPACTS n.d.).

Table 2: Environmental Impacts | Source: Researcher

Jones (2018:141), argued that in terms of “the event’s sustainability performance“ it is crucial the organisation chooses a venue with public transports access, towards advertising and promoting the use of the same. This can be done by providing information about what are the different options and times.

According to Jones (2018:251), using plastic in an event is not very environmentally friendly, since it “takes an anticipated 450 years for a piece of plastic to ‘decompose’“. A number of authors agree that organisations should provide water “in reusable containers“, or encourage “attendees to bring their own water bottles” (Jones 2018:216).

Social Impacts

Events provide an opportunity for individuals to escape from their normal daily lives, offering different activities. Thus, meaning these are crucial not only to enhance a community’s image but also for its members.

According to Raj and Musgrave (2009), measuring social impacts is about understanding how local communities react to such an event.

Andersson and Lundberg (2013:101), developed the Contingent Valuation Methods (CMV). This approach measures socio-cultural impacts and divides the values estimated in:

• Use values – which are attributed “to users (or consumers) of a particular good or service” (Andersson and Lundberg 2013:101); and
• Non-use values – further categorised as:
  • Option value – refers to the value that residents “attribute to having the possibility of attending a festival (now or in the future)” (Andersson and Lundberg 2013:101)
  • Bequest value; and
  • Existence value – represents the value that residents attribute “to the pleasure or pride of the image change that the” (Andersson and Lundberg 2013:101) event will reflect on the community.

However, for this assignment only the option and existence values are important to mention.

Table 3: Social Impacts | Source: Researcher

According to Coventry City Council (2019), almost 15% of the current population represents students studying at local universities. Coventry University (n.d.) stated that 66.9% embody UK students, 23.5% characterise overseas students and 9.7% represent EU students. This is important to mention, as some of the runners were students, which could represent foreign participations.

Regarding infrastructures, these did not affect local communities, besides the start and finish line, which were positioned within two closed roads.

During the event, it was not observed any crime or vandalism, besides people writing with chalk on the Cathedral steps, but this was part of the event.

Conclusions (Part 2)

First of all, the partnership with the different charities promoted the population’s well-being, which is a crucial subject to advertise. Secondly, in terms of economic impacts, even though the event wasn’t really big, it helped Coventry and its local businesses. Environmentally, the event demonstrated very good practices, however, some things can be improved. Such as advertising the use of reusable bottles and not plastic. A summary of all the event impacts can be seen in Table 4.

Table 4: Event Impact Assessment | Source: Researcher

Overall, the organisation developed a healthy relationship with locals, by incorporating them in the event, while constantly communicating with all the key stakeholders. Furthermore, the partnership with the different charities promoted the population’s well-being.

References

Andersson, T.D., and Lundberg, E. (2013) “Commensurability and Sustainability: Triple Impact Assessments of a Tourism Event”. Tourism Management, 37, 99-109.

Bowdin, G., Allen, J., O’Toole, W., Harris, R. and McDonnell, I. (2012) Events Management. 3rd edn. Oxford: Routledge

Coventry City Council (2018) Coventry Half Marathon set for March return. [online] available from: <http://www.coventry.gov.uk/news/article/2578/coventry_half_marathon_set_for_march_return> [17 March 2019].

Coventry City Council (2019) Coventry Headline Statistics. Coventry: Coventry City Council.

Coventry University (n.d.) Statistics. [online] available from: <https://www.coventry.ac.uk/the-university/key-information/equality-and-diversity/statistics/> [18 April 2019].

Enjoy Coventry (n.d.) Half Marathon. [online] available from: <https://www.enjoycoventry.com/festivalofrunning/halfmarathon/> [17 March 2019].

Ferdinand, N., & Kitchin, P.J. (2012) Events Management an International Approach. London: Sage.

Freeman, R. E. (1984). Stakeholder management: framework and philosophy. Pitman, Mansfield, MA.

Hede, A.M. (2007) “Managing Special Events in the New Era of the Triple Bottom Line”. Event Management, 11, 13-22.

International Association of Event Hosts (n.d.) Event Impact Standards. [online] available from: <https://www.eventhosts.org/resources/event-impact-standards/> [2 September 2020].

Jones, M. (2018) Sustainable Event Management, 2nd edn. New York: Routledge.

King, C. (2015) Economic Impact of Tourism. Coventry: The Research Solution.

Let’s Do This (n.d.) Coventry’s Half Marathon 2019. [online] available from: <https://www.letsdothis.com/e/coventrys-half-marathon-60421> [17 March 2019].

Slack, N., and Lewis, M. (2017) Operations Strategy. United Kingdom: Pearson.

Raj, R., & Musgrave, J. (2009) Event management and sustainability. Cambridge: CABI

Run Britain (n.d.) Coventry Half Marathon. [online] available from: <https://www.runbritain.com/RaceDetail.aspx?eventid=74bb06ce5e63&raceid=74b40acb5958&returnlink=https://www.runbritain.com/races#> [13 April 2019].