Title of the Proposed Thesis :

EVENT MANAGEMENT AS A FEATURE IN

THE EMERGING LIFE STYLE : An empirical study
with special reference to some selected Event
Management Companies in Dakshina Kannada and
Udupi Districts.

H.G.Nagaraja Nayak,
M.Com,M.Phil,
Department of Commerce & Management,
Vijaya College,
Mulki – 574154,D.K,
Karnataka.

Under the supervision of

Dr.T.Jayaprakash Rao
M.Com.Ph.D
Director,
A.J.Institute of Management
Mangalore, Karnataka.

Submitted to

Rayalaseema University
Kurnool -518002,
Andhra Pradesh, India

2009
 2

EVENT MANAGEMENT AS A FEATURE IN

THE EMERGING LIFE STYLE : An empirical
study with special reference to some selected Event
Management Companies in Dakshina Kannada and
Udupi Districts.

Introduction
Management is universal in nature as an every organization
requires making of decisions, procurement of resources, co-
ordination of activities, and leading of people and evaluation of
performance directed towards its objectives. It has its place in any
organized activity which involves the getting together of
individuals in a group for the realization of definite common goal.
It is the process of managing activities of an enterprise. Thus
management is the sum total of all those functions concerned with
the working of an organization.
An event that has evolved over a century, which has
originated in Greece, has now been hosted on almost every
continent. Almost half of the earth’s population witnessed the
massive gargantuan ritual of – The Sydney Olympic Games 2000
hosted by Australia, takes place once in four years. These events
demand detailed planning, organizing, staffing, leading and
evaluation.
An event would be any occasion when something
happens or something needs to be done to organize the same. In
the recent years, events are attracting attention of corporate world
and now it is getting corporatised itself. Now events have come a
long way in terms of classification and specialization. In this new
 3

millennium, events as a medium will be catering to all

demographic segments of the population. They have proved to be
a versatile marketing communications tool because they can be
easily customized to cater to the communication needs of the
industry. As live media, event integrates the three traditional
modes of marketing communication – advertising, sales promotion
and public relations. (Sanjaya Singh Gaur and Sanjay V Saggere
page 4)
An event is a live multimedia package carried out with a
preconceived concept to achieve the client’s objectives of
reaching out and suitably influencing the sharply defined,
specially gathered target audience by providing a complete
sensual experience and an avenue for two-way interaction.
Event management is the application of the management
practice of project management to the creation and development
of festivals and events. It involves studying the intricacies of the
brand, identifying the target audience, devising the event concept,
planning the logistics and coordinating the technical aspects
before actually executing the modalities of the proposed event.
The recent growth of festivals and events as an industry
around the world means that the management can no longer be
adhoc. Events such as Asian Games have a large impact on their
communities and the whole country.
The industry now includes events of all sizes from the
Olympics down to on breakfast meeting for ten business people.
Every industry, charity, society and group will hold events of
some type/size in order to market themselves raise money or
celebrate.
 4

Event management is the most profound form of

advertising and marketing. It provides an opportunity for
unleashing one’s creative potential to a very high degree.
Today marketing activities can be divided into two
categories based on the target audience, type of activities and its
effectiveness namely Above the Line marketing and Below the
Line marketing.
Above the Line (ATL) marketing is the traditional,
brand oriented advertising, directed at the mass audience. It
establishes brand identity and reinforces emotional concepts
surrounding a product or a brand. However in ATL, it is very
difficult to measure the market effectiveness. However in the
market, where changes are happening on hourly basis because of
the changes in technology, availability of information in
abundance and heightened consumer demand, the traditional brand
oriented marketing is no longer the primary driver of consumer
behaviour (Sukhamani Bhardwaj).
Significant evidence suggests that the marketing
landscape has fundamentally shifted from ATL marketing focus of
reaching a broad population with emotionally oriented appeals to
the BTL marketing approach that stressors targeted, customer-
centric communication, which deliver measurable results in terms
of cost per lead, indemnifiable transactions and profitability per
lead source.
Hence ‘Below the Line’ (BTL) marketing is
becoming increasingly attractive to both marketers and customer’s
needs. It also facilitates two-way communication with the
customer. An integrated BTL campaign aggressively captures and
uses an extensive amount of customer information to help set,
track and implement the company’s marketing strategy. The major
types of BTL marketing activities are sales promotion, direct
 5

marketing, guerilla marketing, database marketing, affinity

networking and event sponsorship.
In the last 10-15 years, there has been enormous
growth in the event management business. Event management is a
way of outsourcing occasions that are either business, social or a
combination of the two. Events can be as diverse as weddings to
political rallies. Almost 500 billion US dollars are spent annually
on planned events around the world.
As today’s customers are becoming much more
demanding in nature and functioning of event management is
becoming very complexed and specialized, many organizations
are taking up the work of event management by organizing
themselves as event management private limited companies. The
activities of event management companies include corporate
events, marketing programmes and special corporate hospitality
events. Clients hire event management companies to handle a
specific scope of services for the given event, includes all
creative, technical and logistical elements of the event.
Based on the purpose and objectives, events can be
classified into four broad categories:
1. Leisure events – leisure sports, music and recreation.
2. Cultural events – ceremonial, religious, art, heritage and
folklore.
3. Personal events – wedding, birthdays and anniversaries.
4. Organizational events – commercial, political, charitable,
sales and product launch.

Conceptual Framework
1. Management: It is the process of effective utilization of
human and material resources to achieve enterprise objectives.
According to George Terry, “Management is a distinct process
 6

consisting of activities of planning, organizing, actuating and

controlling, performed to determine and accomplish started
objectives with the use of human beings and other resources”.
(Dr.T.N.Chabra, page3)
2. Event: An event is a package so organized as to provide,
reach and live interaction between the target audience and the
client to achieve the desired impact. Philip Kotler defines events
as “Occurrences designed to communicate particular messages to
target audiences” (Sanjaya Singh Gaur and Sanjay V Saggere) As
the live interaction process facilitates communication between the
clients and the audience in the case of events, it has been termed
as experienced marketing.
3. Event Management: Event Management is a process of
organizing a professional and focused event, for a particular
target audience. It involves visualizing concepts, planning,
budgeting, organizing and executing events such as musical
concerts, corporate seminars, exhibitions, theme parties, product
launching etc.
4. Event Manager: He is the person who plans and executes
the event. The event manager is experts at the creative, technical
and logistical elements that help an event succeed. They may also
be involved in brand building, marketing, and communication
strategy, over and above the planning and execution of the event.
5. Event Marketing: Marketing plays an important role in
pricing, negotiation, identifying opportunities to define and retain
event properties by gathering marketing intelligence. Event
marketing involves simultaneous canvassing and studying the
brand prints; understanding what the brand stands for, it’s
positioning and values, identifying the target audience and liaison
with the creative conceptualizers to create an event for a perfect
mesh with the brand’s personality.
 7

6. Event Management Companies: They are the organizations

which provide a number of services to their clients.

Review of Literature
According to Sukhamani Bhardwaj (2008), in his research
article, significant evidence suggests that the marketing landscape
has fundamentally shifted from Above the Line focus of reaching
a broad population with emotionally oriented appeals to a Below
the Line approach that stresses targeted customer-centric
communications.
In a study conducted by Goran Persson (1991), it was
observed that the event management the order-to-delivery cycle
has been seen as a major element in customer process and logistic
management has always been concern with the lead times.
Prof. Leo Jogo (2003), in his research study has observed
that community support and a good strategic and cultural fit with
the destination as necessary bases for building events into
destination branding.
In their research article, Manish Mittal and Praneet
Tulsiyan (2009) observed that the efficacy of celebrity
endorsement can be increased if the personality of matches with
personality of the brand otherwise the celebrity endorsement fails
to produce the desired results.
According to Leonard H Hoyle (2002), the modern event
marketer must constantly develop and use his or her detective
skills to reveal the mysteries that event marketing may hold in the
next several decades.
 8

Event based communication activities are a direct way to

communicate a client message or provide consumers with an
opportunity to experience products first hand. (Internet)
A study conducted by Ogden Sushan M; Mc Corviston,
Eileen, (2007) observed that a significant proportion of venue
manager report having long term supplier relationships, placing
considerable value on non-financial benefits that can accrue from
long term supplier relations featuring mutual trust and good
working relationships.
In his research study C.D. (2006) observed that every event
needs to be properly planned, be it a sales meeting of 20
executives or a huge event like the London motor show.
In their research article Ian Yeoman and others (2004)
experimented that a very little information technology has been
incorporated into the working practices of event managers. Now
withstanding this situation, technology is playing an increasingly
important role such that future success or failure of events will
depend on managers providing a seamless integration all aspects
of their activities.
According to Moscardo, Glanne, Norris and Anne (2004)
in their research article found that in the field of education there
is no better teaching than participation. Convention and event
management is a relatively new area of hospitality and tourism
education that offers an opportunity to provide students with real
world practical and applied experience that may seek.
A study conducted by Radojevic Sushan (2008), it was
observed that how business leaders can use technology driven
event consolidation to help manage risks, improve processes and
save on event cost.
Biba Erin, (2008) in his research study had observed that
there is a need for use of a more organized approach by event
 9

marketers to manage and track their portfolios. Event marketers

have been begun to move away from siloed and toward integrating
event teams into a single event marketing group.
In his research article, Tara Hayes (2007) in order to make
Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions (MICE), a
grand success, one should consider the floor plan with regard to
the movement of people in a confined space. One should carefully
plan the entry and exit points for the service staff and also
explore avenues to provide value added opportunities to the
clients within the venue.
In their research article Arcodia Charles, Reid and Sacha
(2008) observed that as event management industry grows and
consolidate worldwide, event management associations play an
increasingly significant role in professional support to the
industry and its managers. Event management associations
provide newcomers and existing practitioners with the necessary
skills to ensure the continued growth and success of event
management professionals.

Statement of Research Problem and Questions

Event management is the application of the management

practice of project management to the creation and development
of festivals and events. Event Management involves studying the
intricacies of the brands identifying the target audience, devising
the event concept, planning the logistics and coordinating the
technical aspects before actually executing the modalities of the
proposed event.
The recent growth of festivals and events as an industry
around the world means that the management can no longer be ad
hoc. Events and festivals, such as the Asian Games, have a large
 10

impact on their communities and, in some cases, the whole

country.
The industry now includes events of all sizes from the
Olympics down to a breakfast meeting for ten business people.
Every industry, charity, society and group will hold events of
some type/size in order to market themselves, build business
relationships, raise money or celebrate.
Furthermore, interestingly, event management is
considered one of the strategic marketing and communication
tools by companies of all sizes. From product launches to press
conferences, companies create promotional events to help them
communicate with clients and potential clients. They might target
their audience by using the news media, hoping to generate media
coverage which will reach thousands or millions of people. They
can also invite their audience to their events and reach them at the
actual event. From this it is very evident that event management
is a new concept of management as the result of
changing life pattern of people and hence need a thorough and in-
depth study to enhance its utility level.
Event management companies and organizations serve a
variety of areas including corporate events (product launches,
press conferences, corporate meetings and conferences), and
special corporate hospitality events like concerts, award
ceremonies, film premieres, launch/release parties, fashion shows,
commercial events, private (personal) events such as weddings
and bar mitzvahs. It is interesting to know whether the Clients
hire event management companies to handle a specific scope of
services for the given event, which at its maximum may include
all creative, technical and logistical elements of the event. Or just
a subset of these, depending on the client’s needs expertise and
budget.
 11

In turn, the Event Manager is the person who plans and

executes the event. Event Managers and their teams are often
behind-the-scenes running the event. But it is interesting to know,
to what extent the event managers may also be involved in more
than just the planning and execution of the event, but also brand
building, marketing and communication strategy. It is equally
important to understand and analyze to what extent the event
manager to be an expert at the creative, technical and logistical
elements that help an event succeed. Further, the proposed study
aims at providing an insight into the different possible
dimensions of event service like event design, audio-visual
production, scriptwriting, logistics, budgeting, negation and, of
course, client service. As event management is becoming a multi-
dimensional profession, it is equally important to know what are
the suppose to posses salient features of a successful event
manager? To what extent the event manager of this side of the
country possess these qualities to face the market challenges?
What strategies are they following to remain and grow in the
market? What are the techniques they adopt to retain their
existing customers and to win new customers? And what are the
strategies they adopt to understand the customer expectations?
The proposed study also intends to understand what are
the strategies observed by event managers in site surveying, client
service, brief clarification, budget drafting, cash flow
management, supply chain identification, procurement,
scheduling, site design, technical design, health and safety and
what are the views and perceptions of the service users about the
services provided by the providers.
Hence, the event management is becoming a multi-million
Rupees industry growing rapidly, with mega shows and events
hosted regularly. Surprisingly, there is no formalized research
 12

conducted to assess the growth of this industry. Therefore, it is

important to understand what are the underlying reasons for its
growth, how it is connected with sponsorship side and travel
industry.
Nevertheless, the earlier studies in this field gave concrete
directions for further research in order to answer certain research
questions which are listed below:
• How effective the concept of event management as a
marketing tool?
• What are the traits required for the event managers?
• What are the innovative services offered by the
event management companies?
• How event management concept has been developed into
the status of an industry?
• What are the stages identified in the successful
performance and completion of events being managed?
• How and what extent there is an established link between
event management and higher and technology?
• How for event management established link with the
education and what are the career opportunities in event
management industry?
• What are the different forms of event managements and
how are they performed?
Interestingly, a few of the previous research studies have
also indicated that event management is developing as an innovative
industry and the nature and quality of service offered by the event
managers influence the views and perceptions of the users. However,
they failed to reveal the extent to which service standards influence
the service users, and what are the new dimensions of customer
expectations in the industry. From this, it follows that there are
 13

several research gaps and loose ends in this domain. Hence, the
proposed study titled EVENT MANAGEMENT AS A FEATURE IN
THE EMERGING LIFE STYLE: An empirical study with special
reference to some selected event management companies in Dakshina
Kannada and Udupi Districts will be an earnest attempt to abridge
the current research gap to throw additional light on the vague and
unclear issues pertaining to the dynamics of event management.
Hence, the proposed study intends to answer the following
research questions.
1. What is an over view of event management at international
and national level in general and Dakshina Kannada and
Udupi District in particular?
2. What are the philosophy, policy, processes, programmes
and practices of the chosen 15 event management
companies in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi District?
3. What are views and perceptions of the event management
companies about the different dimensions of event
management and the extent of relationship with related
industry like advertising industry, news media and so on?
4. What are socio-economic and demographic profiles of
respondent event users?
5. What are the key determinants of service satisfaction for
the respondent service users?
6. What are the major implications for creating customer
delight through better service quality based on the findings
of the study?

Objectives of the Study:

The central purpose of the proposed study entitled is to
measure and assess the views and perceptions of the event
managers on the one hand and event users on the other within
 14

the broader context of event management in India in general and

its operation in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi Districts in
particular and thus to identify the variables creating customer
delight.
1. To briefly describe an over view of event management
industry in abroad and in India in general Dakshina
Kannada and Udupi Districts in particular as a
background strength for the proposed study.
2. To highlight and describe the philosophy, policies,
processes, programmes and practices underlying the
functioning in the chosen 15 event management
companies in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi Districts.
3. To identify and report the views and perceptions of the
event management companies about the different
dimensions of event management.
4. To measure and assess the socio-economic and
demographic profile of respondent event users.
5. To assess and interpret the key determinants of service
satisfaction of the respondent service users.
6. To raise major implications for creating competitive
advantage and customer delight through better service
quality based on the findings of the study.

Research Assumptions and Hypothesis:

The proposed study titled “Event Management As A Feature In The

Emerging Life Style: An empirical study with special reference to
some selected Event Management Companies in Dakshina Kannada
 15

and Udupi Districts” is based on the following assumptions and

proposes to form some hypothesis for testing.

Assumptions:
1. Management is an integrated part of any organizational
activity for the realization of organizational goals
2. Because of the changing life time, organizing events are
getting commercialized and corporatised.
3. Most of the urban people are not able to organize events.
4. Events as a medium is catering to all the demographic
segment of the population.
5. Event management is the application of management practice
for the conduct of customized marketing events.
6. Marketing activities can be divided into two broad
categories-Above the Line(ATL) and Below the Line(BTL).
7. Based on the purpose and object, the events are classified into
four broad categories - i. Leisure events ii. Cultural events iii.
Personal events and iv. Organizational events.

Hypothesis:

1. Use and perceptions of the event service users tend to vary

between the broad categories of the events identified.
2. Event management provides an approach for unleashing one’s
creative potential to a very high degree.
3. Event management is the most profound form of the
advertising and marketing.
 16

Methodology of the study:

The proposed study is both descriptive and diagnostic in
nature. Hence, the researcher proposes to adopt a comprehensive
design to gather primary and secondary data about the views and
perceptions of both 15 event management companies and event users
about the industry. For the purpose, the researcher intends to
examine and report the style of functioning of selected 15 event
management companies in one hand and the extent and level of
expectations of the users of the service on the other. For the
collection of primary data, the proposed research study will use two
comprehensive, structured and pre-tested questionnaires one each for
the selected event management companies and service users for
eliciting required information so as to meet the set research
objectives.
Dakshina Kannada District of Karnataka State consists of
five taluks – Mangalore, Bantwal, Sullia, Puttur and Beltangady with
a total population of 18,97,730(2001 census report). Similarly,
Udupi District consists of taluks – Udupi, Kundapur and Karkala
with a total population of 11,12,243(2001 census
report).Furthermore, as per the records of the offices of Chamber of
Commerce, Small and Medium Scale Industry Owners Association,
Office of District Commissioner and other licensing agencies of both
the districts, there are about event management companies 20 in
Dakshina Kannada District and 10 units in Udupi District.
 17

The researcher intends to collect the list of event

management companies by visiting the offices mentioned above.
From the lists, the researcher will select 15 companies based on
1. Annual turnover.
2. Number of the customers.
3. Number of employees.
This will facilitate the researcher to administer a comprehensive
questionnaire to collect the primary data about the views and
perception of the selected event management companies.
In addition to the internal documents and published of the
event management units, the researcher will also consult relevant
books and periodicals to conduct an extensive review of literature, to
formulate research hypothesis and to obtain useful insights for the
purpose of preparing questionnaire.
The researcher intends to personally administer the
questionnaire to the respondent event management service users for
eliciting their views and perceptions about the event management,
the services of the providers and their expectations. For this purpose,
customer list will be collected from the respondent event
management companies and based on disproportionate stratified
random sampling system, 800 respondents will be selected to
administer the questionnaire.
Appropriate and relevant statistical tools and techniques will
be used such as descriptive statistics like percentage, mean, median
and standard deviation, correlation matrix and multiple regressions
analysis along with chi-square tests of significance. In addition to
this, interesting and significant results will be projected in the form
of appropriate charts and diagrams. Statistical Package for Social
Scientists (SPSS-volume) will be used for the purpose processing
and analyzing the primary data.
 18

Limitations
The projections and observations made in this study are
based on the data generated from the survey of event management
companies and event users in DK and Udupi districts. To that
extent this study is a ‘micro study’. Perhaps the inferences and
conclusions of this study may not be fully applicable to the
situations in the event management functioning at State/National
level. However a rough picture of the state of affairs of event
management companies and event users in general, can be had
from this study. For the purpose of convenience and effective
study, only 15 event management companies functioning in DK
and Udupi districts are selected for the proposed study. Therefore
event management units like catering units, advertising agency,
shamiyana, sound and electricity etc, functioning in the
unorganized sector are excluded from the purview of the study.

Chapter Classification:
The proposed thesis consists of 7 chapters, out of which three
chapters are based on the secondary data and remaining 4 chapters
are based on the insights obtained through field work. The details
of the proposed chapters are given below:
1. Introduction:- This chapter focused on introduction to the
theme selected, representing the concept of management,
statement of research problem and research questions,
objectives of the proposed study, methodology of the study,
hypothesis drawn, its scope and limitations and some
general conclusions.
2. The Dynamic of Event Management:- This chapter
provides an overview of event management industry in
abroad and in India in general and Dakshina Kannada and
 19

Udupi Districts in particular, as background strength of the

proposed study. It also provides thumb-nail sketch of
management companies considering the life style of the
people at large in the contemporary world.
3. Event Management Companies: An Overview: - This
chapter is devoted to highlight the philosophy, policies,
processes, programmes and practices underlying the
functioning in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi Districts.
4. Event Management Companies: Views and Perceptions: -
This chapter identifies and reports the views and
perceptions of event management companies about the
different dimensions of event management.
5. Profile of the Event Users: -This chapter is expected to
measure and assess the socio-economic and demographic
profile of event users.
6. Determinant of Customer Satisfaction: - This chapter
proposed to asses and interprets the key determinants of
service satisfaction or dissatisfaction of the respondent
service users.
7. Conclusion: The chapter proposes to raise major
implications for creating competitive advantage and
customer delight through better service quality based on the
findings of the study.

Conclusion
In this new millennium, events as a medium will be
catering to all demographic segments of the population. Event
management is the most profound form of advertising and
marketing and it provides an opportunity for unleashing one’s
creative potential to a very high degree. The activities of event
 20

management companies include corporate events, marketing

programmes and special corporate hospitality events.
As event management is becoming a multi-dimensional
profession, it is equally important to know what are the suppose
to possess salient features of successful event manager? To what
extent the event manager possess quality to face the market
challenges? What strategies are they following to remain and
grow in the market? What are the techniques they adopt to remain
their existing customers and to win new customers? And what are
the strategies they adopt to understand the expectations of the
customer?
A few of the previous research studies have also indicated
that the event management is developing as an innovative
industry. The proposed study titled “Event Management as a
Feature in the Emerging Life style”: An empirical study with
special reference to some selected event companies in Dakshina
Kannada and Udupi Districts, will be an earnest attempt to
abridge the current research gap and to throw additional light as
the vague and unclear issues pertaining to the dynamics of event
management.
 21

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 22

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