Small Event Management Firms' Networking - Case Study Example

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The paper “Small Event Management Firms' Networking” is an excellent example of the case study on business. The encouragement of networking for owner-managers of small event management businesses has increasingly become a goal of small enterprise support agencies in the UK. Policymakers have been urged by academic researchers in the field to promote networking to enhance business performance (Ostgaard and Birley 2004, Chaston 2006, Crewe 2006, Shaw 2007). The consensus of numerous studies is succinctly summed up by Birley et al. (2001: 57), 'Networking, with its emphasis on informality and opportunism would seem to be an ideal mechanism for effectiveness in variable economic conditions'. Networking is now a 'vogue concept' in the small business field (Monsted 2005: 193). Yet to define networking and demonstrate its presence are tasks suffused with methodological problems. To establish any association between networking activity by owner-managers and the performance of their businesses is even more contestable and all the more reason to revisit the theme yet again.   

I shall first overview and assess the main arguments in the very substantial literature on small event management firms' networking. It is this one ultimate factor that is the backbone of the event management industry. Especially, in today’s cutthroat competitive environment it is the key to survival. Hence in this paper, I shall discuss enterprise and entrepreneurship with examples from the events industry and creative industries sector with reference to one main factor- that is networking. It is contended that, although most writers now acknowledge the heterogeneity of small business owners, confusion still arises from the use of the terms 'entrepreneur' and 'owner-manager' as synonyms. An established typology to differentiate within populations of small business owners according to a measure of entrepreneurship is suggested as an interpretative tool. I draw upon survey data from a recent study of micro-businesses (Wheelock and Chell 2007) to assess the nature and extent of their networking in the event management industry. As predicted in some of the literature, I found a statistical association between levels of networking activity and business performance. ...Download file to see next pages Read More