Event-Based Entreprenuership: Atlanta Centennial Olympics Case Study Lessons Learned and its Impact on Special Event Business Planning

Abstract

This paper presents a number of case study lessons learned by successful and unsuccessful small businesses during the 1996 Summer Olympic games in Atlanta, Georgia; and constructs a descriptive model from which implications and recommendations are drawn for small businesses interested in the likely impact of large scale special events such as the forthcoming 2000 Summer Olympic games in Sydney, Australia.There were two major reasons for undertaking Olympic businesses case studies. The first was to develop a theoretical framework of factors critical to businesses specifically catering for the significant increase in perceived demand for goods and services that arise when staging a large scale special event.The second’ major purpose was to apply the lessons learned from the descriptive model in constructing a normative model for businesses gearing up for a future Olympiad, or a similar large-scale special event.Businesses expecting to make a quick fortune out of the Sydney Olympics are likely to be disappointed; the experiences of entrepreneurs in Atlanta indicate that it will not be an easy task. The study found that the businesses most likely to be successful are those that are already established with surplus funds to deploy into new ventures in which they can afford to take a risk.