The Applicability and Usefulness of the Stakeholder Strategy Matrix for Festival Management

Abstract

This article examines the applicability and usefulness of the stakeholder strategy matrix in the context of festival management. An extensive literature review gave rise to the development of an online survey. Data for the study were collected from festival managers in the US. This empirical study indicated that internal and external festival stakeholders differ from each other in significant ways, and that different management strategies should be used to manage them. The stakeholder strategy matrix appears to be more effective for the management of internal festival stakeholders and the least effective for managing external festival stakeholders. Based on the results of the study, it can be postulated that the stakeholder strategy matrix can be applied effectively towards managing festival stakeholders and may provide useful management strategies for festival managers when managing their internal and external stakeholders. This is one of the first studies to be conducted in this area, and as such it contributes to the body of knowledge on management strategies for internal and external festival stakeholders.