Mastering the Art of Event Planning: A Comprehensive Business Analysis

This research is credited to Ahmad Fuad Al Hattab

Introduction
 
All investment projects start with an idea. However, regardless of their simplicity or complexity, success depends on meticulous planning by the owner and the availability of resources. Considering an event planning venture, identifying the customer segment, scanning the external environment using analytical tools, incorporating a SWOT analysis, and subsequently critiquing the effectiveness of the evaluation models provide insight into the possible outcomes.

Business Idea

My business idea entails starting an events planning firm. I look forward to managing occasions related to meetings, conferences, fundraisers, and ceremonies for college students. According to Dadwal and Dadwal  (2020), notable roles of event planners include budgeting, scheduling, reserving venues, and developing themes. Others include coordinating logistics for both people and equipment, selecting speakers, acquiring permits, and facilitating hospitality services.
 
Understandably, the investment opportunity is a tedious one and often involves handling multiple activities simultaneously in the process of relieving organizations or individuals of the pressure of coordinating functions, especially for the first time. Nevertheless, I am confident that this business venture will allow me the autonomy and financial independence. I am unlikely to get in a conventional nine-to-five job. Despite the stressful work, I believe event planning can be a rewarding career for ambitious individuals.
 
 
Customer Segment
 
The envisioned events planning business will target graduates in Qatar. Once actualized, the firm will help those leaving college narrow down the search for an apprenticeship, job opportunity, academic programs, or sponsored degrees.
 
 Additionally, it will help them develop adaptive career techniques in response to organizational restructuring occasioned by both domestic and external business disruptions. A recent report by the New York Federal Reserve Bank reveals that compared to the general population job seekers, youthful college students are likely to be both employed and underemployed (Kelly 2019).
 
 What is even more perturbing is the disclosure that the trend is moving upwards. Nevertheless, the bank alludes the scenario can be offset by eliminating redundant courses in schools and providing the fresh graduates with information that enables them to navigate complex career paths.
 
The latter intervention can be attained through events planning activities, whose primary objective will be to facilitate the networking of prospective individuals with varied stakeholders in the job market. In congruence with these sentiments, Horst and Klehe (2019), in their “mid-career intervention” study, allege that group events increased job-seekers’ awareness about the corporate environment, hence enabling them to adjust accordingly. Thus, events planners hold a pivotal role in curbing unemployment among newly graduated college students.
 
External Environment Business Analytical Tools
 
I will use Porter's Five Forces analysis to assess the external business environment of the idealized business. Figure 1 below summarizes its essential components. In context, the threat of new entrants in the events industry is moderate. Unsurprisingly, maverick crowd pullers can easily disrupt the market.
 
However, limited financial ability may pose a significant challenge to them. Similarly, the competitive rivalry is tolerable. Few of the existing firms target fresh graduates as their dominant clientele, which means aggressive marketing of packaged alumni services may alleviate rivalry.
 
Contrarily, the bargaining power of the customers is high. They can easily switch loyalty to expedient service providers. Nevertheless, supplier power is low. As the facility owners, they outnumber event planners, which necessitates them to, for instance, lower the leasing costs for venues and other amenities.

Lastly, the threat of substitutes is low. The uniqueness of physical activities insulates organized events from imminent disruptions by video communication technologies like Zoom, BlueJeans, and TeamViewer. After considering the prognostics of events planning highlighted by Porter's Five Forces analysis, market specialization, low running costs, and aggressive
marketing emerges as practical success strategies. 

STEEP analysis constitutes a complementary tool I would use to evaluate the events management venture at the macro level. Figure 2 is a graphical summary of the model’s components. Foremost, the business outlook is acceptable socially. Notably, Qatar is a culturally diverse nation whose citizens and foreigners readily interact with each other during both private and public functions.

 Additionally, the venture is consistent with emerging communication technologies. Reliable internet infrastructures across the country favor the promotion of hosting events, primarily through social media platforms (Oxford Business Group 2016). Likewise, the economic standpoint suggests that irrespective of the aesthetics of the proposed business, inappropriate pricing may undermine its market appeal. Nevertheless, Qatar citizens are affluent individuals who readily consume premium services, provided the quality is commensurate with the cost (Sharif, Kassin & Faisal 2019).
 
Similarly, the business must conform to existing environmental regulations. Irresponsible littering of plastic bottles and food packages comprises notable pollution challenges associated with organized events (Vrondou, Dimitropoulos & Gaitanakis  2019). Lastly, the business will flourish if implemented in a stable political environment. A STEEP analysis illuminates the macro-level threats and opportunities synonymous with events planning businesses. 

SWOT Analysis 

Combined, Porter's Five Forces and STEEP analysis can be used to generate a SWOT summary of the proposed business. Characteristic strengths of an event planning business include excellent public relations (PR) and specialized services (Ledingham 2015). Additionally, connecting attendees with reputable individuals in various industries and hiring a dedicated team of marketers will be instrumental in showcasing the benefits the firm brings to the targeted group of students. Contrariwise, typical weaknesses associated with event planning include insufficient funding, an inexperienced events team, and a lack of corporate contacts (Clark et al. 2017).

These external factors often prove to be detrimental to the achievement of the project’s goals. Conceivable opportunities for events planning include growing demand for organized events, favorable economic conditions, and support from local authorities (Carey, Misener & Mason 2017). These market and community components are likely to give the business a competitive edge over its rivals. Some of the weighty threats that may undermine the success of events planning encompass the inability to find skilled workers, technological disruption, and high bargaining power of the facility providers. While I lack absolute control over these business uncertainties as an investor, preparing for them in advance can significantly avert failure. A SWOT analysis elucidates a business’s chance of failure or success.
 
Alternative Business Analysis Models and Strategy

GAP analysis and a market segmentation strategy irradiate other options for actualizing the event-planning business idea. The first technique would be executed if the firm does not perform as projected (Moore & Likarish 2015). However, the goals to be achieved must be known in advance. Furthermore, the yields must be appraisable under normal circumstances. Afterward, a comparison is made between the current state and the idealized state. Assuming the results are not desirable, the documented intervention measures must be referred to during the recovery process.

The second strategy, market segmentation, entails dividing the market into distinct groups whose members depict similar product and service consumption behaviors (Dolnicar, Grun & Leisch 2018). Initially, the events planning business will target youthful college graduates. Notable characteristics shared by these individuals include comparable academic levels, first-time job seekers, and negligible corporate exposure. While a gap analysis will facilitate the identification of weaknesses and shortcomings to address in business, market segmentation supports the customization of products and services to suit a specific consumer category.
 
Competitive Advantage of Events Management

Commanding a large social media following connotes a significant competitive advantage for an events management firm. Having massive subscribers on social media, the majority of whom fit the targeted demography, elevates the likelihood of selling them customized services (Helleu 2017). Since the followers interact on a common platform, the events firm can engage them collectively, thereby gaining further insight regarding their tastes, preferences, and pricing expectations. Moreover, the ability to contact the target customers from a single platform will enable the firm to cut costs that would otherwise be used for promotional drives on conventional media. Massive followers on social media could potentially translate to more clients and reduced costs of advertisement.
 
Advantages and Disadvantages of the STEEP Analysis

The STEEP analysis has both strengths and flaws when used to scan the macro-environmental factors relevant to an event planning business. As its salient advantage, the tool is easy to understand. Coincidentally, commerce concepts that are easy to understand are, often, easy to implement. For instance, if one were to focus on the political factors, monitoring government policies may indicate whether they have positive or negative impacts on the business in the long run.

Conversely, as one of its major drawbacks, the technological component of the analytical tool is rapidly evolving in society. Such changes might make it difficult for the events firm to anticipate, with precision, the variations likely to affect its growth prospects. Moreover, it is a biased assessment approach that concentrates on external factors only. Consequently, it denies the proprietors the opportunity to perceive the internal factors, competitor actions, and industry trends likely to affect the enterprise. 
 
Conclusion

My preferred business idea encompasses starting an event planning company. The firm will target fresh college graduates with the intention of helping them transition smoothly in their individual career paths. A basic evaluation process using the STEEP, PESTLE, and SWOT analysis tools affirms the attractiveness of the business idea.

 

Reference List 

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Dolnicar, S, Grün, B, & Leisch, F (2018). Market segmentation analysis: Understanding it, doing it, and making it useful, Springer, New York.

Helleu, B 2017, 'The other field of play' in  Routledge handbook of football marketing, eds N Chanavat, M Desbordes & N Lorgnier, Taylor & Francis, Oxon.  

Horst, AC, & Klehe, UC 2018, ‘Enhancing career adaptive responses among experienced employees: A mid-career intervention’, Journal of Vocational Behavior, vol. 11, pp. 91-106. 

Kelly, J 2019, Recent college graduates have the highest unemployment rate in decades—here’s why universities are to blame. 

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Oxford Business Group 2016. The Report: Qatar 2016, Oxford Business Group, Dubai. 

Sharif, K., Kassim, N., & Faisal, M.N. 2019, ‘Domains of living and key demographics: Their impact on luxury consumption behavior of affluent Qataris’, Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, vol. 31, no. 2, pp. 1-20.

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