Podcast blurb: Small business leveraging in the context of major events is all about utilising these events to accelerate developments which benefit local businesses and enterprises, with the primary goal of maximising the tangible and intangible small business opportunities from these events1. In recent years, fewer cities and towns have been interested in or willing to bid for these events due to the exorbitant costs associated with delivering events of this scale. Small businesses often make up the vast number of organisations within cities and towns’ local economies. Therefore, the inclusion of small and local businesses should be a critical task for prospective event hosts in an attempt to diversify socio-economic outcomes for local people and traders. In 2004, Laurence Chalip produced a general model for event leveraging. Since then there have been more investigations into how small businesses can be better supported at major events. However, little is still understood about how local businesses can operate alongside major event sponsors. There have been studies which have discussed how tactics can be integrated into the different phases of the event (pre, during and post-event) focusing on specific areas including, planning and policies, regulation and trading environments and networks and partnerships1. Additionally, another study concentrated on understanding the factors that can prohibit businesses from engaging with major events, such as businesses lacking knowledge, experience, and resources2. Future research should be directed on developing practical strategies that can be adopted by small businesses to leverage these events to their advantage.

Seth’s bio: Seth I. Kirby is a Lecturer in Sport and Leisure Management in the School of Science and Technology, Nottingham Trent University, UK. His research interests span the fields of sports, events, urban studies and the environment, with particular attention on the business and spatial impacts of regional sporting events right through to mega-sporting event regeneration, legacy planning, strategic leveraging and environmental sustainability. Seth’s research activity is linked to exploring critical issues and perspectives in events and sports, with a focus on sporting event hosting communities.

Further reading and resources:

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) - Implementing the OECD Recommendation on Global Events Toolkit.

RioZones event leveraging research articles - https://riozones.wordpress.com/events-research-and-resources/event-research-and-useful-resources/

uignan and McGillivray (2018) - Mega-sport events, micro and small business leveraging: Introducing the “MSE-MSB leverage model”. Article.

Son and Huang (2023) - Understanding the critical factors driving event leveraging: Perspectives from small and medium-sized enterprises.

Schulenkorf et al (2023) - Event leverage: a systematic literature review and new research agenda.

Kaplanidou et al (2016) - Business legacy planning for mega events: The case of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Duignan et al (2020) - Entrepreneurial leveraging in liminoidal olympic transit zones.

Smith (2010) - Leveraging benefits from major events: maximising opportunities for peripheral urban areas.

Schulenkorf et al (2021) - Managing and leveraging events: Business and social dimensions.

Parent (2020) - Managing major sports events: Theory and practice.

Ziakas (2021) - Strategic event leveraging: Models, practices and prospects. Book.