Organizing Periodic Events: A Case Study of a Failed Christmas Market

ABSTRACT

Periodic events are under constant threat of failure yet research on event failure is limited – even if often highlighted as a research priority. The destination management organization in the mountain resort of Åre sought to establish a new Christmas Market to increase the number of visitors in the winter pre-season but the event was not a success and the destination failed in its ambition to establish a periodic event. The Market was studied during its first three years using action research, interviews and direct observation and provided insights into the organization of periodic events. In order to understand the failure of the Market, empirical data were analyzed using concepts related to two discrete organizational types: permanent and temporary. The results show that the failure in Åre cannot be explained through the use of a single conceptual model, but can be understood when both models are utilized. The conclusion is that periodic events can be understood as phenomena that are characterized by permanent as well as temporary organization.

KEY WORDS:

• Periodic events
• permanent organization
• temporary organization
• event failure
• Christmas Market

Acknowledgements

The author thanks Steve Brown (Australian Institute of Business) for his comments that led to the improvement of the paper.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Google Scholar indicates that Lundin and Söderholm (1995) has had 840 citations (7 October 2015).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Vinnova (Diary no. 2009–01772) and Swedish Civil Aviation Administration as part of the research project “Hallmark Event Innovation”.