Beyond Epic: Building the Business Beyond a Single Event

The founder and CEO of a mountain bike race in South Africa wonders how to build on the world-class event that he and his team have created. Although the event is popular and continues to grow in prestige, the business’s dependence on a single event creates both a threat and an opportunity. The threat is that the business would be in serious jeopardy if something were to go wrong with the event. The opportunity is that the event can be a launch pad for additional events or for other business concepts. Although the team has experimented with some ideas, they have not hit on anything that they want to pursue on an ongoing basis. The founder and CEO is therefore looking for the concept or idea that will provide the business with its next injection of growth. Learnings from the case may be applied to any event-based creative industries business, such as music festivals, exhibitions, fairs or film festivals.

This case study can be used in two separate classes: corporate venturing or services marketing. In a corporate venturing class, students will consider the opportunities and challenges associated with launching and growing a sport business. The teaching objectives for a corporate venturing class include the following:<ul><li>To explore the opportunity for entrepreneurs to build event-based sport businesses</li><li>To introduce the business models (including revenue models, cost structures and value propositions) of event-based sport businesses</li><li>To consider the growth challenges associated with event-based sport businesses</li><li>To evaluate growth opportunities for event-based sport businesses.</li></ul><br>In a services marketing class, students will articulate and craft a profitable service model that meets the needs of the chosen target market for the sport business. The teaching objectives for a services marketing class include the following:<ul><li>To develop an understanding of services marketing in the context of event-based sport businesses</li><li>To develop a service model for event-based sport businesses</li><li>To refine a service model for event-based sport businesses.</li></ul>

• Business model
• growth strategy
• services marketing
• new venture
• sport
• South Africa