Association Decision Making Process

SEGMENTING THE ASSOCIATION MARKET Based on Key Elements of the Decision-Making Process

A thesis by Cyrill Allet (97284)

Supported by ICCA and EHLITE

Bachelor Degree Student of the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL), Switzerland March 2004 Zumikon, Switzerland

As a student at the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne, I uphold and defend academic integrity, academic rigor and academic liberty as core values of higher learning. I attest, on my word of honor, that work submitted in my name is my own work, and that any ideas or materials used in support of this work which are not originally my own are cited and referenced accordingly.

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Table of Content (1)

Preface .................................................................................................................6

(2)

Abstract.................................................................................................................7

*** Secondary Data Collection ***.......................................................................................... 8

A.

B.

C.

D.

E.

Introduction...................................................................................................................8 (1)

Definitions of the Industry .....................................................................................8

(2)

Definitions for Market Segmentation.....................................................................9

The Conference Industry ............................................................................................11 (1)

Business Tourism ...............................................................................................11

(2)

Advantages of Conference Tourism ...................................................................11

Key Suppliers in the Conference Industry ..................................................................14 (1)

Venues................................................................................................................14

(2)

Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) ..............................................................16

(3)

Intermediaries, Agencies ....................................................................................18

Buyers in the Conference Industry .............................................................................20 (1)

Market Segmentation in the Tourism Industry ....................................................20

(2)

Buyer Segmentation ...........................................................................................21

(3)

Corporate Market Characteristics .......................................................................22

(4)

International Governmental Organizations .........................................................23

(5)

Association Market Characteristics.....................................................................23

Association Decision-Making Process........................................................................25 (1)

Changing Decision-Making Process...................................................................25

(2)

Buying Task, Buying Process .............................................................................26

Buying Situation..........................................................................................................26 Information sources ....................................................................................................27 Decision Criteria .........................................................................................................27 (3)

Buying Center .....................................................................................................30

(4)

Segmentation based on the Relative Importance of Buying Center Participants34

*** Hypotheses *** ................................................................................................................36 *** Methodology *** ..............................................................................................................38 (1)

Research Objective ............................................................................................38

(2)

Data Sources, Research Design and Research Questions................................38

(3)

Research Approach ............................................................................................39

(4)

Research Method ...............................................................................................40

(5)

Sampling Method and Sample Size....................................................................40

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(6)

Questionnaire Design .........................................................................................41

(7)

Mailing ................................................................................................................41

(8)

Non-respondent Bias ..........................................................................................42

(9)

Methodological Limitations .................................................................................42

*** Primary Data Collection ***..............................................................................................43

A.

Data Analysis procedure and methods.......................................................................43

B.

Descriptive statistics ...................................................................................................44

C.

Relationships between Association Characteristics and Decision-Making Process

Elements ............................................................................................................................46 D.

Impact of the association nature on association characteristics.................................49

E.

Interaction of Association Nature and Decision-Making Process Elements based on

Remaining Association Characteristics ..............................................................................50 F.

Correlation Analyses among Association Characteristics ..........................................52

G.

Multiple Tables for Service Use Analysis ...................................................................53

H.

Conclusions and Implications .....................................................................................56

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Content of Figures Secondary data Table 1

MICE Matrix................................................................................................... 63

Figure 1

Buyers and Suppliers in the Conference Business ....................................... 64

Figure 2

Summary of Economic Impacts..................................................................... 65

Table 3

Identifying different Association Scopes........................................................ 67

Figure 3

Bases for Market Segmentation .................................................................... 68

Figure 4

ICCA’s Definition of the Meetings Market ..................................................... 19

Figure 5

A General Model of the Site Selection Process............................................. 69

Figure 6

Convention Site Selection Factors ................................................................ 71

Table 4

Literature Review of Association Characteristics .......................................... 72

Table 5

Buying-Center Decision Pattern .................................................................... 75

Figure 7

A Model of two basic types of Decision-Making Processes .......................... 30

Figure 8

A Model segmenting the International Association Market based on the relative influence of Buying Center Participants in the Decision-Making Process.................................................................................................... 35, 77

Figure 9

Marketing and Sales Strategy for Continental Associations.......................... 56

Hypothesis No table

Refer to Primary research

Methodology

Secondary data research, interviews Appendix B

Introductory letter to industry professionals .................................................. 78

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Sampling Appendix G

Prime Trade Associations for Convention Tourism ...................................... 80

Mailing Appendix L

Online Survey ................................................................................................ 81

Primary research Section 1

Descriptive statistic results ............................................................................ 86

Section 2

Relationships between Association Characteristics and Decision Making Process Elements.......................................................................................... 90

Section 3

Impact of the Association Nature on Association Characteristics ................. 97

Section 4

Interaction of Association Nature and Decision-Making Process Elements based on Remaining Association Characteristics ......................................... 98

Section 5

Correlation Analyses among Association Characteristics ........................... 101

Section 6

Multiple Tables for Service Use Analysis .................................................... 105

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(1) Preface This research paper was completed in the accomplishment of a Bachelor Degree in Hospitality Management at the Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL) in Switzerland. The author’s personal interest in the convention tourism in general and the association market in particular where the key drivers for this paper. However, without the help of a diverse range of people this research would not have been able to be completed as such.

Without the research center CEIRT at the Centre des Hautes Etudes Touristiques in Aix-enProvence academic research on the association decision-making process would have been very lean and only obtainable at extensive costs. It was although the research thesis of Mr. Vleeming that provided the fundament for this research. The forthcoming interview partners Mrs. B. Albrecht, Managing Director of the SCIB1, Ms. G. Weingold of the BCB2, Mr. C. Vultier, Project Manager at the Kongresszentrum Basel and last but not least Mr. D. Zihlmann, Managing Director of Interlaken Congress enabled the author to bridge the gap from theory to real life application by suggesting the basis for an appropriate model. Their input proved to be considerably valuable in the interpretation of the survey results. Without the survey sample obtained from ICCA thanks to the aid of Mr. Vleeming, no empirical data could have been collected. It is a crucial element in this work. A response rate of nearly 30% could be achieved, thanks to the incentive sponsored by the school’s research department.

Mr. Fraenkel, Deputy Director of the research department, made it possible to propose 50 one year subscriptions to the EHLITE magazine.

Mr. Schegg and Ms. Scaglione need to be thanked for their assistance with the analysis tool Sphinx Plus2 and Eureka! employed for the data collection. The patience, flexibility and valuable input through graphic and table suggestions, Mr. Fraenkel was an ideal tutor for me.

1 2

Swiss Convention and Incentive Bureau Basel Convention Bureau

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(2) Abstract Conference travel represents about one third of all business trips (USTDC, 1993) and are a prime focus of marketing activities by venues and destinations because the decision about where the event takes place is open to influence. Even though the organizational purchasing theory was found helpful in describing how association select meeting sites (Clark and McCleary, 1995) little research has been undertaken on its structure and workings (Clark, Price and Murrmann, 1996). Therefore this study investigates into the decision-making process and analyzes its dependence on basic association characteristics. It also reveals supplier and service preferences for the most significant segments identified in the first part of the research. Responding to a frequently cited need by industry professionals (Fenich, 1998; Abbey and Link, 1994), an empirical approach was selected. ICCA, the biggest tradeassociation for suppliers in the international meetings industry (ICCA, 2002) sponsored the sample.

Results for the continental associations analyzed imply that within the sales strategy framework, marketers should make adjustments for the following three sub-strategies: 4 Relationship Strategies with associations that require different level of involvement from

their local counterpart 4 Account Management Strategies as associations require either a local individual or the

national chapter to submit a formal invitation 4 Sales Channel Strategy for associations with different structures

Related to the association nature distinct association types can be characterized to which the most likely suppliers are identified.

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*** SECONDARY DATA COLLECTION *** A. Introduction The conference industry is a young and dynamic industry, which is growing at and maturing at a rapid rate. From origins in Europe and North America, it is now a truly international industry, witnessing huge investments across all continents (ICCA, 2004); its youthfulness however, does mean that it lacks some of the necessary characteristics of more established industries, such as well defined terminology or adequate market intelligence and no clear entry routes exist for novices to this side of the tourism exist (Rogers, 2003; Crouch and Ritchie, 1998) These elements are seen as crucial limitations to the future development of the industry (Ladkin, 2002).

(1) Definitions of the Industry Even if precise definitions are not yet in regular use, it is important, at the beginning of this research to clarify certain terminologies: 4 Meeting is a general term indicating the coming together of a number of people in one

place, to confer or carrying out a particular activity. This can be on an ad hoc basis or according to a set pattern (TCI, 2002). Meetings are sometimes referred to as events, congresses or conferences, as is the meetings market sometimes referred to as the congress or conference industry (Vleeming, 2003).

4 ICCA (International Congress and Conventions Associations) is the most prominent and

most global trade-association within the industry and produces marketing oriented information providing know-how for the supply-side of the meetings market. Its members include among others Convention & Visitor Bureaus (CVB), Conference Centers (CC), hotels and consultants such as Professional Convention Organizers (PCO) or Destination Management Companies (DMC). Most successfully it collects information on the international association meetings. They provide the basis of this empirical study.

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4 Association will be defined later in the thesis. It should be mentioned although that when

the word “association” is used, also federations, societies, trade organizations and not-forprofit organizations are meant, as the term “the association market” also includes international

federations,

societies,

trade

organizations

and

other

not-for-profit

organizations, even though they are not always mentioned separately (Vleeming, 2003).

4 International Associations meetings on the ICCA Database meet the following criteria: 1

meetings must be organized on a regular basis

2

meetings must rotate between at least 3 different countries

3

meetings must attract a minimum of 50 participants

(2) Definitions for Market Segmentation In travel and tourism, the diversity of products and customers has justified the intensive use of segmentation as strategic weapons in an increasingly competitive environment (Forchot and Morrison, 2000). Today and increasingly in the future successful segmentation will become one of the cornerstones of survivor and success. A destination has to choose what it wants to be to whom and to focus on a limited array of the market. This study focuses on the association market within the convention industry.

Successful segmentation improves the knowledge and understanding of customers. In order for marketers to be useful the segments must be identifiable/measurable, substantial, accessible, stable, actionable and differentiable (Frank, Massy and Wind, 1972; Kloter, 1994; Wedel and Kamakura, 1998).

4 Identifiable/measurable: refers to the degree to which marketers/managers are able to

identify distinct groups of customers based on a specific segmentation base and the degree to which the segments size and profitability can be measured

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4 Substantial: the segments, which have been identified using a specific segmentation base,

have to represent a large enough portion of the market in order to be profitable segments, worth targeting 4 Accessible: managers have to be able to reach the identified segments through

communication and distribution channels 4 Stable: The stability criterion refers to the stability of specific segments over time 4 Differentiable: the different segments have to be heterogeneous in regard to their

response to different marketing-mix elements. Within any one segment this response should be as homogenous as possible. If two segments respond similarly to specific marketing-mix elements, they should not be considered two separate segments These definitions receive increased attention in the analysis section and will reveal the outcome of a successful and effective segmentation process. The organization should be able to: 4 Ensure more efficient resource allocation as all the marketing mix elements can be better

focused on the target customers’ specific needs 4 Prioritization of the most profitable present and potential customer groupings, including

the finding of potential new segments 4 Strengthen the competitive position of the destination vis-Ă -vis the competition

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B. The Conference Industry The particularity and complexity of conference industry necessitates starting by determining its position within the global tourism industry. As this is market segmentation in its broadest term this approach contributes to the understanding of the concept. Industry suppliers will be classified in a later chapter. The characteristics of the buyers will receive prime attention after this industry overview.

(1) Business Tourism Conferences are part of the business tourism sector, a major though under-evaluated sector of the wider tourism industry. Over the past ten years there has been a 53% growth in all business trips, exceeding the overall tourism growth rate (BTP, 2003). Apart from conferences, the other main components of business tourism are: exhibitions and trade fairs, incentive travel, corporate events and individual business travel (also referred to as “corporate travel”).

Corporate travel relates to those whose work regularly involves travel within their own country or overseas and represents a major portion of business tourism. As the opportunities to influence where the individual travels to are minimal this sector is referred to as “nondiscretionary” (Rogers, 2003). Consequently the other four sectors are the prime focus of marketing activities by venues and destinations because decisions about where the events take place are open to influence. The matrix in Table 1 highlights some of their key characteristics.

(2) Advantages of Conference Tourism Conference travel represents the most significant market segment, concerning about one third of all business trips (USTDC, 1993) and it is predicted to grow at a faster rate than any

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other tourism sector up to 2010 (WTO, 2002; Abbey and Link, 1994; Rogers, 2003). They may be sponsored by corporations or associations.

The components of the conference market are shown in Figure 1, which indicates the range of participants involved in delivering the conference product. It can be identified although that the business and leisure tourism sector are closely intertwined, relying on similar infrastructure and support services (Davidson, 1994). Relatively few suppliers are dedicated exclusively to the conference industry (Rogers, 1998). The most significant for this study will be analyzed in more detail later in this study.

Depending on the type of meeting, the distinction between business and leisure travel is further blurred by the presence of “accompanying persons� (Oppermann and Chon, 1997; Edelstein and Benini, 1994). It is also not uncommon for delegates to prolong their stay in order to have the time to tour around the destination after the business part of the trip is over (so called leisure extenders). However, business tourism has a number of unique characteristics and advantages, which can bring additional benefits to those destinations successful in attracting conference business (Rogers, 2003).

4 Conference business caters for the high-quality, high-cost and therefore high-yield end of

the market (Rogers, 2003; McCabe et al., 2000; Gartrell, 1994). The greater spending power of business tourists means increased economic benefits for the host destination and a greater return on its investment in infrastructure and marketing (Figure 2; Rogers, 2003).

4 Perhaps more important than the direct and absolute monetary benefits are seasonality

and exposure factors (Oppermann, 1996b). Conventions provide a more year round demand, especially during the off and shoulder seasons (Zuffi, 2003; Abbey and Link, 1994). Peaking in spring and autumn but still with high levels of activity in the summer and winter months it sustains permanent, full-time employment (BTP, 2003) as opposed to the seasonal, temporary jobs, which are a frequent characteristic of the leisure tourism sector.

4 The higher quality of personal service demanded by the business tourist requires more

labor-intensive service suppliers, which in turn translates into higher levels of job creation

(Interview SCIB, 2004) 12

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4 Conference tourism is sustainable and offers higher added value with fewer negative

environmental impacts than mass leisure tourism (Montgomery and Stick, 1995) 4 Particularly association conferences are resilient and much less affected by economic

downturns or by disasters (BTP, 2003) as they are contracted years in advance.

4 Research (BTP, 1998) suggests that approximately 40% of business travelers will return

with their families as leisure visitors to destinations they have enjoyed visiting on business (BTP, 2003; Chon, Weaver and Kim, 1991) 4 Private and public investments in business tourism facilities lead to the regeneration of

urban and inner city areas (Lawson, 2000; Fenich, 1998)

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C. Key Suppliers in the Conference Industry The economic benefits mentioned above are although often overlooked due to the complex structure of the industry in which 98% of its businesses are classified as small businesses (MIM, 1998). Among its many constituents are marketing organizations, venues, and distributors/intermediaries; this complex diversity often confuses many, yet each entity maintains a critical inter-relationship and interdependence with one another in order to deliver the desired products and services (Gartrell, 1991). Successful destinations realize that cooperation is a critical success factor whereas increased pressures to cut cost, sell more and meet quotas make it easy to forget (Quain, 2001). Relatively few suppliers are dedicated exclusively to the conference industry, but in the following the most prominent organizations servicing the meetings market are presented:

(1) Venues Venues are the basic suppliers as they provide space for people to gather and are available for external hire. In theory, almost any type of building could be promoted as a conference venue whereas the most popular to the conference industry are hotels, purpose built conference centers, and academic institutions.

4 Hotels make up around two-thirds of all conference venues and are preferred meeting

sites for corporations whereas they primarily target the non-discretionary sector. These corporate travelers although provide an extensive customer base that may very likely lead to attractive meeting business. Particularly global companies like to contract with international chains as they can benefit from substantial discounts (Marvel, 2003).

Nevertheless their local offices may also provide attractive leads to the many smaller and more local association meetings. Furthermore, ICCA database research regularly shows that international associations up to 400 participants also prefer this “all under one roof� solution.

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4 Purpose-built centers also target smaller day and residential events to stay financially

sound but are generally designed specifically to host meetings and conferences particularly the larger events for hundreds or thousands of delegates. Most major cities in the world or small countries have such convention centers. In nearly 50% of the cases they are the meeting location of choice for international associations (ICCA, 2004). As these meetings bring a benefit to the entire community these venues are generally financed in a partnership of public and private sector.

4 Colleges and universities as well as civic venues provide a viable alternative and are

particularly attractive to the more cost conscious part of the market and are particularly attractive during holidays when their attractive infrastructure is not in use.

A typical conference venue will be predominantly dependent on local sources of demand, be those local companies or local organizations (Shone, 1998). Besides the meeting space, they provide assistance services, staffing and other operational services to run a successful conference. Also common to all facilities is the difficulty for an individual conference venue to market itself effectively by operating on its own. Efforts can only be concentrated on key people (Emerson, 2004; Astroff and Abbey, 2002; Kloter, 2002). This often might not be enough to win a business. Affiliating with an international chain or consortium enables them to obtain a higher market profile and to engage in collaborative marketing activities even on an international scope (Rogers, 2003).

Besides the scale of the competition and the substantial costs of marketing, venues seeking to establish a national/international market presence also must contend with factors such as the predisposition of buyers to buy location first and foremost (BTP, 2003; Crouch and Weber, 1998). It is for these reasons that most venues work in partnership with the destination in which they are located to generate awareness, and enquiries from potential clients.

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(2) Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB) Convention destination marketing occurs at national, regional or city level (Rogers, 1998) whereas Convention and Visitors Bureaus (CVBs) represent the most prominent form of convention destination marketing organization (Morrison, Bruen and Anderson, 1998).

According to IACVB (1998) the majority of CVBs are independent not for profit organizations and their activities are formed and financed as partnerships between public (taxes or/and financial backing) and private (membership fees) sector bodies.

Within its community the CVB works as a platform for contacts and networking for its members and represents their interests in local or regional politics and economy (Interview

BCB, 2004). Consequently it involved in the product development as the basic orientation of the destination will reflect the target market to some extent (Interview SCIB, 2004).

It also aims to offer a “one-stop� enquiry point, with impartial advice and assistance (Migdal, 1993). As an example of this latter function, for the meeting planner, the CVB can check hotel availability, distribute meetings specifications to hotels, venues and intermediaries (referral services), solicit bid proposals, conduct personalized site inspections, suggest spouse programs and other activities, and provide transportation and other logistical assistance (Morrison, Bruen and Anderson, 1998; Baker, 1993; M&C, 1993). Traditionally CVBs provide free rather than fee based services, whereas the increased need for alternative income sources forces many of them to provide similar services as do their members. For more insight please refer to Table 2.

Their primary role although is to promote the destination, generating and converting enquiries into confirmed business (Rogers, 2003). Target groups are organizations (for example international associations) that match the resources and facilities available within their destination (MIM, 1998); though the bureau is a sales organization, its premise of operation to develop relationships by cultivating mutual understanding and trust with as many decision-participants as possible (Emerson, 2004; Astroff and Abbey, 2002; Kloter, 2002).

This is client-centered marketing (Gartrell, 1991).

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For international association the relationship with local counterparts is very important as they are the destinations most potential clients (ICCA, 2004)! Vleeming (2003) has collected the most prominent tools employed by a CVB for this relationship-marketing: 4 Organizing ambassador programs, which aim to identify, recruit, train and support key

individuals in the local community (who have connections to international organizations) as “ambassadors� for their destination, and are assisting them to bid for and attract the annual conference of the professional institution to which they belong (Rogers, 2003; BTP, 2003).

4 Publishing and distributing magazines related to organizing international meetings in their

destination 4 Paying personal visits to local counterparts 4 Providing information on everything that has to do with planning an international

conference in its destination on their website.

Contacting the headquarters directly is another other method for researching the congress business. There are clusters of international headquarters in London, Paris, Brussels, Geneva and The Hague as well as in Washington, DC (Interview Interlaken Congress, 2004).

However, generally no direct relationship is initiated from a CVB with the head office of an association or with their in- or external meeting planner.

Influencing local counterparts is far more common as they are often asked to extend a formal invitation. It is very important for marketers to know when and who to contact as this will increase their chance of success in influencing the decision-making process. Specialized research provides marketers with this information. The ICCA database or the Yearbook of International organizations by UIA3 are just two of them. However, ICCA is modifying the content of its database as the decision-making process in the association market has changed in recent years. It is obvious that this has consequences for marketers. They will be analyzed in this report.

3

Union of International Association statistics

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(3) Intermediaries, Agencies Some congresses are in need of a Professional Conference Organizer (PCO) or Destination Management Company (DMC) who have the necessary time and expertise to undertake all aspects of the management of an event or may simply be contracted to manage certain elements (CM, 2000). They act as intermediaries or “middle-men� and undertake a buying role on the behalf of their clients, who may be international associations (Vleeming, 2003).

The PCOs role could include sourcing venues (this may be local or world wide), preparing a bid document, raising sponsorship, running the concurrent trade exhibition, and managing finances, running promotional campaigns, establishing registration and accommodation booking systems, organizing social programs, facilitating the submission of papers and abstracts beforehand as well as actually organizing the event itself. Working closely with the client, venue and destination he usually charges an administration fee based on the size of the congress and the number of delegates attending (BTP, 2003). After the ICCA statistics, in 17% of all association meetings a PCO was involved in the organization in 2002.

DMC are traditionally local service organizations that specialized in ground-handling for the incentive travel market but may well provide these services to conference organizers, especially where a conference is being organized overseas. When the destination of a conference (or incentive) is set, the DMC may be employed to locate a venue, to handle delegate accommodation, to assist with transport arrangements and to put together itineraries and social programs. DMCs nowadays often have acquired some PCO expertise to better serve expanding needs of their main clients, the corporations. The growing trend for hotels to offer basic DMC services has also lead to this repositioning.

The key difference is that DMCs are working exclusively with in-bound and domestic tourism, whereas PCOs generally do not restrict their expertise to a single destination. But both services providers are originally contracted for a specific event only. Increased sophistication and professionalism of PCOs over the past has motivated some associations to set-up long term contracts. Such a PCO is then called core-PCO and handles and organizes all the conferences on behalf or their clients regardless where the event takes place. Several associations may have the same core-PCO.

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Other associations have even decided to outsource their entire operation to an Association Management Company (AMC), as they might not have the resources or management expertise to run their association secretariat themselves or as professional as an AMC does.

Such an AMC typically has a meeting planning department, which in essence, operates like a core-PCO on behalf of the organizations they represent.

These intermediaries have become full-time buyers on the market. They although only represent the interests of their original buyers that have distinct characteristics.

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D. Buyers in the Conference Industry (1) Market Segmentation in the Tourism Industry By reviewing the broad scope of the industry and its suppliers it becomes apparent that essentially the segmentation according to the buyer that provide real value to marketers (Palmer and Bejou, 1995). Despite its high costs in financial means and time the strategic importance of consumer segmentation to the tourism industry, research is substantial.

Price (2003) classified two sets of customer segmentation approaches, a forward and backward approach: in the convention tourism 4 Forward approaches group customers on descriptor variables. They may be of geographic

demographic or volume-based nature and can provide a clearer view of the market. The advantages lie in the ease of implementation and the low-cost associated with their research (Majurin, 2001) whereas the results may be used in guiding promotions (Haley, 1968). However, segmentation on the basis of demographics is only a first step towards more useful segmentation based on benefits (Griffith and Pol, 1994).

4 Backward approaches group customers according to response profiles such as benefits

but also buying behavior (Yankelovich, 1968) and is a tool for improving communication with the segments (Haley, 1971). The tourism industry mainly used factor and cluster analysis to determine need based segments. As the data is usually analyzed in the form of a correlation matrix (Frochot and Morrison, 2000), these researches are exploratory in nature (Hair, Anderson, Tatham and Black, 1998; Kline, 1994).

In the following the literature on the convention tourism is reviewed whereas the different segmentation methods may be identified.

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(2) Buyer Segmentation Conventions are typically held by organizations with a specified geographic scope (Var, Cesario and Mauser, 1985). At least five organizational levels can be identified each having a progressively larger scope and ranging from local, regional/state, to continental and international. Table 3 provides more insight. As mentioned above, ICCA collects data on international organizations. They shape the focus of this study.

The international meetings market can be segmented in many different ways. It can be segmented by the size of the meetings, by the kind of people who visit the meetings, by the purpose of the meetings and by many more criteria (ICCA, 2004). Figure 3 proposed by Shone (2002) groups different segmentation approaches. However, the main criterion a supplier uses to segment the international market is by the initiator of the meeting as he determines what kind of meeting is organized and the kind of supplier services needed (ICCA, 2004).

When segmenting the international meetings market by initiator, the two principal categories into which conference demand is most commonly divided is the corporate market and the non-corporate market (Shone, 2002). The latter consists of international governmental organizations and international non-governmental organizations or associations (ICCA, 2002). This research paper investigates into the further segmentation of the association segment in particular: Figure 4 ICCA’s Definition of the Meetings Market

Source ICCA, 2002

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(3) Corporate Market Characteristics The corporate market is the largest single market segment, accounting for over 65 percent of meetings (Lawson, 2000) and is recognized as one of the most valuable segments of the conference market even though the meetings often have well under 100 participants. In view of the relatively small delegate number meetings are typically held in hotels. They are also more likely to return to the same venue as business locations and headquarters commonly determine the meeting site.

Mostly such meetings are organized on an ad hoc basis and are often one-time-events. The needs of the individual business, the economy and market changes hugely affect their number as they are financed by the company. Furthermore, they take a variety of forms, including board, management, and shareholders meetings, training seminars, meeting with partners, suppliers and clients, sales conference, product launches, strategic planning retreats, and incentives. Lawson (2000) provides a detailed account of all their characteristics. McCabe et al. (2000) suggests a division of the corporate sector into manufacturing, distribution and retail, and services, since each of these has unique requirements that marketers of meeting services must address to be successful.

Pharmaceutical, banking, IT and motor manufacturing are prime marketing segments as they tend to be the highest spending branches with the greatest meeting frequency (Crouch and Weber, 2002).

Nevertheless, identifying the corporate buyer for marketing purposes represents a challenge in the entire market. Corporate meeting planners can be in-house planners, working for different departments within the company whereas job titles and responsibilities in the planning of a conference vary greatly. The company can also hire intermediary services such as PCOs or Travel Agents (Shone, 1998). Only large corporations retain a dedicated conference management department. The decision-making process is in any case relatively straight forward and more-or-less immediate (Vleeming, 2003).

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(4) International Governmental Organizations International Governmental Organizations (IGOs) organize governmental meetings. These are groups whose constituencies are made up of civil servants, elected officials and service providers to governmental entities (Vleeming, 2003). Influencing their decision on where the event is going to be held is nearly impossible although some cities have specialized in servicing this sector (Zuffi, 2003). Examples of these initiators are the United Nations or the European Union (Eurostat, 2000).

(5) Association Market Characteristics Associations are not-for-profit organizations, which exist to present and promote the interests of their members (Crouch and Weber, 2002). As within the corporate sector the international association segment encompasses a wide range of organizations which can be professional, scientific or social in nature. Similar to the nature of the association other association characteristics (demographics) are important for marketers to identify. Further investigation into key association characteristics is provided later.

However, meetings are used by all of them as one of the most important communication methods and must be run extremely professional, not at least because they are often in the public eye, through press and medial exposure (Rogers, 2003). They often act as key revenue generators to support the headquarters and fund outreach activities (BTP, 2003).

A variety of meetings are held, including training and development programs, networking functions and seminars whereas only the most visible and desirable gatherings, from a destination view point correspond to ICCA criteria. When referred to meetings from hereon they correspond to the definition of ICCA. These meetings may be called conferences, general assemblies, conventions or congresses. Common to all of them is their strong drawing power among members. They also alternate between destinations either on a fixed rotation or by invitation and are repeated at regular intervals. That may be annually, biennial,

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etc. As this means that they rarely return to the same destination within a very short timespan, virtually no return business can be expected from international associations (Rogers, 2003).

Delegates at association conventions mostly cover the cost for attending themselves but are more likely to bring along their families. The higher attendance numbers and longer duration (Braley, 1998) contribute to the fact that about 70 to 75 percent of the industry spending is on association oriented events (Abbey and Link, 1994). But despite the importance of the association market to both individual properties and host cities, little research has been undertaken on its structure and workings. This lack of information is a handicap to operating managers and tourism officials responsible for marketing and promoting their product and services‌ (Abbey and Link, 1994) Fenich (1998) expresses similar sentiments but emphasizes the need for broad based empirical studies. “Any additional empirical information will constitute a contribution to the body of knowledge in this area!â€?

This study aims to respond to this lack by segmenting the association market based on the relative influence of the different members in the buying center. The decision-making process of international associations has changed over recent years (ICCA, 2004; BTP, 2003; Lokerman, 2004; All Interviews, 2004; Vleeming, 2003). The increased use of external companies is an example, but no empirical evidence has been published to the knowledge of the author.

A multitude of variables affect the decision-making process, making it complex and difficult for marketers to influence. As all elements must be understood to create effective sales and marketing strategies, the literature on organizational purchasing is reviewed in the following.

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E. Association Decision-Making Process The organizational purchasing theory has found helpful in describing how association select meeting sites (Clark and McCleary, 1995). Webster and Wind (1972) defined it in the following way: [‌] organizational buying is a decision-making process carried out by individuals, in interaction with other people, and within the context of a formal organization. The organization is influenced by a variety of forces in the environment.

The organizational buying behavior is motivated and directed by the organization’s goals and is constrained by its financial, technical and human resources. Jackwerth and SchilmÜller (2003) note that besides the constant monitoring of the environmental forces, four clear interrelated sets of variables must be considered in the development of marketing strategies created to influence that process: buying task, organizational structure, buying technology and the buying center. Despite their importance to the overall concept organizational structure (communication, authority, status, reward, and work flow) and technology will not be treated in this review.

Crouch and Ritchie (1998) applied the conceptual model originally identified by Webster and Wind (1972) with the attempt to increase the understanding of the purchase decision made by associations. The five stages in the buying decision process define the buying task involving the different members of the buying center, employing different decision criteria and different information sources. Along with the proposed model presented in Figure 5 the five stages or the buying decision process are described in detail.

(1) Changing Decision-Making Process Environmental forces compel companies to make structural adjustment. This is the case for the international association market at the moment and important for marketers to understand:

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Increased competition for members forces associations to consistently improve their services as to create real value for their members to stay in business. As 32.5 percent of professional association’s operating costs are covered by conference surplus their turnout becomes critical to the long-term success of the association (PCMA, 2000; ASAE, 1999; Clark and McCleary, 1995). Selling exhibition space may be one way to increase profits. Despite their considerable financial contribution to the positive turnout of an event, their importance to the decision-making process is negligible (MPI, 2003; Oppermann and Chon, 1997; Oppermann, 1994) and will not be treated in the following. But the increased need for consistent and professional management not only for the exhibition has affected the structure of many associations (Interview Mch Basel, 2004).

Traditionally, associations encourage local volunteers to initiate and organize the event. Thus, headquarters have limited influence on the financial turnout (Lokerman, 2004). As this represents a handicap to some associations a more centralized approach to decision-making and the organization of the event are adopted (Vleeming, 2003; Shure, 1994). About 20 to 25 percent of all association headquarters today have increased their control to assure a profitable outcome of the event.

As the role of the local counterpart is changing, different marketing approaches may be necessary for destinations to apply (read CVB). It also appears that marketing for association meetings is a more complex undertaking (Grimaldi, 1997) than it is for corporate meetings.

To draw better conclusions, more information on the decision-making process is needed.

(2) Buying Task, Buying Process

Buying Situation The first attempt to segment buying organizations based on their decision-making process and the participants in the decision making unit (buying center) was made by Robinson, Faris and Wind (1967) that proposed a market-segmentation according to the type of buying situation as the buying task varies according to the familiarity of the buyer with the

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product/service. A new buy involves more time and people than a modified or straight rebuy (Birkbek, 2001; Koรง University, 2001; Clark and Knuston, 1995). As from international associations usually no return business can be expected, it is important to identify other segmentation techniques in this area. It is also important to investigate which ones have provided the greatest use for marketers.

It is therefore important in the following not only to look at the different elements of the decision making process in more detail, but to analyze advantages and shortcomings of the different segmentation techniques.

Information sources Trade journals (Meetings & Conventions [M&C], Successful Meetings, Association Management, and Convene, etc.) regularly conduct surveys among their members. The question on the information sources used can be found in all of them. The findings from the UK conference market survey 2002 for example have revealed that associations heavily rely on their own knowledge (65%) and word-of-mouth (47%) to help with venue selection; Agencies (26%), directories/guides (25%) and internet (19%) where somehow less important.

As seen before (CVBs, the most prominent marketing organizations) marketers clearly understand the importance of relationship-marketing. Successful destination marketing although must be efficient regardless of the prominence of information sources. Marketers must therefore understand the different decision criteria associations consider when selecting a meeting site. These site selection factors have received most interest by convention tourism researchers.

Decision Criteria The majority of publications make some attempt to identify important site selection factors (decision criteria) whereas the majority of studies are based on opinions, anecdotal evidence, and industry experience. Only a very small portion apply any sort of rigorous approach (qualitative or quantitative) to the identification and relative significance of the site selection

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factors (Bonn and Boyd, 1992; Bonn, Brand and Ohlin, 1994; Bonn, Ohlin and Brand, 1994; Clark et McCleary, 1995, Clark, Price and Murrmann, 1996; Fortin and Ritchie, 1977; Fortin, Ritchie and Arsenault, 1976; Gofton, 1992; Oppermann, 1996a, 1996b; Go and Zhang, 1997; 1993; Zelinsky, 1994).

A comparison of the studies indicates that some attributes are regularly rated as more important than others (Jang and Woods, 2000). Conference and accommodation facilities, accessibility, and price levels are commonly ranked as the primary decision factors. Less frequently mentioned are factors such as service quality, destination images, safety/security, recreational and entertainment facilities, climate, and dining facilities. Crouch and Ritchie (1998) grouped the respective variables (attributes) into a set of eight primary categories along several dimensions. These thirty-six convention destination attributes are most widely accepted to govern the choice of a convention site of international associations. They may be consulted in Figure 6.

This list represents a valuable tool for marketers as conclusions can be drawn on the performance of certain elements that the association market perceives to be important. This strategic marketing approach is defined as importance-performance analysis or expectancyvalue model (Go and Zhang, 1997; Oppermann, 1996a). The concept is widely used to evaluate general tourism destination images (Chon, Weaver and Kim, 1991; Chon and Evans, 1989), particularly with regard to actual and potential tourists (Selby and Morgan, 1996). It is critical for the conference destinations that weaknesses are addressed such as to improve the destination’s competitiveness. By emphasizing its major strength in promotional efforts, a destination stresses its benefits so as to increase its share of the lucrative meeting and convention business.

In the increasingly competitive global market and the limited resources available to marketers, destinations cannot be everything to every customer. Further segmentation becomes necessary even among associations. As companies, universities and other institutions within a destination provide the most attractive leads, priorities in should be set. Prime markets are the ones that are most positively affected by the destination’s strengths and do not place particular value on its weaknesses. Taking Interlaken as an example the most potential

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associations can afford the destination and emphasize touristic appeal. At the same time they must be less sensitive to accessibility and fit the physical constraints of a destination.

Taking advantage of simple demographic based segmentation could help identifying these target markets. It then can position itself much more effectively in the market against its competitors in terms of products, services, image, values, quality, etc.

Positive relationships have been obtained by Fortin and Ritchie (1977) some twenty-five years ago. But despite the importance for marketers to have the relative importance of site selection factors related to key association characteristics (demographics) this area has remained relatively unexplored (Crouch and Ritchie, 1998; Oppermann, 1996a; Zelinsky, 1994); Only the most contemporary studies probe again into this important area (Oppermann, 1998; Jun and McCleary, 1999; Jang and Woods, 2000; Choi and Boger, 2002). Most studies focus only on a limited number of characteristics, whereas Choi and Boger (2002) investigated into the effects of association age, type, size, budget and lead time in one paper.

Jun and McCleary (1999) have further considered the number of meetings organized to be influential.

The review of the articles found in Table 4 points out that international associations are not totally homogenous in selecting their convention sites. The results imply that within the overall marketing strategies, marketers should make adjustments in communicating with associations of different types, ages, sizes, and budgets.

In the mean time a significant correlation between budget, size and timing of the convention selection decision exists (Fortin and Ritchie (1977), Choi and Boger (2002). This finding implies that large the associations need to be approached by marketers earlier in time than smaller gatherings as the complexity of the organizational logistic demands more planning.

It is very important for marketers not only to know when to contact the association and what to communicate but also which people in the decision-making process must be influenced to increase the chance of success to host the event (Shone, 1998). Otherwise the bid may be lost despite technical superiority and competitive pricing (Zaman and Kahn, 1998; Interview

SCIB, 2004).

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(3) Buying Center A single individual rarely controls a major purchase decision for an organization. Instead, important decisions are made by a group, sometimes called a buying center. Most studies on convention tourism discussed in part the role of some of the participants in the site selection decision but only a few (M&C, 2002; Kirschbaum, 1995; Clark, et al, 1995, 1996; Fortin et al., 1976, 1977) examined their role and relative influence in any depth. The buying center of association might be composed of meeting planners, association executives, board members, members of the site selection committee, or powerful individual members. They may play different roles in the decision making process (Clark and McCleary, 1995). Webster and Wind (1972) defined the roles as buyers, deciders, gatekeepers, influencers, and users (Birbeck, 2004; Clark, Price and Murrmann, 1996; Abbey and Link, 1994). UTD, (2003) proposes a sixth role that is particularly important to understand the association buying center; the initiator.

4 Users are the delegate that attends the congress (Oppermann and Chon, 1997).

4 Initiators want to influence the site selection by taking on a part of the risk and

responsibility. As we have seen often it is a local counterpart of the association that submits a formal bid proposal in cooperation with the CVB and a suitable venue (Vleeming, 2003).

4 Influencers supply information, assistance or advice and may be association members or

executives. Outsiders such as consultants may also sometimes perform this role.

4 Gatekeepers connect the organization with the environment. They decide which

information and when they are referred to other people in the buying center. Meeting planners or executives usually keep in this powerful role (Weber, 2001).

4 Buyers choose suppliers and negotiate purchase terms often reducing the actual

purchase to a clerical task. Meeting planners almost always have the role of buyers (Judd, 1995).

4 Deciders have the authority to approve the purchase and may even outline specific

attributes for the product to be purchased.

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When a buying center includes multiple participants, the seller may not have the time and resources to reach all of them. Smaller sellers concentrate on reaching key buying influencers (gatekeepers) and deciders. Conference venues are likely to fall into this category. Larger sellers, such as destinations have greater budgets and utilize multi-level, in dept selling to reach as many buying participants as possible (Emerson, 2004; Astroff and Abbey, 2002).

Because of the meeting planners’ powerful position, they have been the main focus of researches and marketing activities. But marketing only to meeting planners may not be particularly effective depending on the inner workings of a particular association’s buying center. This is particularly true for international associations where the local counterpart may play a crucial as initiator or influencer when the destination requires the local counterpart to take all or some responsibility in the conference content.

Realizing this Clark, Price and Murrmann (1996) started to unravel the association decisionmaking processes and classified the results according to the person having the authority to make the final decision. Even though no dominant pattern emerged in the make up of buying centers, they found that the “authority to make the site selection was usually vested in a site selection committee, the general association congress, the board, the president , the association executive, the meeting planner or some combination of the above”. They are essentially approached for lobbying purposes and thus only in a second stage (after interest has been shown).

Crouch and Ritchie (1998) assumed that the variations in the structure of the convention site selection process significantly depend on the size and the budget of the association as they will be more likely to employ permanent members of staff that may be in- or external to the association. They in part they have the responsibility, the knowledge and expertise to thoroughly plan the association’s convention and investigate potential sites (Rogers, 2003; BTP, 2003; Crouch and Ritchie, 1998). Consequently, such organizations are unlikely to contract with local suppliers for PCO services. Having greater responsibility in the site selection local counterparts may loose their importance to destination marketers as their

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influence on the decision becomes negligible. This will influence the marketing efforts of marketers as their prime contact used to be the local counterpart.

It should be mentioned at this point that the research reviewed almost exclusively centered around professional associations from the US where reference to local initiators and their influence on the decision-making process has received nearly no attention. The only exception that was found by the author is a graphic in the article of Clark, Price, and Murrmann (1996). But this finding was not even mentioned in the text (Table 5). The European literature on the contrary discusses the traditional bidding process much more commonly (Vleeming, 2003; Rogers, 2003; BTP, 2003, Shone, 2002; Astroff and Abbey, 2002; Rogers, 1998; Shone, 1998). As the Europeans lag behind in the statistical data collection

(Geoffry,

1991;

Eurostat,

2000),

the

industry

structure

may

also

be

underdevelopment.

Vleeming (2003) categorized the decision-making processes according to the person initiating the event and proposed two basic decision-making models; the traditional bidding process and the centralized decision-making process presented in Figure 7 here below. This approach attempts to segment the association market based on the relative influence of the members in a buying center on the decision-making process.

Figure 7 A Model of two basic types of Decision-Making Processes

Source : Vleeming, 2003 32

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4 In the traditional bidding process, it is usually the local counterpart that initiates the

congress and may be (1) the national association (2) a local member of the board (3) a chapter or commission (4) or simply an active individual that want to profile themselves within the organization. As they often lack the time and knowledge to plan and organize an event they cooperate with the CVB and a suitable venue. Together they form the organizing committee and submit a formal request. Decision-makers will select among several bids and the winning destination may contract the services of a PCO. 4 The central-decision making process is more informal and usually much shorter as the

suppliers have to live up to strict pre-decided criteria (Kirschbaum, 1995).

J Both processes may be influenced by pre-decisions based on marketing objectives, facilitative demands and/or political motivations (Vleeming, 2003).

According to Crouch and Rogers (1998) all associations employing professional meeting planners where initiators. Vleeming (2003) fine-tunes this statement suggesting that based on the latest industry developments particularly associations employing an AMC or a corePCO are in predisposition to adopt a centralized approach (and be less influenced by local counterpart activity).

From a marketing perspective this two-poled segmentation seems straight forward and easily applicable for marketers. The ICCA database is updated according to Vleeming’s (2003) qualitative findings. As these external planners are much more likely to provide repeat business than a single international association, the results should be used to review marketing activities in order to optimally allocate a destination’s resources. Should venues target this channel directly or should they act together under the “umbrella” of the destination?

Even though a destination is able to provide greater product variety and therefore have increased chances to win repeat business, some destinations may choose a different strategy.

Furthermore, reality is more complex than the theoretical proposition. Often marketers have to deal with a combination of the decision-making models. Local counterparts may still be involved in the central decision-making process but have no decisive influence in it. So if the initiator of an international meeting is a motivated local counterpart he continues to be very

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important and decisive in the decision to, or not to, organize the meeting in his destination (Vleeming, 2003). Lokermann (2004) suggests that relationships with local counterparts should continuously be cultivated even if his involvement may only be ceremonial or cultural.

If the local counterpart is not motivated, the association unlikely to select his destination as the meeting place (BTP, 2003).

Knowing the degree to which an association wants their local counterpart to be involved in the delivery of the meeting content and its role in the social program may therefore be crucial to destination marketers seeking to influence all members of the buying center.

Marketers are unlikely to know the group dynamics that take place during the decision process. Salespeople commonly learn the personalities and interpersonal factors that shape the organizational environment and provide useful insight into group dynamics. Experience is the key to success at this stage. However, the members’ relative position in the decisionmaking process is related to the structure of the association and may therefore be identified beforehand. Understanding this relation would help to identify key contacts more effectively and lead to deliver better service. Therefore this study proposes a Model that segments the international association market based the relative importance of a buying center participant’s in the decision-making process. Refer to the following section and Figure 8.

(4) Segmentation

based

on

the

Relative

Importance

of

Buying

Center

Participants The model summarizes the key elements of the decision-making process that are influenced by the changing industry structure. The key elements of the decision-making process are deduced from the sections above. Three key questions are proposed to identify to whom marketing efforts should be directed to when going for a new business. The model also suggests that the characteristics of the buying organization are likely to be influential.

Furthermore, the model includes the supplier side of the market that must adapt its sales and marketing strategies accordingly. The better the different decision-making process structures are understood the more efficient their activities will be.

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Figure 8 Segmenting the International Association Market based on the relative influence of Buying Center Participants in the Decision-Making Process

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*** HYPOTHESES *** Even though leading industry professionals agree that the industry environment is changing the structure of the buying center and consequently the services they require from a destination, no empirical results have yet been published. This paper attempts to do so with the three hypotheses.

Literature reveals four elements that are in this respect of importance to marketers to observe in order to optimize the initial contact. This is the relative influence of the local counterpart on the meeting content, the type of buyer, and the local counterpart as initiator of the meeting. The composition indicates marketers with whom relationships must be tied to positively affect the final decision and maximize the return on investment.

Based on the general acceptance of contemporary convention tourism researches the results find greater strategic importance among operational managers and tourism officials responsible for marketing the destination when the findings are attributed to key association characteristics (demographic segmentation by nature, age, size, registration fee, meeting frequency, and convention budget).

As too many small hypothesizes would have to be set up the author has considered a null hypothesis to be more effective.

(H1)

No statistically significant relation exists between the elements of the decisionmaking process and basic association demographics.

1. Is the local counterpart the initiator in the market?

2. How strong is his responsibility in the in the work out of the conference content?

3. Is there a professional meeting planner contracted? If so, what type?

4. Who is involved in the decision-making process?

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The author then suggests to a correlation analysis among the association characteristics as proposed by Choi and Boger (2002).

(H2)

No

correlation

exists

among

the

following

association

characteristics

(nature, age, size, registration fee, budget, meeting frequency, lead time)

The fourth hypothesis probes into the use of the services that local companies supply to international associations. It is important for marketers to know if preferences in services and supplier exist among associations. This study aims at identifying their relative influence to the structure of the decision-making process (DMP). Literature suggests that some suppliers are more frequently requested than others and that they have specialized in different areas.

Based on the assumption that associations select the service provider that best fits their requirements a two tailed hypothesis is proposed.

(H3a)

(H3b)

Among international associations no significant relations exist between the structure of the DMP and the local service suppliers selected Among international associations no significant relations exist between the structure of the DMP and the service task required by local suppliers

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*** METHODOLOGY *** (1) Research Objective The objective in this research is to get a profound understanding of how segmentation has been employed by researchers in the association market, particularly in respect to the decision-making process. The goal of this marketing research is to propose an empirically justified segmentation of the association market based on the structure of the decisionmaking process.

These objectives make this thesis useful literature for people who are new to the conference industry and want to get an overview of the market and a more profound understanding of the decision-making process and its relative influence related to basic association characteristics.

To maximize the benefit of this marketing research the research process and its limitations are clarified in the following. The textural structure follows the outline of a marketing research proposed by QuickMBA (2004).

(2) Data Sources, Research Design and Research Questions This research started with an exploratory research of the secondary data in order to form the research objectives (Zikmund, 2000). To define the research problem Academic and Business research has been reviewed. The industry’s relative usefulness made it difficult to find easily accessible information for non-professionals. There are a number of useful books on the market that have not available through the library. Most academic articles appear in Journals hardly available through traditional library research channels and may only be obtained at very high costs. The Centre des Hautes Etudes Touristiques in Aix-en-Provence although provides an extensive database of convention tourism articles available at relatively low costs. From the many trade-associations of the international meetings industry that I

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have contacted, ICCA has provided the most valuable information and are essential to this dissertation.

Non industry related research was conducted to clarify the two key concepts; market segmentation and organizational purchasing.

In order for the research objectives to be well defined, feedback and guidance from industry professionals on the observed situation was indispensable due to the unfamiliarity of the author with the industry. Interview partners were ICCA members in Switzerland. To gain a better understanding of their interrelationships the members were selected from different categories. A structured interview approach was selected with the aim to compare answers more efficiently. The results helped to specify the research direction and formulate hypothesizes that are in the interest of industry professionals.

The approach revealed from the literature that suggests testing the structure of the decisionmaking process for significance to association characteristics was assumed to yield helpful results. It was also considered to be important relating the structure to the use of local suppliers and respective services.

The secondary data yielded relations that are generally accepted by industry professionals, but have not been tested for statistical significance (Griffin and Ebert, 2002). As this is strongly suggested by the research community (Abbey and Link, 1994; Fenich, 1998; Oppermann, 1998) the primary data research is descriptive in nature. From the two basic types of descriptive research cross-sectional study is appropriate as the measurement is static.

(3) Research Approach The type of research chosen for this study is a self-administrated quantitative Internet-survey.

The main reason why a survey was chosen over other forms of research methods is due to the reach of it. As the study is conclusive it needs a greater sample as the information already exists to create hypothesizes and what is needed is primary data to confirm or

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disconfirm this (Malhotra, 1996). This application is especially suitable for this study’s sample, as the contact information is already in an existing database (McDaniel and Gates, 1998).

(4) Research Method Oppermann (1996b) suggests that thanks to contemporary mediums such as internet surveys higher response rate may be achieved. The electronic format enables efficient data processing not only for participants but also for the researcher. Another advantage is are the low costs involved; printing, mailing and data keying become obsolete whereas attractive visual formatting is possible (McDaniel and Gates, 1998). As today, most businesses have access to the Internet the bias of not being the most representative sample can be avoided.

They are an excellent population to reach via Internet.

(5) Sampling Method and Sample Size The population subject to this research corresponds to predetermined criteria (ICCA Definition). It is listed on the ICCA database tracking 80% of the international associations and fits the “rotation area series” option “Europe”. 4076 international associations are represented in this category. From this population a random sample of 446 (11%) organizations was provided by ICCA free of charge; a comparable size to previous studies on convention tourism (Weber, 2001; Oppermann, 1996a, 1998; Jun and McCleary, 1999).

Simple random sampling is the most straightforward form of probability sampling and gives every element and equal chance of being part of the sample (Clark and Knuston, 1995) This guarantees that the sample is statistically representative of the population (Hair, Anderson, Tatham and Black, 2003). As all associations in the sample provided email address and contact information, the sample frame does not vary. As these contact people are contacted

by ICCA members for information request on their association, it is assumed that they are aware of the inner workings of their organization.

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(6) Questionnaire Design Different parts of the research framework basically the wording of the questionnaire. The self-administered internet survey was reviewed by academia and industry professionals.

Necessary modification in content and wording were made accordingly.

The survey instrument contained three sections. (1) The first section of the survey contained questions about the decision-making process and the relative influence of the participants. (2) The second part included questions about association characteristics, such as association type, age, attendance, and budget and others. (3) The last section contained demographic questions on the respondent, such as position or the involvement with the association.

Most survey questions had a closed-ended format for simplicity of coding and data entry.

Response time could be minimized diminishing non-responses due to survey fatigue. Openended question where employed only when the responses where difficult to group beforehand.

(7) Mailing The URL link was sent via email to the to the contact person’s email account, addressing him by name, gender or title as well and actual position within the company (January 14, 2004).

The company name was also included. The email was set up as a cover letter explaining the purpose of the study and informed on how they were selected. A statement that assured the person’s complete confidentiality and that information would be used only for research purposes was included. The receiver was motivated to participate in the survey with three elements: (1) their response would be to the benefit of a student (2) they would automatically receive the study results (3) they could win one of 50 annual subscriptions to the EHLITE magazine.

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(8) Non-respondent Bias In the first mailing some 36 email addresses turned out to be unavailable and decreased the sample frame to 410. Additionally several responses reached the author telling that they were not actively involved in the association anymore (6 people) but had forwarded the mail to their successor. After the answer delay of three weeks had passed a second mailing was carried out to the non-respondents that had not communicated their refusal (7 responses) to participate in the survey (January 28, 2003). 30 additional answers were gathered. The cut off date has been three weeks from that day (February 18, 2003). Two responses where not taken into consideration as they arrived after that date. The purpose of this second mailing was to stimulate additional responses as many might have been involved in meeting preparation at that time.

(9) Methodological Limitations The results of this study cannot be generalized to all continental associations. Associations in other continents may have different structures and objectives. In addition, associations are likely to modify their structure over time since the criteria were measured based on the most recent convention site selection decision. This study only used a very small sample that may set limits to a thorough analysis. Finally, this study was conducted with contact persons of the continental associations listed in the ICCA database. Other information banks may yield different results.

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*** PRIMARY DATA COLLECTION *** A. Data Analysis procedure and methods The data were analyzed using the ShinxPlus2. Statistical analyses included descriptive statistics such as means and frequencies. For inferential analysis, independent sample t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were employed. Based on numeric variables (association age, size, number of meetings, registration fee, and budget) MANOVA was applied to identify if elements of the decision-making process and the association nature interacted. Correlation tests were performed to examine the relationships among the inferring association variables and the timing of the convention site selection decision.

Multiple tables were employed to describe the local service offer. Mean tables and 2 factor variable analysis were used to identify what elements of the decision-making process interact with the supplier selection. Again association characteristics provided the basis of the analysis. A sub-sample approach only was proposed for further analysis as the sample was too small for statistically significant analysis.

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B. Descriptive statistics A total of 121 responses were returned (29.5%). Of these, 6 (1.4%) were omitted from the analysis because they were invalid. The adjusted usable response rate for the study was 28.1%.

The majority of respondents were male (61.7%) and hold a doctor (28.7%) degree. The title of 75% of the respondents implied them to be heading their organization. 15% of the respondents had a title corresponding to “planning and coordinating meetings”. The most frequently cited titles were Secretary General (25%) and Secretary (16.4%). Most respondents’ career in the association sector was less than 15 years (68.7%) with an emphasis on five to 10 years (26.1%) and 10 to 15 years (22.6%). Some had been in the business for more than 30 years and 20% for at least 20 years.

Many respondents were from Brussels (12%) the UK (6.9%) and the Netherlands (6.5%), where incidentally most association headquarters are located. In total, the respondents resided in 17 different countries.

Most of the associations examined were scientific in nature (40.9%) followed by the medical (20%) and Business/Trade/Commercial (16.5%) sector. They were a mean of 27 years in business. Nearly half of the associations surveyed (47%) organized 2 meetings per year. The average number of events held were 3.6, ranging from just one to more than 20. Typical attendance size of a continental association’s past “annual congress” was about 650, with an average budget of 308’500 Euros. Registration fee was most commonly between 250 and 500 Euros. The breakdown of attendance size was fewer than 1000 (80.9%) fever than 500 (67%), fever than 250 (43.5%) fever than 125 (25.2%). Convention site selection decision was made most frequently one and a half a year in advance. Regional preference (60%) was the most important factor influencing the final decision. It is also true for this sample that the destination image is important for marketers to consider. Breakthrough and Discovery were last important (5.2%).

The most prominent individual in the decision-making process is the association executive (33.9%). A representative body is almost always involved (83.5%) whereas the association board most commonly (54.8%) gives the formal approval. 73% of the associations surveyed

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require a formal invitation that was submitted by the association’s national counterpart in every third case (32.2%). On average, the local counterpart’s involvement with the meeting content is moderate (4.18 out of 7). External organizers are contracted by 28.7% of all associations but in nearly half of the cases (47%) no professional staff is employed at all. A local PCO was contracted by 56.5% of all responding associations for at least one service.

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C. Relationships

between

Association

Characteristics

and

Decision-Making Process Elements One-way ANOVA (Analysis of Variance) was used, because the proposed research model compares the means of more than three sub-populations in the population of all associations (Jang and Woods, 2000). Literature has tested its application on site selection factors. The response variables in this case are the association characteristics. The predictor variables are the elements of the decision-making process.

4 It is least likely that Educational / Religious (E/R) as well as to a lesser extent Scientific

associations cut out the formal bidding procedure. Business / Trade / Commercial (B/T/C) associations on the contrary prefer this more informal approach. Shortened lead-times are the most significant consequence observed.

J However, the results give no closer information what the involvement actually looks like. Knowing if the involvement is ceremonial or managerial might have yielded more significant results. The author would suggest a Likert scale or multivariable approach.

4 However when an invitation is required, local active individuals (such as a doctor or

professor) tend to submit bids to associations that only organize few meeting. Scientific associations most likely seem to apply this approach. Political and Voluntary/Charity (V/C) meetings have exclusively been forwarded by the national counterpart. When a local member of the board initiated the event, the association was characterized by its youthfulness, low registration fee and/or low budget at hand.

J This is information is helps to optimize account management. A more specific test is necessary.

4 The relative influence of the local counterpart’s responsibility in the meeting content has

been gathered through a 7 point Likert scale. Strong similarities enabled to group the results in three categories, named “low” (1-3), “moderate” (4, 5) and high” (6, 7). “High” commitment was mostly required by associations with low meeting frequency and small “annual” meetings. Most commonly they are scientific in nature. [B/T/C]s adopt an inverse structure. The involvement of the local counterpart in the meeting content is not important.

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Associations with low registration fee commonly require “moderate� participation. Survey results reveal that political organizations tend to be organized this way most frequently.

J The results help developing the most fruitful relationship strategy with the local counterpart. Further investigation is necessary.

4 The buying center composition remained indifferent among association types, even after

similar elements were regrouped. However, an elected site-selection committee most commonly participates in the decision-making process of large events. Organizations with high meeting frequency tend to exclude the association council in the process.

J Site-selection committees are an independent authority elected by the council to act on their behalf. The decision-making will be more efficient. The same reason is true for organizations with high meeting frequency that avoid the direct opinion of the council in decisions 4 The analysis of the factors that considerably influenced the final decision found that the

achievement of marketing objectives is particularly important to young associations.

Meetings influenced by a Breakthrough/Discovery (B/D) were had the smallest drawing power and were commonly organized with a tight budget.

J B/D are easily identified and may result in simple leads. It is likely for them to be relatively small as such breakthroughs are usually achieved in very specific fields with a limited number of experts. Proposing further research hypothesizes between association characteristics and site selection factors, Crouch and Ritchie (2002) a relation of differences in age with marketing objectives. In very broad terms this study confirms their assumption for international association limiting their convention site selection to the European continent.

4 Literature revealed that the organizational structure varies when professional services are

contracted. The survey results confirm this observation and imply that a core-PCO is commonly employed by organizations with large meetings. Medical associations most commonly work with this specific service provider. These associations are least likely not to contract any professional assistance. External partners are preferred. Scientific on the other hand mostly manage their meetings without professionals.

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J There findings help in developing an adequate sales channel strategy. Further investigation is necessary.

The results from the general mean and cross tables imply that the hypothesis (H1) must be rejected. Besides the three key questions several other elements of the decision-making process have related to association characteristics. Except for the buying center composition and the key influencing factors all elements have yielded significant findings according to the association nature. It strongly influences the association profiles. Significant findings between the association nature and other association characteristics help to establish these profiles.

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D. Impact of the association nature on association characteristics Relating the association characteristics to the association nature confirms the expected relations in the previous section. Even though the correlation analyses among all association characteristics are identified later in the analysis the following results imply that the hypothesis (H2) must be rejected.

4 Medical organizations organize indeed the largest events.

4 B/T/C congresses tend to have the lowest attendance number whereas these

associations have the greatest meetings frequency. The later is also true for political organizations.

4 Scientific organizations on the other hand tend to least active in meeting production.

4 This analysis also confirms V/C and E/R organizations to have the lowest convention

budget at hand. The lowest registration fees are offered by E/R and political associations.

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E. Interaction of Association Nature and Decision-Making Process Elements based on Remaining Association Characteristics The above results entail that the findings in the remaining association characteristics are caused by both, the association nature and the elements of the decision-making process. A MANOVA approach is applied to analyze their interaction. For the purpose of this test the association types with the lowest response rate (E/R, V/C, and Political) were omitted.

ANOVA results confirm the findings of the previous sections. The 2 factor variance analysis did not yield significant differences among associations of different age and the number of meetings. However, marginal and significant differences were found among the size, budget and registration fee of the associations in adopting a decision-making process appropriate to their nature. The results emerged from the Fisher test and are described below: 4 Bids submitted by the national counterpart have had the highest registration fees. In this

respect B/T/C associations had the highest attendance fee. However when an invitation to a B/T/C association was submitted by a local member of the board prices where low.

Scientific associations had the lowest registration fees whereas the bid was most commonly submitted by a local active individual such as a doctor or professor.

J National counterparts may receive highest priority for B/T/C and (as seen before) V/C associations. However, competition between local destinations may be fierce. It is furthermore important to keep in mind the relative economic benefit. Compared to scientific associations B/T/Cs are much less flexible with the meeting dates. The general interest orientation of a destination will also be important. The strong political orientation of Geneva or Lausanne as a sports destination may be cited as examples.

4 Differences were found between the professional services contracted and the association

types in regards to the convention budget. Organizations with the lowest budget do not employ professional services Most commonly they are scientific in nature but they may also be B/T/C bodies. It is still true for B/T/C associations contracting with an Association Management Company (AMC).

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J The later observation reveals that B/T/C primarily contract with AMCs because of the other services offered as newsletters, statistics and other material may be more efficient communication methods to them than meetings are. The relative influence on service and supplier use becomes apparent and needs to be analyzed in more detail.

4 The local counterpart’s involvement in the meeting content as well as the association

nature influences the meeting size. The smallest industry events are organized by B/T/C. Looking at these events in particular reveals that the smallest events require “moderate” involvement from the local member whereas the midsized events will require the least assistance. It is also important to note that the events requiring a “high” contribution from their local counterpart are mostly smaller than others. This is particularly true -as seen before- for scientific associations.

J Strong relationships must therefore been built when vying for a business from a scientific association. The local member must be motivated and assisted wherever possible and convinced that the positive effects on his career will outweigh the hassle.

It is likely that they will be prime contacts from local PCOs and CVBs as they are able to support them with administrative aspects. As the acquisition of such a lead can be costly and time consuming they have their prime advantage is that they commonly meet during shoulder seasons. Their passion for meetings due to keep updated with the latest researches has been shown with their importance to the survey sample.

The low personal contributions required of B/T/C associations by the local representative (particularly in the content, but also in the formal invitation) make the segment also attractive to properties with a low marketing budget. They may be the association segment most commonly targeted by hotel properties also for their small size high meeting frequency. Their extensive database on individual business travelers make it particularly easy to generate leads nonetheless membership is frequently mandatory or equate with a quality label. Lobbying decision-makers is thus likely to be the key activity applied to target this segment.

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F. Correlation Analyses among Association Characteristics Given the significant findings related to the three different association variables (association size, association registration fee, and association budget) this study correlated an additional association characteristic, the lead-time. The differences in the association nature require a two step approach. (1) First the results were analyzed according to the total population. (2) In a second correlation analysis was completed for the sub-segments that were characterized so far. The Tables in the respective listed in the Primary research section display that the correlation coefficients of the variables were all positive.

Among all samples the correlation between the convention budget and the association size was found. This shows that larger associations tend to need a larger budget for the convention. High correlation also existed among registration fee and convention budget for the sub-samples related to the association nature. It can be inferred that costs for attending a conference are not yet significantly covered by any particular association type. However, only among Business/Trade/Commercial associations all correlations were found to be significant.

For this segment it can be deduced that larger associations that require a greater budget for planning the convention have longer booking lead-times in the site selection.

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G. Multiple Tables for Service Use Analysis So far the key elements of the decision-making process, their relative influence and significance for different association types and other association characteristics have been synthesized. These results may be useful to any operation within a destination wishing to tab the international association market. A CVB although must consider the interests of all their members when formulating marketing strategies. Therefore this part investigates into association preferences when contracting with a local service supplier.

On a broad scale it can be noted that the services least likely to be managed by the association itself are housing (24.2%) and the social program (27.7%). Marketing and (70.7%) and sponsoring (79.3%) activities although remained most commonly in the hands of the association. Sponsoring activities were least likely to be managed by Convention Centers (CC) (0.9%) and local PCOs (11.2%). The CVB was least likely to provide exhibition management (0.9%) assistance. The most common activity that CVBs (12.5%) and CCs (14.2%) were contracted for was housing. Local PCOs were most commonly contracted to organize the social program. It is important to note that all service providers delivered any task tested in this survey.

Mean table analysis identified that CC and Destination Management Companies (DMC) were most commonly employed by organizations requiring a high registration fee from their members. Large associations in particular required CC assistance. Interestingly it appears that particularly young associations are most likely to use CVBs when organizing an event.

J Medical associations are likely to be primarily in relation with CCs as only they (maybe Universities too) may provide the necessary meeting surface. These findings confirm a similar statement made by Mr. Vultier (2004).

Variance analysis conducted around these elements yielded several variables that influence the choice of a local service provider. As none Association Management Company (AMC) had contracted with a CVB they had to be omitted from the analysis.

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Dissertation 4 Scientific associations with the lowest budget tend to use CVBs. B/T/C associations with a

low budget use local PCO or DMC services

J Maybe they rather tend to be motivated by them as filler in shoulder seasons has a high economic contribution. The main benefit will be to the destination as a whole rather than just a single business. It is likely that the identified ambassador programs are directed to this market in particular.

4 Organizations employing a core PCO on average organize the largest events. No

particular service is contracted in general. When the association has a low meeting frequency CVB seem to be preferred. In-house planners contract mostly with CVBs when the event they organize is small. Associations that do not employ any professional service organize the smallest events and frequently contract all services except CCs. They also have the smallest budgets and lowest meeting frequency.

J CVBs provide service to small events as they are generally free of charge to them 4 Scientific associations primarily contract with CVBs when they organize small meetings.

B/T/C organizations on the other hand prefer to work with DMCs or a local PCO.

J Referring to above observations small B/T/C events may be least likely to contract with CVBs as hotels are most likely to contract with a hotel directly. As we have seen in the review demand existed for hotels to provide DMC services directly.

It is interesting to note that none of the decision-making process elements interferes with the local service requirements except the degree of professional service contracted for the long term. Besides that, the association nature has a marginal influence. These findings enable to reject the hypothesis (H3a). Further investigation into the dependence of specific tasks is possible.

All service providers are able to supply any task required by an association. Besides knowing

which supplier is most frequently contracted it is furthermore important to identify what they provide. An analysis of sub-samples is proposed, but the small sample size makes it impossible to provide statistically significant results. The rules of Chi2 are not really

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applicable as too many cases have an estimated value of less than 5. Hypothesis (H3b) can therefore not be tested.

The three most frequently cited elements are listed here below to get a general impression what tasks each supplier most commonly assists with.

4 CVB:

housing, social program, site inspection

4 CC:

housing, site inspection, exhibition management

4 l. PCO:

social program, registration, housing

4 DMC:

local transportation, social program, housing

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H. Conclusions and Implications Results for the continental associations analyzed imply that within the sales strategy framework, marketers should make adjustments for the following three sub-strategies: 4 Relationship Strategies with associations that require different level of involvement from

their local counterpart 4 Account Management Strategies as associations require either a local individual or the

national chapter to submit a formal invitation 4 Sales Channel Strategy for associations with different structures.

Related to the association nature distinct association types can be characterized to which the most likely suppliers are identified. Figure 9 summarizes the key findings of this analysis.

Furthermore, the supplier most likely to deal with each segment and the key reasons are also is included.

The small sample size and the wide range of influences analyzed may be likely to have left out significant findings (not only with H3b). On the contrary it may also be possible that accidental relations have emerged for the same reason. The author therefore recommends reconfirming the results by using a larger sample. It is suggested to undertake further analysis into the different segments or sales strategies to provide guidelines for marketers new to the segment. Such measurements enable this to the industry no clear entry routes non existent (BTP, 2003; MPI, 2000; Rogers, 2003) to pass on the knowledge acquired over the years.

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Figure 9 Marketing and Sales Strategy for Continental Associations

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Source: Rogers, 2003

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Source: Laesk and Hood, 2001

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Completed for the Convention Liaison Council, by the consultants, Deloitte and Touche (1993) these figures are the most widely quoted and concern the US industry in 1991. This study (cited in Association Management, 1993; Carlsen,1995; Clark and McCleary, 1995; Clark, Price and Murrmann, 1996; Oppermann, 1994 and Rockett and Smillie, 1994) judged the industry of total US$75.64 billion in direct spending of which 71 percent or 54 billion was generated by association sponsored events. The study also concluded that the meetings industry represented 36 percent of hotel industry operating revenue, 22 percent of air transportation operating revenue, 10.5 billion in taxes and 1.5 million full equivalent jobs Source; Astroff and Abbey, 2002

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Table 3 Identifying the different Association Scopes

Local organizations such as the Kiwanis Club, Rotary Club, etc. – these meet periodically at some restaurant in the town or city in which they are located.

4 Regional organizations draw membership from, say, part of a state or province (eg British

Columbia’s Lower Mainland), all of a state or province (eg the state of Indiana), or several contiguous states or provinces (eg the Pacific Northwest). These organizations may of course be composed of several local organizations in that representatives to the regional conclaves are drawn from the membership pool of the local organization (eg. Local Rotary Club officials represent their organizations at regional meetings). They may also have a distinct membership with no local counterparts (eg the Western Economics Association).

Whatever the relationship between the local and regional organizations, the regional meetings will generally be held in some specified city in the region – either in the same city every time or in different cities over time.

4 National organizations were again, the organizations may have separate identities, (eg the

Operations Research Society of America) or may be aggregates of local and regional counterparts. Meetings are usually held within the relevant geographic boundaries. Again, the location of the meetings may be “fixed” (eg the Transportation Research Board meetings are always held in Washington, DC) or “variable” (eg the Operations Research Society of America rotates its meetings all over North America).

4 On international or “world” organizations (eg International Federation of Operations

Research Societies)all of the above qualifying statements apply.

Source: Var, Cesario and Mauser, 1985

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Table 3 Bases for Market Segmentation

This study focuses on the conferences of international associations whereas further this market segment will be further segmented according to the buyer, the buying pattern and the respective distribution channel.

Source: Shone, 2002

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Figure 5: Conceptual model of the site selection process

In step1 the convention preplanning phase, potential convention dates and budgets are established and other preliminary work is undertaken. Various antecedents shape considerations in this phase. For example, new members serving on the association’s executive board may introduce different views to the process. Past experience, particularly the outcome of the associations’ most recent convention is also likely to weight heavily.

Policies, for example regarding the geographical rotation of the convention site are common.

Anticipated environmental conditions leading up to and at the time of the convention could also be important. Either implicitly or explicitly, numerous site selection factors may influence this preplanning step which, in turn, could determine the relative importance of each factor when the final site decision is made. At this early stage, competing sites, too, may have already begun to exert some influence on the process by contacting the association before any shortlist of sites is prepared. Generally a convention site that is not part of an association’s initial consideration has little chance of being selected for a meeting (McCleary et al., 1995).

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The preplanning step will also assign responsibilities either to an individual or to a committee for the second step in the process, the analysis and recommendation of potential sites. The focus in this phase is on gathering detailed information from a number of possible sites that meet the minimum requirements, mainly through an external search combined with one or more visits. For major conventions, a delegation from short listed destinations might be invited to present to the association a bid for the business. Final recommendations will be made based on the analysis and discussion of all the available information.

In view of the meeting planner’s or selection committee’s recommendations, the final site selection decision (step3) is then usually made by the association’s executives or board of directors. Board members may weigh site selection factors differently and it is also common that they are continually lobbied by competing destinations. Antecedent conditions are also likely to shape this phase. For example, an important consideration will be the specific objectives of the convention in terms of attracting attendees and making profit (or minimizing loss).

Finally the convention is held (Step4), and a post-convention evaluation (step5) is undertaken which enters the site selection process as an antecedent condition for the next convention. The evaluation may also govern the potential set of competing sites for future conventions.

Source: Crouch and Ritchie, 1998 and Crouch and Weber, 2002

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6

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Table 4: Literature Review of Association Characteristics 4 The scope of the association (state, national, international) predetermines the range of

convention location available to the organizers (Oppermann, 1997) Due to the economic value to a host city most studies have focused on international associations (Choi and Boger, 2002). A comparison to other scopes revealed that accommodation, accessibility, the site environment (destination attractiveness), local support, and risk factors play a more influential role to them in determining the convention site (Crouch and Ritchie, 1998; Fortin and Ritchie, 1977; Oppermann, 1996; Simpson and Wilkerson, 1997).

4 Researches on international associations found variations across association types. They

are

commonly

referred

to

as

professional

(scientific

associations,

medical,

business/trade/commercial) and non-professional (educational, voluntary) associations (Fortin & Ritchie, 1977; Rutherford and Kreck, 1994; Jun and McCleary, 1999; Crouch and Ritchie, 1998). Typically, the more serious and important the meeting, the less important are the social elements (Jun and McCleary, 1999). Scientists typically place high emphasis on content. Crouch and Ritchie (1998) compared non-professional and profession-related associations and concludes that the later tends to emphasize accessibility, the standards of accommodation and meeting facilities, whereas the range of leisure-related opportunities is less important.

J Medical and business/trade/commercial associations are the most demanding associations, both in content and extra-conference opportunities.

4 Oppermann’s 1996 review found that the importance of decision attributes differentiated

by the size of the convention. In a follow-up study (Oppermann, 1998) he probed into these differences. Jang and Woods (2000) reconfirmed his findings. Smaller gatherings

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are less likely to be worried about the facilities, as most destinations, or even individual hotels are able to accommodate several hundred delegates (Oppermann, 1998). Fortin et al.’s (1976) study also indicates that tourism and recreational attributes gain in importance for conventions up to 500 participants. It becomes obvious why hotels increasingly provide DMC services. The facilities themselves (accommodation, meeting, and exhibition) are rated more significant for the larger conventions. Crouch and Ritchie (1998) assume that the extent of local support, and assistance offered by the destination also vary according to the size of the event.

J The larger the event, the more support and professional management will be necessary.

4 As the major interest of new and growing associations is to gathering new members and

build credibility, they seek convention these aspects will be more important than for older associations when selecting a meeting site (Crouch and Ritchie, 1998).

J Gathering new members and marketing objectives are especially important for young associations.

4 The association budget marginally influences the service quality required as well as the

inventory availability (Jang and Woods, 2000; Oppermann, 1998). For a destination the budget is although only of relative importance as it is the economic value, meaning how much more an association may contribute to the destination that must be considered. This might be as high for a low budget educational association that meet during the slow summer months whereas a trade association might have a great budget available as the participation fee is often paid by the company but that are fairly inflexible with respect to the date they meet.

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J Knowing the budget although helps identifying what type of suppliers are most likely to be required Source: Review by the Author

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Table 5 Buying-Center Decision Patterns

Source: Clark, Price and Murrmann, 1996

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A Model segmenting the International Association Market based on the relative influence of Buying Center Participants in the Decision-Making Process

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Appendix B Introductory letter to industry professionals Switzerland Convention & Incentive Bureau Frau Barbara S. Albrecht …@switzerland.com Cyrill Allet Student der EHL cyrill.allet@ehl.ch Tel : 079/230.85.06 2. Dezember 2003 Sehr geehrte Frau Albrecht, Mein Name ist Cyrill Allet und ich schliesse nächstes Jahr mit einem Bachelor Degree die Ausbildung and der Hotelfachschule in Lausanne ab. In diesem Semester haben wir die Möglichkeit eine Diplomarbeit im Bereich des Tourismus abzulegen.

Meine Recherchen konzentrieren sich auf den Konferenzttourismus, wo mich insbesondere internationale Organisationen interessieren, die den Kriterien von ICCA (International Congress and Convention Association) entsprechen.

Um die vielzähligen Unterschiede im Site Selection Process besser zu verstehen hat Vleeming (2003) die Initianten einer Konferenz in zwei Kategorien geteilt.

(1) Gewöhnlich wird eine formelle Anfrage (Bid Procedure) von Seiten eines lokalen Mitglieds verlangt.

(2) Ein Strukturwechsel ist jedoch festzustellen. Die Planung und Ausarbeitung einer Konferenz wird vermehrt von einem unabhängigen Experten (intern oder extern) übernommen.

Marketing Konzepte sind also nicht mehr bloss an lokale Mitglieder gerichtet. Zudem werden je nach Struktur der Organisation unterschiedliche Dienstleistungen benötigt.

Damit Marketing Ressourcen besser gemanaged werden können, wäre es von Interesse zu wissen in wie fern der oben genannte Trend von den Charakteristiken einer Organisation abhängt. Es wurde festgestellt, dass die Neuorientierung auf das Budget, die Anzahl Meetings oder den Berufsstand zurückzuführen ist.

Diese Studie verwendet einen quantitativen Ansatz und wird auf einer Stichprobe der ICCA Datenbank durchgeführt. Die Hypothesen (oben angedeutet) wie auch das angewandte Verfahren (siehe Grafik 1) gründen auf zusammengetragenen Fakten, die der Literatur entnommen wurden.

Ein Interview mit Ihnen würde für mich in zweierlei Hinsicht von Bedeutung sein.

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(1) Ihre Erfahrung könnte helfen die identifizierten Hypothesen zu festigen oder zu modifizieren.

(2) Andererseits würde es für meine Analyse und Schlussfolgerungen interessant sein zu erfahren ob und wie ihre Marketing und Sales Bemühungen bezüglich der Initianten eines Kongresses variieren.

Es wäre mir deshalb ein grosses Vergnügen mich diesbezüglich mit Ihnen Anfang Januar zu treffen. Um das Gespräch so kurz als möglich zu halten würde ich Ihnen gerne deshalb die Fragen im Voraus zukommen lassen. Ich danke für ihre Unterstützung und freue mich auf Ihre baldige Antwort.

Freundliche Grüsse,

Cyrill Allet

Grafik 1. Methodologie

Aktuelle Recherchen bezüglich des Site Selection Process haben interessante Resultate erziehlt, indem sie die Abhängigkeit und Wichtigkeit von Site Selection Factors (wie Zugänglichkeit, Image, Preis,...) in Bezug zu einfachen Charakteristiken einer Organisation (Anzahl Mitglieder, Anzahl Veranstaltungen, Budget,...) stellen.

Im Falle dieser Arbeit wird dasselbe Model auf die Frage nach dem Initiator einer Konferenz angewandt.

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Appendix G Prime Trade Associations for Convention Tourism

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Appendix L Online Survey

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Section 1 Descriptive Results Respondent Profile

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Association Characteristics

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Association Characteristics

Decision Making Process

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Decision Making Process

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Section 2 Relationships between Association Characteristics and Decision Making Process Elements Local Bid

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Volunteer

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Content involvement

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Composition of the buying center

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Influencing the final decision

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Professional service

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Section 3 Impact of the Association Nature on Association Characteristics

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Section 4 Interaction of Association Nature and Decision-Making Process Elements based on Remaining Association Characteristics

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Section 5 Correlation Analyses among Association Characteristics (1) For the entire Population

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Sub-sample Scientific Associations

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Sub-segment Medical Associations

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Sub-segment Business/Trade/Commercial Association

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Section 6 Multiple Tables for Service Use Analysis

Mean table analysis for services

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Variance analysis

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