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The 2012 Olympics and small local business: a 5-year longitudinal study of south-east London

The 2012 Olympics and small local business: a 5-year longitudinal study of south-east London

Vlachos, Peter ORCID: 0000-0002-4870-9006 (2015) The 2012 Olympics and small local business: a 5-year longitudinal study of south-east London. In: Poynter, Gavin, Viehoff, Valerie and Li, Yang, (eds.) The London Olympics and Urban Development: The Mega-Event City. Regions and Cities . Routledge, Abingdon, Oxon, pp. 176-192. ISBN 9781138794948 (doi:https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315758862)

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Abstract

This chapter presents the findings of multi-year research project on the effects of the 2012 Olympic Games in London, United Kingdom on small local businesses. Using a longitudinal mixed-methods approach, the research combined action-based focus groups, face to face interviews with small business managers and owners, and field observations in order to ascertain the impact and influence of the Olympic Games on local small business decision-making, operations and performance. During the Games, 225 face to face interviews were conducted across several various locations in south-east and east London, including the Olympic sites of Greenwich and Woolwich. The results suggest that most small local businesses had to endure substantial disruption to their trade, whilst a smaller proportion of businesses experienced a positive ‘windfall’ effect. The research illustrates that the effects of the Olympics are extremely localised. The conclusions suggest that mega-events may accelerate existing small local business performance trends rather than have a transformational effect.

Item Type: Book Section
Uncontrolled Keywords: mega-events; economic impact; small business; experience economy; Olympics
Subjects: G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GV Recreation Leisure
H Social Sciences > HT Communities. Classes. Races
Faculty / School / Research Centre / Research Group: Faculty of Business
Faculty of Business > Department of Marketing, Events & Tourism
Related URLs:
Last Modified: 10 May 2019 16:05
URI: http://gala.gre.ac.uk/id/eprint/17181

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