Master’s degree thesis EVM950 Event Management The entrepreneurship of Tour des Fjords, the organization, financing and success Cato Karbøl Number of pages including this page: 90 Molde, 22.05.2017 I Mandatory statement Each student is responsible for complying with rules and regulations that relate to examinations and to academic work in general. The purpose of the mandatory statement is to make students aware of their responsibility and the consequences of cheating. Failure to complete the statement does not excuse students from their responsibility. Please complete the mandatory statement by placing a mark in each box for statements 1-6 below. 1. I/we hereby declare that my/our paper/assignment is my/our own work, and that I/we have not used other sources or received other help than mentioned in the paper/assignment. 2. I/we hereby declare that this paper Mark each 1. Has not been used in any other exam at another box: department/university/university college 1. 2. Is not referring to the work of others without acknowledgement 2. 3. Is not referring to my/our previous work without acknowledgement 3. 4. Has acknowledged all sources of literature in the text and in the list of references 4. 5. Is not a copy, duplicate or transcript of other work 5. I am/we are aware that any breach of the above will be considered as cheating, and may result in annulment of the 3. examination and exclusion from all universities and university colleges in Norway for up to one year, according to the Act relating to Norwegian Universities and University Colleges, section 4-7 and 4-8 and Examination regulations section 14 and 15. 4. I am/we are aware that all papers/assignments may be checked for plagiarism by a software assisted plagiarism check 5. I am/we are aware that Molde University College will handle all cases of suspected cheating according to prevailing guidelines. 6. I/we are aware of the University College’s rules and regulation for using sources II Publication agreement ECTS credits: 30 Supervisor: Reidar Mykletun Agreement on electronic publication of master thesis Author(s) have copyright to the thesis, including the exclusive right to publish the document (The Copyright Act §2). All theses fulfilling the requirements will be registered and published in Brage HiM, with the approval of the author(s). Theses with a confidentiality agreement will not be published. I/we hereby give Molde University College the right to, free of charge, make the thesis available for electronic publication: yes no Is there an agreement of confidentiality? yes no (A supplementary confidentiality agreement must be filled in) - If yes: Can the thesis be online published when the period of confidentiality is expired? yes no Date: 22.05.2017 III Preface My personal interest in the field and motivation for becoming an entrepreneur have made me realize that this is how I will continue my career. After studying for six years I have realized how exciting entrepreneurship, leadership and organization combined with sports can be. After my bachelor in sports where I investigated sport psychology I have found out that the organizers of cycling races is an under-researched and exiting research area. In the future, I want to work with cycling races and try to help researches so that cycling races with its uniqueness and complexity can become a bigger research area. I want to give a big thanks to Molde University College and all the professors in Event Management for two interesting and exiting years. I also wish to thank all the people I have interviews and helped me collecting data, without you, it would not have been possible to complete the thesis. A special thanks to all my fellow students at Molde University College and a special thanks to the group I was sitting together with at the master room. You are all beautiful people and I feel honored to get the chance to experience frustration, teamwork, laughter and smiles with you. Finally, I would like to give a special thanks to my supervisor, Professor Reidar J Mykletun, for his interest, guidance and contribution to my work. With his professionalism, reflections and encouragement he have motivated me during the whole process. This paper is dedicated to my grandfather that passed away 18.03.2016. IV Summary Event entrepreneurship is an under-researched field and my aim was to contribute to this area of research. Traditionally, entrepreneurship and event have a separated approach in terms of research. Therefore, the researcher have investigated the entrepreneurship of and organization that is organizing a professional cycling race. The purpose of this thesis is to understand the entrepreneurship of the event. The entrepreneurial approach to the event have looked upon the history of the event. The investigation have looked upon the leader of the organizations, key persons and the owners of the organization. In this case study, the researcher have interviewed 8 people that have been a part of the entrepreneurship of Tour des Fjords. The data have been gathered and analyzed to get the data required. The researcher have also processed quantitative data gathered from administrative sources to understand and be able to utilize the data in the thesis. A content analysis have also been conducted on the local newspapers. The entrepreneurship of the event have been a long process, and the one-day race, Rogaland Grand Prix have laid an important foundation for Tour des Fjords. Two races have been organized and helped the organization gather knowledge and experience to be able to organize Tour des Fjords. This have helped the entrepreneur of Tour des Fjords, Roy Hegreberg, to be able to gather the resources and organization needed. Multiple factors made the opportunity to go from a one-day race to a multiple stage race. The opportunity came of the initiative to get better riders on the start line, the increasing interest for cycling and the support from sponsors and local municipalities. The economic development and the interest from the media and spectators have made the event a success. This have given the organization of the event a sustainable development. V Contents 1.0 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Background ............................................................................................................ 2 1.2 Research question ................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Introduction to the case .......................................................................................... 3 1.3.1 Introduction to cycling races ........................................................................... 4 1.4 Thesis structure ....................................................................................................... 5 2.0 Entrepreneurship ........................................................................................................ 6 2.1 History of entrepreneurship .................................................................................... 6 2.2 Entrepreneurship .................................................................................................... 7 2.3 The Timmons model .............................................................................................. 9 2.3.1 Resources ...................................................................................................... 10 2.3.2 Financial resources ........................................................................................ 10 2.3.3 Operating resources ....................................................................................... 12 2.3.4 Human resources ........................................................................................... 12 2.4 The organization ................................................................................................... 13 2.5 Network ................................................................................................................ 13 2.6 Opportunities ........................................................................................................ 14 2.6.1 The view of opportunities ............................................................................. 15 2.6.2 Timing ........................................................................................................... 16 2.7 Entrepreneurship theory ....................................................................................... 16 2.8 Sport entrepreneurship ......................................................................................... 18 2.9 The entrepreneur ................................................................................................... 19 2.10 Summary of chapter 2.0 .................................................................................... 20 3.0 Event ........................................................................................................................ 21 3.1 Definition of event ................................................................................................ 21 3.2 Analyzing the event .............................................................................................. 22 4.0 Literature review ...................................................................................................... 25 4.1.1 Entrepreneurship and resources ...................................................................