Business learnings from the RWC – How to extract long-term benefits

The Auckland Evaluation Report of the Rugby World Cup reinforces that the event was overwhelmingly positive for Auckland business.

But there are some valuable lessons for the business community to take on board when future international events are held here, says Auckland Chamber of Commerce head Michael Barnett.

Possibly the big learning for business is how to extract a long chain of benefits going forward into the future.

The report shows that business interest was extremely high, and most believed ahead of the event that it would have a positive impact on their business.

While fewer than a quarter felt a sense of involvement in the actual events, some 42% of businesses involved in Cup hosting activities report having significant leads still to follow up.

“This suggests that we have some learning to do on techniques to extract a long-term chain of benefits from hosting these kind of events.” said Mr Barnett.