Measuring the success of the London 2012 Olympics

In a new podcast Professor Sir Andrew Likierman asks how the success of the London 2012 Olympics should be measured, and discusses the challenges of satisfying multiple stakeholders

Many groups of stakeholders require the London 2012 Olympics to be a success, creating a real challenge for the organisers to produce an event that satisfies a diverse global audience, both at the time of the games and in delivering their promised legacy.

In a new podcast Professor Sir Andrew Likierman, Dean of London Business School, explains that satisfying multiple stakeholders is particularly difficult when they may have conflicting objectives, for example between London as host city and the UK Olympic authorities. 

The 2012 organisers are faced with a long list of demands and expectations for a number of groups ranging from athletes to tourist authorities and the host boroughs. Furthermore specific measurement problems need to be addressed, as, for example, success against the goals of making the UK a world-leading sporting nation and inspiring young people worldwide to take up sport.

Finally, Sir Andrew comments that companies can learn from the experiences of Olympic venue cities, particularly as examples of managing an extremely complex project, as the risks and issues in planning large projects are common to public and private sectors.