A PROCESS OF DYNAMIC TRADE SHOW ACTIVITY MANAGEMENT WITHIN A REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT LIFE CYCLE

Abstract

This paper presents a problem of the management of trade show activity in relation to the retail Real Estate development project life cycle of a huge shopping centre. Variability of that cycle in retail Real Estate business requires dynamic and flexible approach to the management of trade show activity, which is a complex process consisting of several stages. The aim of the paper is to recognise trade show activity of the retail Real Estate developers, who were not very experienced, in the duration of a full investment project life cycle of a big shopping centre. The research has included the activity of 6 large-sized shopping centre developers, who were not very experienced, in a period of about two and a half years. Throughout that time the developers participated in 7 consecutive trade shows for retail Real Estate market. There have been applied qualitative research methods: mystery visitor (as a type of participant observation) and unstructured interviews. Also, an analysis of infor-mation and advertising materials of the developers under research has been used. An analy-sis of the relation between the developers’ activities performed at five stages of a project life cycle and trade show activity management at every of these stages has been explored and presented.

Keywords

• b2b trade shows, trade show management, project life cycle, retail real es-tate development, participant observation