Organisations have evidently shifted towards the projectification of their activities and operations across the world and across industries by which project management is not only limited to construction and engineering projects anymore. The projectification has shed light on the amount of project success and failure in which both have been noted to have a steep difference between each other. Whilst many factors have been discovered to be a trigger of failure or success one emerging subject that has been gaining attention across management institutions and organisationsis the integration of knowledge management principlesinto the closure stage of a project, by which the term post-project review awakens. Post-project reviewsreceive a lot of attention and strong suggestion from textbooks and other academic literature, however it was found that its application was not as effective as is suggested by the literature. Literature also indicated that cultural operators within the events management have progressively applied project management tools and techniques. At the same time there is debate concerning theproject management rationale, which collide with the prime principles of art. Here art presents itself as the core focus pointforcultural operators. In the light of this argument the author started researching the subject of Post-project reviews within the events management industryand found that the subject has been scarcely researched overall, in the events management sector and especially in the cultural branch, hence the author had identified a research gap. Consequently, this research intends to explore the application of post-project reviews by cultural operators within the events management industry. The study employed a qualitative research design in which semi-structured interviews were conducted across three different organisational size segments; micro, small and medium. The organisational size was determined with the amount of employees per organisation; each size segment had two representatives in which all of the respondents ran a non-profit organisation.The research revealed that medium organisations employed the most formal manner of a PPR by which PPR’s are considered on a strategic level whilst micro organisations still used a simplerecord and report principle, in which none of the recorded numbers were formally analysed. At the same time, the comprehensiveness of a PPR was very much dependent on the size of the project, which denoted on the amount of funding, and external stakeholders there was involved.

Reputation is an important asset for organisations worldwide. Many researchers have attempted to develop a measurement construct to assess an organisation’s reputation, with the RepTrak System being recognised to be the world’s first tool that assess reputation across multiple stakeholders and areas of the organisation. Nevertheless, the characteristics, methods and stakeholders to include within an assessment of this intangible asset continues to be widely debated. Organisations are under intense scrutiny by their stakeholders, with reputation being an organisational asset on which many opinions are formed. Universities in the UK are no different, as they compete for students from around the world, with the institutions thought to have the best reputations, attracting more students. Nevertheless, no agreed measure for assessing a university’s reputation exists, with many organisations relying solely on league table rankings. Thus, this thesis evaluated existing reputation measurement characteristics, to determine their applicability in assessing the reputation of a UK university. The antecedents of reputation are also widely debated. Authors suggest that stakeholders’ prior knowledge and experience, and communication they receive from an organisation contributes to their perceptions of that organisation’s reputation. The Media Richness Theory suggests a hierarchy to this communication, with face-to-face communication recognised to be of increasing importance due to its ‘rich’ nature. Consequently, the use of events as a strategic communication tool for marketing and public relations purposes has become increasingly popular. Nevertheless, the impact of these events on an organisation’s reputation has yet to be assessed. Thus, the aim of x this thesis is to evaluate the impact that these events have on stakeholders’ perceptions of a UK university’s reputation. A case study methodology, using mixed methods, and underpinned by a pragmatic philosophical perspective was adopted. Five semi-structured interviews were held with senior managers during the first phase of data collection and analysis. Results from these interviews were used to determine the strategic purpose of events as a communication tool. In phase two of the research, the study’s main variables (Reputation, Event Influence, Knowledge and Familiarity, Future Intentions) are combined into a model to assess their relationships. These are tested using Structural Equation Modelling, and data collected from 23 university events and 592 event attendees, using a quantitative questonniare. This study contributes to our knowledge and understanding of the benefits of using events as a form of communication, and highlights the necessity of using a variety of communication channels to inform different stakeholder groups. Findings within this research contradict existing knowledge within the UK Higher Education Industry, by suggesting that university league tables were not the most frequently used method of assessing a university’s reputation, and that rather stakeholders base their perceptions on their personal experience with the institution. Consequently, attending events is found to have a positive influence on attendees’ perceptions of the university’s reputation, however a threshold level exists for stakeholders with high levels of familiarity with the university. Therefore, evidence of the impact of using events as a communication tool is found with a positive return on investment in terms of reputation gains. Thus, findings can be used to inform communication strategy within the higher education industry within the UK.