Samenvatting

The Dutch Culture Centre (DCC) was instituted on the March 1, 2010 to promote cultural exchange between Dutch and Chinese professionals. The DCC was the official extension of the Dutch pavilion during the World Expo 2010. The concept of the Dutch Culture Centre was used for the first time during the World Expo, and the Netherlands was the only country during the expo with such a concept.
The DCC concept is important in terms of insuring future global cultural events because of the unique characteristics that the centre possesses. One of the aims of this report is to attempt to demonstrate the benefit of continuing the involvement of the cultural centre in future evenst and prevent the need to start from scratch each time the Centre is involved. In this report there is an internal and external analysis where strategic options are put forth. These options are processed in the marketing mix.
The DCC offers a diverse program with performances, and disciplines, such as:
- Dance - Literature
- Music - Film
- Theatre - Exhibition
From the internal analysis we can see that the DCC is managed from the Netherlands and from China. Because of the time difference, it is sometimes difficult for the involved parties to coordinate their programs smoothly. This was noticeable by the lack of marketing tools used, an extranet system that was too complex' and a website that wasn't used to its' full potential. The two targeted groups of the DCC were 1) a direct target group that physically could visit the Centre and 2) a target group that followed the DCC's activities from a distance.
In the meso analysis, we see that the power of the city councils and sponsors that invested money in the program had a great deal weight. A sponsor deal with KLM didn't come through at the last moment. The influence of the the partners was seen in the forming of the program. Some City councils threatened to leave the partnership if certain criteria were not implemented in the program.
In the external analysis, it seems that Milan (location of World Expo 2015) will be the next most suitable location for a new DCC. The target group interest and the financial position of Italy provide the ideal situation for a DCC. Also Italy has quite a strong economy with a deep cultural understanding.
The confrontation matrix points out that the continuity and growth of the DCC can be sustained by optimizing the options presented in this report. These options are discussed in the marketing mix.
There is an improvement model created for internal communication. Here it seems that the delegation of responsibilities and the ways of communication need improvement. A strategy for external communication is also described. This strategy shows that there should be communication through social media, with the website as an important centre of information.