Executive summary of my master thesis (2007-HEC ULg) : "Management in cultural enterprises" (Master in Business Administration, Major in International Management and Marketing)

1. Executive summary
The cultural sector is at the heart of this dissertation. It is a sector which is not often
treated in researches. For a long time, the importance of this sector has been underrated. The
aim of this dissertation is to demonstrate the necessity of using cultural management in
cultural organizations.
The first chapter defines some concepts useful to the good understanding of this dissertation.
The second chapter first deals with the importance of the cultural sector. Now, people
are starting to realize that culture has a significant weight. Studies have been done to show
the impact of the cultural sector on economy. It is a sector whose economic growth has been
bigger than in the others sectors. It is also a sector that creates employment. It thus has a
high potential of development.
Then, the role of the different Belgian institutions for the cultural matters will be
described. The French community, its cultural policy and the grants it devotes to the
performing arts sector will be highlighted. An analyse of the Belgian institutions cultural
spending and of the part of the budget that the French community attribute to cultural
matters will allow to realize the weight of the cultural sector.
After that, it is the city of Liège that will be mentioned. It is a city full of cultural
activities. We will explain that all these cultural activities and all the current projects could
help the city’s development and even make Liège a dynamic and cultural city.
The third chapter get onto cultural management. This is a new discipline that is not
much spread yet in Belgium. The fact that cultural products are different from “classical”
products gives way to a different way of managing cultural organizations. Indeed,
management cannot be applied exactly in the same way for cultural than for classical
products. Therefore, it exists a particular type of management for cultural companies that
takes into account the differences and the particularities of cultural products.
In the last chapter, four cultural organizations of Liège will be analysed: the Orchestre
Philharmonique de Liège, the Théâtre de la Place, the Forum and the Soundstation. The
interviews of their managers will help the reader to get a wide vision of the difficulties
encountered by these organisations.
Finally, this dissertation will end with a conclusion in which we will express what we
learnt during this work and some recommendations.
Carole Kousis
– « Le Management dans les entreprises culturelles » – HEC ULg – 2006/2007