Analysis of MICE competition among international conference cities: Using niche theory

Byun, Hyojeong Article Analysis of MICE competition among international conference cities: Using niche theory Global Business & Finance Review (GBFR) Provided in Cooperation with: People & Global Business Association (P&GBA), Seoul Suggested Citation: Byun, Hyojeong (2021) : Analysis of MICE competition among international conference cities: Using niche theory, Global Business & Finance Review (GBFR), ISSN 2384-1648, People & Global Business Association (P&GBA), Seoul, Vol. 26, Iss. 4, pp. 30-48, https://doi.org/10.17549/gbfr.2021.26.4.30 This Version is available at: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/305828 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. 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Introduction The international conference industry has very large effects on the tourism industry along with economic, social, and cultural ripple effects and provides great benefits to the host country (Byun & Kim, 2021; Lee & Received: Jul. 28, 2021; Revised: Sep. 24, 2021; Accepted: Sep. 28, 2021 † Hyojeong, Byun E-mail: [email protected] Do, 2015; Barbieri, Mahoney, & Palmer, 2008; Dwyer & Mistilis, 1999; Dwyer, Mellor, Mistilis, & Mules, 2000; Kotler, 2002). Various countries of the world recognize the international conference industry as a key means of national development and are promoting various policies and strategies for the industry. In South Korea, the international conference industry is one of the 17 new growth engine industries and was selected as one of the six major tourism and leisure industries in 2009 (Lee & Yoon, 2013). The international conference industry GLOBAL BUSINESS & FINANCE REVIEW, Volume. 26 Issue. 4 (DECEMBER 2021), 30-48 pISSN 1088-6931 / eISSN 2384-1648∣Https://doi.org/10.17549/gbfr.2021.26.4.30 ⓒ 2021 People and Global Business Association GLOBAL BUSINESS & FINANCE REVIEW www.gbfrjournal.org1) A nalysis of MICE Competition Among International Conference Cities: Using Niche Theory Hyojeong, Byun† D epartment of Liberal Arts College(Tourism), Kyonggi University, Seoul, Republic of Korea A B S T R A C T Purpose: The purpose of this study is to understand the competition among international conference cities in South Korea by applying the theory, which is useful for understanding the relationships among individual (industry) groups competing for limited resources. Design/methodology/approach: In this study, data on MICE events (government meeting, corporate meeting, association/group meeting, etc.) held in 2019 in 10 international conference cities including the hosting organizations, event topics, event scales, and conference facilities were completely enumerated, and analyses were attempted. Findings: As a result of the breadth analysis, Changwon (host organization, event topic), Daejeon (event topic, event scale), and Goyang (conference facility) were found to have strong specialized natures. Meanwhile, as a result of the overlap analysis, it was found that Daegu and Gyeongju were in competition with each other according to hosting organizations, Jeju and Gwangju, and Busan and Daejeon according to the scales of events, and Seoul and Daegu, and Changwon and Incheon according to the types of events, Daejeon and Goyang according to event topics, and Changwon and Daegu, and Changwon and Seoul according to conference facilities. Research limitations/implications: Through the findings of this study, implications helpful for the establishment of differentiation strategies for international conference cities were provided. Therefore, although efforts were made to collect data close to complete enumeration, the possibility that there may be missing data cannot be eliminated. Originality/value: This study is meaningful in that presents strategies that help establish differentiation strategies for each International conference cities. Keywords: Competitiveness, Theory, International Conference City, MICE(Meeting, Incentive, Convention, Exhibition) ⓒ Copyright: The Author(s). This is an Open Access journal distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution , and reproduction in any medium, p rovided the original work is p roperly cited. Hyojeong, Byun 31 plays an important role in the tourism industry to the extent that 11 international conference cities, three international conference complex districts, and 14 integrated facilities for international conferences were selected as of 2019(Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, 2019), and various support systems for the industry are in operation. Thanks to such diverse support and strategies at the national level, South Korea ranked 3 rd in the world for hosting international conferences in 2013, and thereafter achieved the growth to rank 2 nd in 2015 and 2019, and 1 st in two consecutive years of 2016(997 conferences) and 2017(1,297 conferences). In addition, according to the UIA report (2018) Seoul ranked 3 rd and Busan 10 th in 2016 in the global international conference city ranking (A+C type), and the domestic international conference industry achieved remarkable outcomes in a short period of time to the extent that major cities in South Korea ranked high (Seoul 2 nd , Busan 6 th , Jeju 7 th , Incheon 12 th , etc.) in the numbers of international conferences held in major cities in Asia-Pacific. In particular, among the strategic projects promoted to strengthen the competitiveness of international conference holding regions, strategies such as introducing an international conference evaluation system, expanding representative unique venues, and resolving regional imbalances well indicate that uniform strategies for the entire country are no longer necessary for the promotion of the international conference industry and show the importance of the establishment of strategies through differentiation reflecting the characteristics and strengths of regions. Meanwhile, to the extent that the Global MICE Insight (2018) analyzed the remarkable growth rate of the tourism and event industry in the Asian region and the increase in demand for interesting venues as venue trends in its 2018 MICE Industry Trends and Prospects, recent conference participants regard the specificity(differentiation) that can be experienced in the relevant area as important rather than simply selecting the conference destination. Meanwhile, since 2019, the world has been severely hit socially and economically by the unexpected situation of the corona pandemic (Strielkowski & Wang, 2020), and the tourism industry in particular is one of the industries that have suffered the most. The aviation, travel, and hotel sectors, as well as the MICE industry, cannot be an exception, and in particular, the international conference industry for which the participation of people of various nationalities can be said to be essential cannot even obtain a chance to hold an international conference (Bonifati et. al., 2021). Prior to the corona pandemic, the domestic MICE industry went through a period of growth and reached the point where South Korea was positioned as a MICE leading country, and the present has been recognized as a time when it is necessary to develop differentiated products that can compete in the international community (Seong, 2014; Sung & Lee, 2015). That is, the international conference industry should now go beyond competition between countries and should have regional competitiveness and prepare unique strategies in the situation of fierce competition of the domestic international conference industry that has reached saturation (Lee & Yoon, 2014). This can be said to be the ultimate way to go ahead in the competition between countries consequently. In addition, as non-face-to-face international conferences are starting to become active after the corona pandemic, new strategies are emerging in the international conference industry. In other words, place attractiveness was one of the most important elements in the case of the existing international conference venues (country, city), but the activation of non-face-to-face international conferences made other elements more important, and this suggests that strategies different from existing strategies to attract international conferences are necessary. Therefore, in order to adapt to the new environment (post-corona) and to ensure steady growth of the international conference industry, specialized strategies by city should be established by identifying the competitive composition and relationships between cities based on various elements related to holding international conferences before doing anything else. That is, by comparing and analyzing various types of conferences held in international conference cities, identifying in what types (meeting, exhibition, convention) and characteristics (scale, topic, host organization, venue, etc.) a certain city is specialized and what strengths and weaknesses the city has by comparing and analyzing GLOBAL BUSINESS & FINANCE REVIEW, Volume. 26 Issue. 4 (DECEMBER 2021), 30-48 32 various types of conferences held in international conference cities can be said to be very important. However, after the international conference industry was recognized as an important field, although related studies have been remarkably increasing quantitatively (Byun & Lee, 2016), studies that analyzed the competition between international conference cities are very insufficient and some studies that attempted to analyze conference cities and convention venues in competition with each other(eg, Kim, 2010; Lee & Kim, 2007) have the limitation that they did not break away from the form of simple comparison. Therefore, in analyzing competitiveness, this study is intended to analyze the strengths of competing cities with regard to the certain resources for which the competing cities compete (e.g., the degree of holding conferences for a certain topic, the degree of holding conferences of a certain scale, etc.) considering the degree of resources shared by all competing cities. In addition, in order to overcome the lack of studies on the analysis of the competitiveness of existing international conference cities and the limitations of the study methodologies used in the analysis of competitiveness, this study is intended to analyzes the competition among domestic international conference cities using the niche theory that enables the analysis of competition for limited resources in a certain competitive environment from various perspectives (niche breadth, niche overlap). II. Literature Reviews A. Previous studies related to international conference cities(industry) and their limitations Today, the international conference industry is required to secure competitiveness between regions beyond competition between countries, and having overall attractiveness and competitiveness as a venue for international conferences is the ultimate way to lead competition between countries (Byun & Kim, 2021). Research on international conferences in Korea about 10 papers were retrieved with ‘international conference (convention) city competition’ through KCI paper search (as of May 2021), but most of them were studies conducted with only certain convention centers or certain cities, and it was identified that only two or three studies analyzed competition among international conference cities. When the domestic study trends in the field of international conferences are concretely reviewed, it can be seen that most of the studies analyzed the selection attributes of certain cities or centers (eg., Chun, 2014; Jang & Yun, 2017; Kim & Lee, 2006; Kwon & Lee, 2006) or participants’ satisfaction with service quality (eg., ; Choi, Kim & Lim, 2017; Lee, 2006; Sun, Ko, & Yang, 2013), and derived policy tasks and development plans of certain cities through case analysis(eg., Choi & Cho, 2011; Jeong, Kwak, & Yun, 2009; Kim, 2006). Some studies that examined competitive relations (eg., Hwang & Kim, 2001; Kim, 2010; Lee & Kim, 2016; Lee & Kim, 2007) were found, but those studies simply conducted comparison and analysis centering on certain several cities or centers through the venue selection attributes so that relative competitive relations between domestic international conference cities were not grasped through the form of pairwise comparisons. Therefore, since existing studies were conducted focusing on venues’ ability to hold conferences, the levels of competitiveness by city based on the characteristics of conferences actually held could not be derived leading to the problem that differentiated strategies or development directions cannot be presented. The reasons for the bias and absence of studies as such are first, that the studies were conducted in the early and mid-term when quantitative growth of the international conference industry was promoted so that researchers could not but be interested in deriving selection attributes and strategies focusing on strategies for competition between countries and marketing (Byun & Lee, 2016). Second, it is considered that great meanings were not given to the analysis of competition between cities in the past because international conferences were held intensively in the capital area. However, since the domestic international Hyojeong, Byun 33 conference industry is reaching saturation and international conferences are being activated nationwide, it is judged that competitiveness analysis should be attempted now in order to establish strategies for development of international conferences specialized by city. Third, another reason may come from the difficulty of data collection. This study will attempt analysis based on the data on events by city/center that have been held thus far, but it should have been difficult to attempt such a study in the past since such data have been constructed not long ago, and it is thought that the problem that the collection of data on diverse forms and characteristics (topic, scale, type of meeting, host, etc.) of international conference cities requires a long time might have hindered the attempt of studies. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the state of competition among international conference cities in South Korea, which has not been studied despite that the international conference industry pursues qualitative growth and the competition is gradually becoming fierce, through the characteristics of conferences actually held in international conference cities to understand what kind of competitive advantages the relevant cities have by the characteristic and type of conferences and what competing states the cities being analyzed maintain. Through the foregoing, strategies for characterization and differentiation by city will be established to derive useful implications for the continuous development of the international conference industry hereafter. As a framework for concrete analysis to achieve the purpose of study as such, this study will apply the niche theory known to be useful when analyzing competition and market positioning among two or more entities that use limited resources together (Joon & Hwan, 2016) to analyze the intensity and direction of competition among entities in the same industrial group, that is, international conference cities thereby understanding the mutual competition. B. Niche theory 1. Concept of niche theory Competition refers to an environment in which industries or organizations uses the same resources and is related to ecological similarity. That is, competition occurs when resources are limited, and ecological similarity exists (Byun & Lee, 2006; Byun et al., 2020; Byun & Kim, 2021; Jung, 2013). In ecology, competition is the struggle for scarce resources, and the intensity of competition is determined by the degree to which two species compete for the same scarce resource (Milne & Mason, 1990). That is, the niche theory is an analytical framework that explains and describes competition based on a common environmental resource pattern for a certain period of time and was developed from the theory of population ecology indicating that each entity adapts itself to a given environment for its own survival (Dimmick, Patterson & Albarran, 1992). It is a theory indicating that when a new entity flows into a space in which a certain group resides, competition occurs as the new population tries to consume the resources that have been consumed by the original group together with the original group, and that eventually, depending on the degree of competition between the two groups, the two groups coexist or one of the group is replaced by another group (Byun et al., 2020; Dimmick, Chen, & Li, 2004; Lee, 2009; Park, 2013). 2. Prior studies that applied the niche theory The niche theory is known as an effective analysis method (Cheong, Jin, Kim, 2014; Milne & Mason, 1990) to identify mutual competition between entities in a single industrial group that perform similar functions and has been widely used to apply ecological logics to media in order to analyze competition among media that perform similar functions in the same market (eg., Baek, Lee & Kim, 2011; Ha & Fang, 2012; Jeong & Yoo, 2015; Kang, 2002; Li, 2017; Kim, 2020; Sarrina, 2001; Seol, Park, Lee & Yoon, 2012; Song, Kwon & Ryu, 2020). On reviewing cases where the niche theory was applied to other fields than the field of media, GLOBAL BUSINESS & FINANCE REVIEW, Volume. 26 Issue. 4 (DECEMBER 2021), 30-48 34 it can be seen that Milne and Mason (1990) applied the niche theory to explain brand competition, considered brands as competing species, and stated that brands require various resources to survive including raw materials, production facilities, skilled management, exposure to the market, and customers. Milne, McDonald, Sutton and Kashhyap (1996) applied the niche theory to understand competition for sports and fitness from demographic perspectives and derived implications for sports managers and marketers that were more objective and helpful for the establishment of positioning strategies. Meanwhile, in the field of the tourism industry, Baek et al. (2011) attempted to analyze tourism information media users’ satisfaction before traveling and during traveling separately with smartphones, computers, and publications in order to examine the competitive relations according to the satisfaction from various angles. They set cognitive and emotional accessibility as the dimension of satisfaction in their analysis. Okazaki and Hirose (2009) attempted a comparison analysis of satisfaction with the use of media for tourism information search according to genders using the niche theory, and Byun & Lee(2020) used the niche theory to analyze the competition among Low-cost carriers. Byun, Kim and Lee (2020) used the niche theory to analyze the competition among global distribution systems(GDSs) and used the dimension of service quality as the dimension of satisfaction. In addition, Lee & Yoon (2014) applied the niche theory to analyze competition among domestic MICE cities with nine cities, and Byun & Kim (2021) attempted a study that applied the niche theory to MICE event host organizations, scales of events, and topics of events to analyze the competition among domestic convention centers with 10 convention centers. ① Niche Breadth Niche breadth is a measure of how widely the events held in each city are distributed among the characteristics of international conferences regarding the characteristics of international conferences as a resource. Therefore, if the niche breadth is wide, it can be seen that various types of events are being held, and if the niche breadth is narrow, it can be seen that the events are concentrated on certain types. To measure this, the study conducted by Dimmick & Rothenbuhler (1984) was applied to make the following calculation formula.          B = niche b readth h = types of resource (conference characteristics) Ph = ratio of dependence on resources ( ratios of holdin g by characteristic ) ② Niche Overlap Niche overlap indicates the degree of similarity between two populations (Dimmick, 2006). That is, whereas niche breadth shows how diversely a certain entity can use limited resources, niche overlap refers to the degree to which the use of resources overlaps and the degree to which two populations compete for or depend on the same resources and enables the estimation of the degree of competition between the two populations (Jeong & Yu, 2015). 3. Analysis of competition among convention centers and application of the niche theory The niche theory applies the phenomenon of niche transformation that when a new entity enters the market, it is in fierce competition with other entities, but over time, the entity that does not acquire competitiveness will switch(specialize) in the direction to avoid the niche overlap to the media industry. Therefore, it is mainly used in the study of competition among media (Kang, 2002), and studies that applied the niche theory can be found very rarely in the field of tourism. The niche theory is useful when analyzing competition             da,b = distance b etween populations a and b (degree of competitio n between cities) h = type of resource (characteristics of international conferences) Pa(b) = Ratios by resource type of population (ratios o f holding by characteristic of each cit y) Hyojeong, Byun 35 and market positioning among two or more entities that use limited resources together (Joon & Hwan, 2016) and enables understanding competing relationships more broadly in that it is an analysis that shows the strengths and weaknesses of each entity by relatively comparing individual populations in competition with each other thereby enabling not only the understanding of the overall competition structure but also the prediction of the degree and direction (supplementation and coexistence) of competition among entities. Therefore, unlike the existing fragmentary competitiveness analysis studies, this study will apply the concept of the niche theory, which performs the evaluation of competitiveness based on the pairwise relationships between resources to set the scales, topics, and host organizations(Government, association/organization, corporation, etc.), event types(meeting, convention, exhibition), conference facilities, etc. as resources and grasp competition among international conference cities for those resources. That is, in this study, the degree and point of competing or complementary relations for MICE between domestic international conference cities will be considered, focusing on niche breadth and niche overlap of the niche theory. III. Methods A. Study topics and data collection This study intends to observe the niche breadth and niche overlap among international conference cities within the industry according to the numbers of events held by characteristic (scale, topic, organizer, type of meeting) in order to examine the characteristics of one population termed the international conference industry. In order to verify the issues as such, literature research and data from 2019(data announced by Korea National Tourism Organization, MICE Bureau data, event calendars by convention center) were primarily collected through each website. Since each data source does not contain all the information required in this study, missing information(e.g., the scales that are not indicated in the event calendars by center are indicated in the data presented by the Korea National Tourism Organization) was supplemented and integrated by cross-checking the three pieces of data information and through additional keyword search and data collection through official documents requesting for information to individual centers and CVB, when necessary. The collection and purification of the entire data was carried out from October 2020 to March 2021, and a total of 49,309 collected data were re-established and used for the final analysis. The cities that will be analyzed in this study are limited to a total of 10 cities. Among the 11 cities designated for international conferences in South Korea, Pyeongchang was judged inappropriate to apply this study due to the peculiarity of being a 'gun' unit. Therefore, the study was conducted with 10 cities, which are Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Jeju, Daejeon, Gwangju, Changwon, Incheon, Gyeongju, and Goyang. Therefore, based on the discussion written above, the following research projects were established. ▶ Research Project 1 : How are the niche breadths among international conference cities (host organization, event scale, topic, type, conference facilities)? ▶ Research Project 2 : How is the niche overlap among international conference cities (host organization, event scale, event, type, conference facility)? Competitive relations among domestic international conference cities were identified by conducting niche analysis using the final refined data. The criteria for data collection and classification for analysis were classified as shown in <Table 1> based on previous studies. GLOBAL BUSINESS & FINANCE REVIEW, Volume. 26 Issue. 4 (DECEMBER 2021), 30-48 36 B. Analysis method Niche analysis was conducted based on the data completed through the primary and secondary refinements of the collected data, and data analysis was conducted as shown in <Table 2> and <Table 3> below referring to Byun & Kim (2021) and Lee & Yoon(2014). To obtain the niche breadth value, the number of events held at each center was divided according to the characteristics of international conferences (host organization/ scale/events and types/conference facilities), and the number of events belonging to each characteristic Classification of events held in city ‘A’ by topic Topic 1 = Economics Topic 2 = Finance Topic 3 = Science and Technology : : Nature of host n Out of the total number of events held in city ‘A’ Ratio of events held belonging to topic 1 (a1) Ratio of events held belonging to topic 2 (a2) Ratio of events held belonging to topic 3 (a3) : : Ratio of events held belonging to topic n (an)           Niche breadth of city A by the formula = 1 (a1)²+(a2)²+(a3)² ······· +(an)² Β : niche breadth value Pi: The ratio of the number of events held corresponding to topic i to the total number of events held in Center A Note) The formula for ratios of events by the scale of international conferences, event type, and the nature of host is the same as above. Table 2. Example of calculation applied with the niche theory (niche breadth) Characteristics of International Conferences Classification criteria References Event type Meetings, conventions, exhibitions Classification of K-MICE, Seong (2014), Lee & Yoon (2014) Host Organization Government meetings, business meetings, association/group meetings, etc. Event scale Number of participants (less than 100, less than 300, less than 500, 500 or more) Conference facilities Specialized conference facilities, semi-conference facilities, small and medium-sized conference facilities, hotels, etc. Event topic Economy, Finance, Science and Technology, Transportation/Tourism, Education, Defense/Security, Corporate/Management, Agriculture/Fisheries/Food, Culture/Art, Social Science, Sports/Leisure, Media, History, Medicine, Natural Science, Information and Communication, Politics/Law, Religion, Housing/Construction, Fashion/Textile, Marine, Environment, Others Table 1. Criteria for classification of data for analysis Out of the total number of events held in city ‘a’ Ratio of events held belonging to host organization 1 (a1) Ratio of events held belonging to host organization 2 (a2) Ratio of events held belonging to host organization 3 (a3) : : Ratio of events held belonging to host organization n an Out of the total number of events held in city ‘b’ Ratio of events held belonging to topic 1 (b1) Ratio of events held belonging to topic 2 (b2) Ratio of events held belonging to topic 3 (b3) : : Ratio of events held belonging to topic n (bn) Niche overlap value of international conference cities ‘i’, ‘j’ obtained using niche overlap formula           = niche overlap (d a,b) = (a1-b1)2 + (a2-b2)2 + ............... + (an - bn)2 da,b : niche overlap between international conference cities ‘a’ and ‘b’ Pah : ratio of events held by host organization‘h’ to the entire events held in international conference city ‘a’ Pbh : ratio of events held by host organization ‘h’ to the entire events held in international conference city ‘b’ Note) The formula for ratios of events by the scale of international conferences, event type, and the nature of host is the same as above. Table 3. Example of calculation applied with the niche theory (niche overlap) Hyojeong, Byun 37 held in a certain city was divided by the total number of events belonging to the relevant characteristic held to calculate the relevant ratio of events held. To calculate niche overlap, the numbers of events held by the characteristic (event type, host organization, scale, event topic) of international conferences were divided by the total number of events held to calculate the ratios of events belonging to the relevant characteristics and the difference between the ratios of events held in relevant cities to the entire events held was obtained utilizing the values calculated as such and the resultant value was squared(see Table 3). The sum of these squared values is the niche overlap value, which means the degree of the relative distance between two cities. Smaller values mean that the two cities bare closer and that the competition between the two cities is fierce. IV. Results of Analysis A. General characteristics of samples A total of 49,307 cases were collected through the data collection method presented above. The topics of the events were divided into a total of 22 types, the number or host organization was 4, the number of event scales was 4, the number of types of events was 3, and the number of types of conference facilities was 5 <Table 4>. B. Niche breadth analysis ▶Research project 1: How is the niche breadth between international conference cities? Niche breadth is the degree to which a certain entity satisfies the dimension of specific satisfaction of the consumer and means how diversely the entity utilizes each characteristic dimension. The larger the value, Characteristics No. of events Characteristics No. of events Host Organization Government meetings business meetings association/group meetings etc. 2,958 29,345 8,414 8,590 Event topic Economy/Finance Science/Technology Transportation/Tourism Education Defense/Security Corporate/Management Agriculture/Fisheries/Food Culture/Art Social Science Sports/Leisure Media History Medicine Natural Science Information/Communicati on Politics/Law Religion Housing/Construction Fashion/Textile Marine Environment Others 1,664 2,678 1,290 7,080 289 15,419 613 1,262 2,105 270 156 307 2,887 769 850 1,128 212 701 86 643 1,051 7,847 Event scale less than 100 less than 300 less than 500 500 or more 29,263 13,679 3,897 2,468 Event type Meetings Conventions Exhibitions etc 37,568 10,414 1,325 49,307 Conference facilities Specialized Semi-conference Small & medium-sized hotels etc. 8,944 5,400 19,402 11,157 4,404 TOTAL 49,307 TOTAL 49,307 Table 4. Entire data analysis GLOBAL BUSINESS & FINANCE REVIEW, Volume. 26 Issue. 4 (DECEMBER 2021), 30-48 44 events may be specialist ones concentrated on a certain holding period. On the other hand, the niche breadth value of Jeju(3.177) was shown to be the largest, indicating that the possibility for the characteristics of host organizations of the events held to be generalist is higher compared to other cities. In the results of the analysis according to the scales of events, the niche breadth value of Daejeon(1.584) was the smallest, indicating that the events may be specialist ones concentrated on a certain scale of holding. On the other hand, the niche breadth value of Goyang(3.455) was shown to be the largest, indicating that the possibility for the characteristics according to the scales of events held to be generalist is higher compared to other cities. In addition, in the results of the analysis according to the types of events, the niche breadth value of Daejeon (1.122) was shown to be the smallest indicating that the events may be specialist ones. On the other hand, the niche breadth value of Changwon(2.042) was shown to be the largest and indicating that the possibility for the characteristics to be generalist is higher compared to other cities. According to the results of niche breadth analysis, the niche breadth value of Changwon(3.346) was the smallest, indicating that the events may be specialist ones concentrated on certain event topics. On the other hand, the niche breadth value of Jeju(9.336) was shown to be the largest and this can be interpreted as indicating that the possibility for the characteristics of event topics to be generalist is higher compared to other cities. Finally, on reviewing the present situations of holding according to conference facilities, it can be seen that the niche breadth value of Goyang(1.928) was the smallest, indicating that the events may be specialist ones concentrated on certain conference facilities. On the other hand, the niche breadth value of Incheon(3.944) was shown to be the largest and this can be regarded to be indicating that the possibility for the characteristics of conference facilities to be generalist is higher compared to other cities. When the results of niche breadth analysis were put together, Daejeon showed the smallest niche breadth values according to event types and event scales, indicating that the event type was specialized in meetings and the event scale in small events (fewer than 100 participants). Changwon showed the smallest niche breadth values according to event topics and host organizations and it was identified that Changwon was specialized in corporate meetings. Goyang showed the smallest niche breadth value for the present situation of holding according to conference meeting facilities thereby showing a specialized nature, while showing the largest niche breadth value for event scales thereby showing a general nature. Therefore, it is understood that Goyang is well utilizing KINTEX, a specialized conference facility, and it is considered that the strength as a city located in the capital area also has influence. Therefore, this study became an opportunity to reconfirm the growth potential of Goyang as a city specializing in international conferences. Meanwhile, Jeju showed the largest niche breadth values according to the host organizations and event topics, which means that Jeju is attracting a wide range of events regardless of the host organizations or event topics, and it is assumed that this is because the regional characteristics of Jeju Island provide the attractiveness of the place. In addition, on reviewing the present situations of holding by conference facility, it can be seen that more events were held at hotels than at specialized conference facilities. This is one of the characteristics of Jeju Island, which has a variety of accommodations, and appears to be a result of appeal of the advantage that conferences and stays are possible at the same place. Therefore, Jeju should make good use of such advantage and continue marketing efforts to hold more diverse events. Second, niche overlap analyses were conducted, and, in the results, the niche overlap values according to the hosting organization were the smallest between Daegu and Gyeongju(0.000) and the largest between Changwon and Jeju(0.161). That is, the ratios of corporate events were shown to be high in Daegu and Gyeongju, indicating that competition is fierce in that area, and it is understood that competition between Changwon and Jeju for certain host organizations is relatively weak. The niche overlap values according to the scales of events were shown to be the smallest between Jeju and Gwangju(0.001), and between Busan and Daejeon(0.001) and the largest between Changwon Hyojeong, Byun 45 and Busan(0.184). In particular, the ratios of small events in Busan and Daejeon are overwhelmingly high, which means that the two cities are specially fiercely competing for small events. On the other hand, competition between Changwon and Busan is understood to be relatively weak because Busan holds a lot of small events, while Changwon holds small and medium-scaled events(100-299 participants). The fact that Changwon and Busan are not in competition with each other although they are geographically close is positively evaluated. The niche overlap values according to the types of event were shown to be the lowest between Seoul and Daegu and between Changwon and Incheon at 0.005, and the largest between Daejeon and Gyeongju(1.216). In particular, Daejon was shown to be concentrated on holding meetings, while Gyeongju was shown to be concentrated on conventions, indicating that competition between these two cities is weak. The niche overlap values according to event topics were shown to be the smallest between Daejeon and Goyang (0.007), indicating that these cities were in competition, and the largest between Incheon and Goyang(0.773), indicating that the competition between these cities relatively weak. Finally, the niche overlap values according to conference facilities were shown to be the largest between Changwon and Daegu and between Changwon and Seoul at 0.023, and it is understood that these cities are in competition with each other because the ratios of events held at medium-scaled conference facilities are high. The niche overlap value according to conference facilities was shown to be the smallest between Daejeon and Goyang(0.705). The reason is understood to be the fact that Goyang has a high ratio of events held at specialized conference facilities and a low ratio of events held at small and medium-scaled conference facilities, while Daejeon has a relatively high ratio of events held at small and medium-scaled conference facilities. When the results of analysis were put together, although it was identified that some cities showed specialized natures, but the values according to host organizations(7 cities), the scales of events(8 cities), conference facilities(6 cities), and the topics of events were shown to be generally higher than the average values, indicating that the cities are not laying out differentiation strategies, and these result are consistent with previous studies(Lee & Yoon, 2014). This can be interpreted as showing the results of the domestic international conference industry’s strategies that focused on quantitative growth thus far. Since such strategies can consequently intensify domestic competition and weaken international competition, it can be said that effort to is identify the strengths of each city and implement specialized strategies is indispensable. In addition, it is necessary for international conference cities that are shown to be in competition with each other in the results of niche overlap analysis to well grasp what they can differentiate from the competing cities to lay out competitive advantage strategies or agonize over ways to complement each other for coexistence because excessive competition may produce the reverse effect to lower the quality of events. For example, cities equipped with specialized convention facilities have expertise and favorable conditions unlike cities that do not have specialized convention facilities. Therefore, such cities should make good use of the foregoing. However, in attracting small and medium-scaled meetings, such cities may be equipped with competitiveness through collaboration with hotels and small and medium-sized conference facility companies. It will also be necessary to consider ways to develop unique venue in the region to increase the attractiveness of our region, which is differentiated from others. Therefore, such cities should well grasp the strengths and characteristics of the event topics, scales, and facilities held by them to attempt differentiated marketing and attraction strategies. In addition, as the number of non-face-to-face and hybrid meetings is increasing due to COVID-19, a quick response according to the foregoing will be a way to increase competitiveness relatively. Through this study, theoretical and practical implications are presented as follows. First, the existing studies in the field of international conferences examined the service quality and satisfaction of international conference venues or convention centers, analyzed selection attributes, or reviewed competition for attraction at the national level, and the degree of GLOBAL BUSINESS & FINANCE REVIEW, Volume. 26 Issue. 4 (DECEMBER 2021), 30-48 46 attraction strategies of only certain cities. However, this study expanded the scope of study compared to existing studies by analyzing the competitive relationships between international conference cities. Second, since this study applied the niche theory to evaluate competitiveness based on pairwise relationships between resources existing in the market unlike existing studies that evaluated competitiveness (absolute evaluation), the theoretic contribution of this study can be argued. In addition, as an analysis method that can suggest future strategies through the form of competition(supplementation and replacement), it has expanded the theoretical background of studies in the field of international conferences and presented new study directions to future researchers. Along with academic contributions, the results of this study provided meaningful implications to each local government`s manager of MICE and persons in charge of convention centers in South Korea from a practical aspect. First, by identifying the degrees of resource utilization and overlaps between international conference cities through niche analysis, this study presented what positions individual international conference cities occupy in the international conference industry market and in what direction the cities should go hereafter. Specifically, slogans and branding that can contain the value of the city should precede the characteristics of each city, and infrastructure should be established to hold hybrid international conferences. In addition, each local government should indentify the characteristics of the city and implement support and policy measures according to the type of MICE and the size of the MICE. Differentiation strategies should be attempted through killer content development, such as discovering international conferences and discovering unique venue that can be linked to local industries as well. Second, if the continuous growth of the international conference industry is assumed, the results of this study can be used as meaningful results in establishing strategies to differentiate/characterize from regions preparing to enter new markets or existing international conference cities. It is necessary to re-establish the value of the international conference industry and induce active cooperation with local residents and local industries to promote development as a leading city for international conference. Despite that meaningful implications were derived through this study; this study has several limitations. First, this study has a limitation of the scope of the study as the analyses were limited to 10 domestic cities. Second, although efforts were made to collect data close to complete enumeration, the possibility that there may be missing data cannot be eliminated. Acknowledgements This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea(NRF-2019S1A5B5A02038246). References Barbieri, C., Mahoney, E., & Palmer, R. (2008). RV and camping shows: A motivation-based market segmentation. Event Management, 12(2), 53-66. doi:10.3727/152599509 787992553 Baek, J. H., Lee, J. Y., & Kim, H. D. (2011). 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