The evolving structure of corporate-community relationships: a case study of the Cypress Olympic Venue

Olympic Games often require organizing committees to construct major sports venues. As private entities not clearly accountable to the public, these ‘Olympic Corporations’ have been accused of bypassing normal planning and development protocols, transforming the nature of host cities with little stakeholder consultation. This research employs Giddens’ theory of social structuration as a lens to understand the evolution of relationships between Vancouver 2010’s Olympic Corporation and Cypress Olympic Venue (COV) stakeholders. The project suggests that because a balance of power existed between the Olympic Corporation and stakeholder groups, the relationship structure transformed from an antagonistic to a more amicable configuration through successive interactions. While the Olympic Corporation’s stakeholder engagement strategies appear successful at the COV, stakeholder respondents exhibit skepticism about Olympic organizers. The Olympic Corporation must find ways to keep community groups involved in the lead up to the Games if it hopes to maintain its social licence to operate.