Before One PLC (BON)

Music festivals are growing in number globally. Festivals vary in location, size, and music
genre. They include commercial multiple-day events on farmland and community-led events
in public-owned parks.

Before One PLC (BON), a European company, has organized music festivals since 2001. In
5 2016, BON converted from a private limited company to a public limited company to raise
finance for expansion. BON has 60 permanent employees but also relies on temporary
workers and freelancers.

BON organizes five music festivals each year and has contracts with five farmers to use their
farmland for an average fee of $100 000. BON must clean up after a festival at an average
10 cost of $250 000 per festival. BON’s directors regard environmental sustainability as a
significant challenge.

BON’s festival season runs from May to August. Each music festival runs from Friday to
Sunday. Each festival site:
● takes two weeks to set up and one week to dismantle
15 ● requires security fencing, 60 stages, enough space for camping, 3000 toilets, and
25000 waste bins.

Anders Bergdahl is the company president. He oversees four main functional departments,
each headed by a line manager: Production which handles venue preparation, technical and
logistics; Program for artist booking and coordination; Marketing for promotions, TV and
20 streaming rights, and merchandise; and Finance. Each department has its own staff of
regular employees.

As a founder and major shareholder of BON, Anders exercises tight control over all aspects
of the business but he treats his employees well and has personal relationships with each
one. He provides health benefits and even scholarships for their children. During the
25 COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, BON had to cancel all planned events but he kept all
employees on the payroll.

Although organized by function, BON adopts a matrix structure during the festival season.
Representatives from each department form teams to handle an assigned festival from
pre-event preparations to post-event wrap-up. This ensures that each festival – featuring top
30 music performers and multiple music concerts going on at the same time – will run
smoothly. Employees enjoy working under the matrix structure.

After almost two years of a lockdown, quarantine rules and health protocols were lifted. BON
resumed operations in 2022 and was able to organize two sold-out festivals. These
generated strong revenues from multiple revenue streams.

35 Unfortunately, these events attracted controversy. Over a hundred concertgoers got

reinfected with COVID-19 and more complained of difficulties using their credit card during
the festival. BON was also criticized by several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for
the amount of garbage generated, including over 300 tons of plastic waste which will stay in
a landfill site for up to 1000 years. As a result, Anders canceled the remaining festivals.

40 He instructed his managers to come up with concrete plans to achieve these ethical
objectives:
● make the BON music festivals the most environmentally sustainable in the industry

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