Chicago, Thursday, 30 September – Today, SITE Foundation announced the launch of a brand new research project, Leadership inSITEs: How the C-Suite Sees Incentive Travel.

Seeking to identify the role incentive travel & motivational events play in corporate strategy and direction from a C-suite perspective, SITE Foundation’s latest project is being undertaken in conjunction with the SMU Cox School of Business.

This is SITE Foundation’s second major research initiative of 2021, a companion piece to Corporate inSITEs: the Changing Face of Incentive Travel, SITE Foundation’s series of white papers on the resumption and recovery of incentive travel and motivational events as the pandemic recedes.

Terry Manion, President, SITE Foundation and President, Inspire Consulting explained: “With data from US corporations in April, September, and December 2021, Corporate inSITEs provides a series of compelling snap shots on the resumption and recovery trajectory of incentive travel and motivational events. With Leadership inSITEs we want to take the conversation up a level, to the c-suite, and understand what role our industry plays, or could play, in terms of strategy and direction. We are proud to conduct this qualitative research with SMU Cox School of Business as our research partner and look forward to insightful perspectives that SMU will bring to this important project”.

“The SMU Cox School of Business greatly values its ongoing relationships with the business community at large and, through this partnership with SITE Foundation, is excited to connect specifically with the world of incentive travel and motivational events. As a key component of a corporate reward and recognition program, we can see the unique value of motivational events and the tangible and intangible benefits they bring to individuals, corporations, communities and, indeed, society at large,” said Professor Marci Armstrong, Ph.D., Brierley Endowed Professor and Director, Brierley Institute for Customer Engagement at Southern Methodist University (SMU Cox School of Business).

In October and November, post-graduate students at SMU will conduct qualitative research with over 60 pre-qualified corporate leaders based in North America, Europe Middle East Africa, Asia Pacific, and Latin America with findings published by the end of February 2022.

SITE Foundation is grateful to long-time SITE member and multi-graduate of SMU, Catherine Jones, and the entire SITE Texas team for making this collaboration possible.

ENDS/

For further information, please contact Padraic Gilligan, Chief Marketing Officer, SITE & SITE Foundation pgilligan@siteglobal.com

About SITE Foundation

SITE Foundation was established by Society for Incentive Travel Excellence (SITE) to raise funds and support research, education and advocacy projects on behalf of the incentive travel industry.

Monies raised by SITE Foundation enable us to make the business case for incentive travel and highlight the transformational potential of travel experiences on individuals, enterprises, and communities.

Since 2017 SITE Foundation has invested over $1.25million to drive the business case for incentive travel and support professional development within the industry.

About Cox School of Business, SMU, Dallas

The Edwin L. Cox School of Business is an American business school, part of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. The SMU Cox School of Business is headquartered in four buildings on SMU's 210-acre main campus five miles north of downtown Dallas and has a second campus in Plano, Texas.