International sport marketing Essay Example

Sport marketing, Sports, International, International market trends, Future research, Entrepreneurship, Sport business ventures, Entrepreneurial Paper type Viewpoint decade (Bauer et al. , 2005), which has been a result of entrepreneurial marketing ventures created within sport. Regressive service sellers in order to compete with other leisure activities (Bauer et al. , 2005) and entrepreneurial sport ventures that do this succeed in the competitive marketplace. Globalization and technological advances have greatly advanced the business opportunities for sport organizations, marketers and entrepreneurs involved in sport. The increased number of people traveling worldwide in addition to international migration has meant that marketing innovations within sport travel quickly. Different types of sport are played worldwide depending on a person's cultural background and educational level.

For example, many ethnic immigrants from Italian and Greek backgrounds play soccer in Australia instead of the more traditional Australian Football League. College students in the United States usually from middle to high income class families play lacrosse as part of their educational experience. In the international environment sport companies and players need to be entrepreneurial to stay ahead of the Introduction International sport marketing ventures occur worldwide as numerous companies and organizations involved in sport focus on the global market as a prelude to achieving economic and financial success.

The worldwide appeal of sport is due to the sport industry being worth an estimated $141 billion (Klan, 2009). Moreover, sport as a business offers massive potential for revenue generation on a global scale for all parties involved (Klan, 2009). Goldman and Johns (2009, p. 125) state that the business of sport is "a significant economic sector at the individual, organizational and national levels and is

an important contributor to economic activity and wealth creation".

Sport has become increasingly commercialese and has internationalization over the past The current issue and full text archive of this Journal is available at www. Nearsightedly. Com/0885-8624. HTML Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing 6/8 (2011) 614-620 q Emerald Group Publishing Limited [SINS 0885-8624] Accepted: 20 March 2011 614 volume 26 Number 8 2011 614-620 competition and at the forefront of their respective sport. Entrepreneurial sport ventures in the international context are business activities involving sport that comprise risk taking, innovation and competitive aggressiveness that occur in multiple countries.

Entrepreneurship is inherent in many sporting activities because of sports universal global appeal. Sport is often referred to as a global language as most people understand the rules of the game and in any cases no verbal translation is required (Meghan and Sullivan, 1999). Most internationally orientated entrepreneurial sport ventures involve a sport product. A sport product is defined as a "good or service or any combination of the two that is designed to provide benefits to a sports spectator participant or sponsor" (Shank, 2005, p. 16). The practical implications of sports products within the sports management and marketing fields are important as sport and the activities surrounding it are based on uncertainty of outcome (Chadwick, 2005). The aim of this paper is to further investigate the fertile research and practical opportunities for entrepreneurial sports ventures in the broader context of the international business management discipline. Sports marketing are an important aspect of international sport ventures as it is necessary to the businesses growth and survival.

Many sports teams collaborate with corporate sponsors worldwide through their international

marketing campaigns. Chadwick (2005, p. 7) defines sports marketing as a "process through which a contest with an uncertain outcome is staged, creating opportunities for the simultaneous fulfillment of objectives among sport customers, sport businesses, participants and other related individuals, groups and organizations". From an international perspective, sports' marketing is defined further as the opportunity for a corporation or organization to advertise their services in a sports-related context.

This could include buying the naming rights to a sports stadium, sponsoring individual athletes or providing clothing and sports equipment. As international sports marketing includes both products and services it is important to distinguish how these operate in the Broadly defined sports marketing can be divided into two disgorges: the marketing of sports and marketing with sports (Shannon, 1999). The marketing of sports includes marketing sporting events and equipment to fans and participants (Goldman and Johns, 2009).

This type of sports marketing is inherent in the introduction of new sports such as action sports and innovative new sports products. The marketing with sports includes the promotion of non-sporting products or services at sporting events and the use of athletes to endorse non-sport products and services (Goldman and Johns, 2009). Athletes such as David Beckman, Greg Norman and Tiger Woods are examples of how corporations are involved in international marketing with sports as these athletes have become international sports brands that have a number of sports products under their corporate umbrella.

David Beckman has utilized his sports celebrity appeal to play soccer in Europe and the United States in addition to marketing his own brand of perfume. Greg Norman has utilized his sports business knowledge to create Greg

Norman Enterprises, which develops and markets golf courses, clothing and restaurants. Tiger Woods has become a global brand by being involved in large marketing campaigns for companies including Nikkei, Storage and Accentuate.

The next section will further discuss the role of sport marketing in the international marketplace by focusing on how the internationalization of sport. Internationalization of sport International sport marketing is a rich area for academic and practitioner research because of the cross-cultural ability of sport to appeal to different generations of people from multiple geographic locations. An increasing amount of people are now able to view sport events from the internet, which has helped to globalize a diverse array of sports including cricket, football and surfing.

However, as the ability of people to play and watch professional sport is influenced by the socio-economic conditions of their country, the research on international sport and in particularly professional sports such as the National Basketball Association, National Hockey League and Major League Baseball have come from North America, Europe and Oceania. This has meant that most contributions to international sport marketing have been from developed economies and less is known about an emerging market perspective (Goldman and Johns, 2009). Most international marketing efforts of large corporations have focused on economic advancement of Eastern

European countries, China and India, more effort is now being placed on attracting more people to professional sport leagues. In addition, the amateur sport leagues that operate internationally have to a lesser extent been studied in terms of how they operate in the global marketplace. The internationalization of sport has been seen in professional sport teams focusing more on the international market instead

of their home country market. The large increase in middle class households in China and India together with their large population have attracted more professional sport teams to these countries.

In addition, the declining birth rate and ageing population of countries in Northern Europe and the United States has spurred professional sports leagues to focus on these regions. The National Basketball Association has one of the most aggressive international expansion strategies as their home market has seen a decrease in ticket sales and there is increased interest in basketball from other countries outside of the United States. Teams in the National Basketball Association have been internationalization by focusing on the international marketplace in order to broaden their fan base and sponsorship appeal.

An example of this is the Houston Rockets in the National Basketball Association who have a Mandarin version of their web site and a weekly Mandarin radio show (Clarke and Minion, 2006). Entrepreneurial sport ventures have also internationalization by focusing on their entertainment appeal. Sport is often seen as a form of entertainment, which has been referred to as "sportsmen" (Goldman and Johns, 2009). Moreover, the global appeal of American movies and television shows has meant that many professional sports teams from the United States receive a form of free marketing when people watch this form of entertainment.

Examples of entrepreneurial sport ventures that have internationalization include the recently established Indian Premier League. The Indian Premier League has newly formed the International Champions League, which invites players from around the world to play in domestic teams (Goldman and Johns, 2009). Overseas leagues have also built interest in foreign markets through 615 International sport

marketing: practical and future research "grass-roots" development in which participation in the sport is encouraged through promotional activities such as expanded broadcasting of games.

An example of this type of entrepreneurial international sport venture is the National Football League and National Hockey League recently expanding into Europe and attempting to build the league through television viewers. The international law surrounding sports licensing is also another interesting research avenue that has a large practical significance for sports agents and law firms involved in sport. Revenues from global licensed sports apparel and other goods were $JUS. 9 billion in 2008 (Norman and Humpback, 2009).

Protecting a sports teams trademark and ensuring royalties are paid has become more important due to the racy and trademark infringements seen in some parts of the world. In addition, sports leagues and other sports-related companies have five of the top 20 positions among global licensor (Norman and Humpback, 2009). Most recently, the licensing activities of the National Collegiate Athletic Association are the target of two pending cases (Keller v. Electronic Arts, Inc (2009), Abandon v. NCAA (2009)) because of the use of likenesses of student-athletes in computer games.

These two pending cases illustrate the financial incentives for global companies to protect their investments whilst increasing their reputation in the international market with loyal consumers that follow professional sport and also college sport. More research is needed on international sports management to determine how sport is being built, developed and extended internationally through entrepreneurial ventures. Other international perspectives on sport marketing are warranted that take into account different cultures, institutions and society.

Typically sport has been studied from an Anglo-American view that has

influenced the way academics and practitioners have addressed emerging sport-related issues (Chadwick, AAA). Researching sport arresting from a global perspective will help to understand different socio-economic and geographic factors that The benefit of entrepreneurship is that it offers direction to business leaders who want to increase their companies' social and economic performance (Wolcott and uppity, 2007). A broad definition of entrepreneurship is the development of enterprise and economic development (Historic, 1990; Schumacher, 1965).

Enterprising individuals who apply sport business practices to solve problems are sport entrepreneurs. These individuals use their entrepreneurial principles to organize, create and management a venture to induce some kind of change in the business environment. The primary goal of a sport entrepreneur is to make a beneficial business impact that might also affect other areas of the economy through its social and environmental influence. Branding in sport One of the most important assets of a sports organization is its brand (Bauer et al. 2005). Many brands particularly sports brands have transcended geography by focusing on the global appeal of the sport (Muezzin and Gauguin, 2001). The most successful sports teams team in Europe are those that have been successful on the field such as Manchester United ($259 million brand value), Real Madrid ($1 55 million brand value) and Brayer Munich ($1 50 million brand value) (Bauer et al. , 2005). Other professional sports leagues have formed separate business units in order to expand their global reach.

National Basketball Association International has created a department to spread the National Basketball Association as a global brand (Forester, 2006). The German Bundestag football league has internationalization through their international branding effort and increasing the

television coverage of their sports games so they are watched in 206 countries (Cutler, 2009). Other sports teams have been focusing on international branding efforts by building a global fan base. Real Madrid football club recently did this by arguing for earlier play times so Chinese fans could watch the games.

In addition, research by Coble and James (2000) found that the fans of Cleveland Browns in the National Football League liked the worldwide community of fans and this stemmed from the branding efforts of its football franchise operators. Sport teams globally generate millions of dollars in ticket sales and official merchandise and much of this comes from the brand. Professional sports teams are the most visible example of sport as a marketable product (Metcalf, 1987). The most valuable sports franchise in the world is the USED (SIEGE, 2009).

Due to globalization sports fans are less likely to support a sports team brand based on geographic connection and more likely to support them for personal reasons (Lewis, 2001). Major professional football teams like Real Madrid and Manchester United each have more than 100 million worldwide supporters (Strides, 2007). As many people live and work in countries different to their birth country, supporting these sports teams act as an "overseas sweetheart" as they live ar away but the sport team is close to their heart (Ben-Port, 2000).

In the global marketplace overseas supporters of sports teams becomes increasingly important because of the reputation of different sports institutions. Sport is controlled by a number of global sport organizations including the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFE), the International Olympic Committee (OIC), the International Association of Athletics Federations

(FAA) and the World Sport-based entrepreneurship Sport in the international context is fundamentally entrepreneurial as it constantly changes to suit adapting business needs.

Sport has been studied from a number of different academic disciplines including psychology, economics and marketing but it has only recently been discussed from an entrepreneurial paradigm (e. G. Ratter, 2010). Sport-based entrepreneurship is any kind of sport activity that is innovative, opportunity driven and vision orientated. Entrepreneurship in sport can exist in a number of different international contexts including the individual, organization or team. Sports players, agents and team owners can be entrepreneurial when they are involved in a novel risk taking activity that is different to what has been done before.

When an organization or individual involved in sport demonstrates initiative and innovates then they are being entrepreneurial. George Foreman is an example of a sport entrepreneur as he gained recognition as a boxer and then started selling internationally his barbeques grill using his name as the selling point, which is called the "George Foreman Grill". 616 Anti-Doping Authority (WAD) (Forester, 2006). Other less prominent global sports organizations include the World Arm-Sport Federation (WAFT-arm wrestling), the International Federation of Sports Acrobatics (Biostatistics), the International

Federation for Rob-Soccer (FIFE-robot soccer) and the International Ice Hockey Federation (elf-ice hockey) (Forester, 2006). Connection to social issues as it can provide guidance to organizations on health, the environment and a diverse workforce. In addition, more sustainability initiatives involving sport are being utilized as a form of corporate social responsibility as many sports utilize a large amount of infrastructure from sport stadiums to playing fields and practice areas.

Corporate social responsibility and sport Tourism and

sport Corporate social responsibility involves companies incurring a responsibility to society beyond financial returns. In the sport context, corporate social responsibility is increasingly becoming important in shaping business, economic, political, environmental and social policies in the global marketplace. Corporate social responsibility is integral in the global business environment but it has only recently been discussed with professional sports teams (Walters and Chadwick, 2009).

Most professional sport leagues have incorporated corporate social responsibility into their business models with the National Football League having a relationship with United Way and the National Basketball Association developing the "National Basketball Association Cares" campaign that encourages players to partner with social institutions. The United Nations has promoted sport worldwide as a means to promote education, health, development and peace.

Sport has a number of unique factors including mass media distribution and communication power, youth appeal, positive health impacts, social interaction and sustainability awareness (Sheet and Babies, 2010). Little empirical research has been conducted on corporate social responsibility and corporate social responsibility (Sheet and Babies, 2010). Sport is an important vehicle for corporate social responsibility as it can influence the quality of life of employees, customers, shareholders and residents of local and global communities (Pave and Krause, 1997).

Sport can help shape corporate social responsibility activities in businesses around the world by focusing on the changing role and perception of society (Vaughn et al. , 2007). Increasingly more professional sports teams and sports-related businesses are using corporate social responsibility as a key part of their overall business operations. Many organizations sponsor local sporting clubs and encourage employee involvement in sport as a way in which to engage in their local community.