THE DISTINCTIVENESS OF SPORT: OPPORTUNITIES FOR RESEARCH IN THE FIELD

This piece is the Editorial from Volume 1, Issue 2 of the Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal

In the inaugural edition of this journal, it was argued that the development of sport, its size and scale, and its unique features have necessitated the introduction of a journal of this nature. Readers will recall that a broad-range of areas was identified as being potentially fruitful areas for the development of existing, or the development of new, research streams.

For researchers considering sport as a research field (indeed, also for those already working in the field), building upon observations made in the inaugural editorial will hopefully bring further clarity to the opportunities that exist in sport business management research. To begin with, it is worthwhile identifying what makes sport different to other industrial sectors. While there are some unique and highly specific industrial characteristics in sport, it is these characteristics in combination with several others that make sport research a compelling and important proposition. By understanding them, one therefore anticipates that researchers can build appropriate research:

• Uncertainty of outcome – in an age where many industries and products emphasise uniformity of standards, the essence of sport, the heart of the industry and the core product in sport are all based around the uncertain outcome to a competitive contest involving individuals or teams. Hence, not knowing who will win a game or a race is what defines competitive sport and imbues it with the strengths and qualities that consumers and organisations find attractive;

• Competitive balance – in order to maximise the uncertainty of outcome, sport requires evenly balanced competitors. In this way, there is a more equal chance of two individuals or two teams winning a contest. In this case, the outcome of a contest is more unpredictable, and the ensuing contests are therefore more likely to closely contested thus producing more excitement, tension and interest amongst various stakeholders;

• Product-led industry – the prevailing philosophy in many industries is that organisations should be market-led and customer-focused. In sport, the history and socio-cultural embeddedness of the industry dictates that the core product, the competitive contest, drives industrial activity. The extent to which such industrial norms and conventions can or should be challenged, is an interesting point that has recently been challenged by the emergence of short-format sports such as 20/20 cricket, and by the creation of new sports such as the X-Games;

• Coordination, cooperation and collaboration – the notion and significance of ‘collaborating to compete’ and is firmly established across the industrial landscape, but in sport collaboration, coordination and cooperation are enforced rather than being a strategic choice. That is, groups of individuals or organisations need to work together in order to create competitions, and in turn enact competitive contests. As such, ‘collaborating to compete’ is a component of the sport industry’s existence and continuing development, rather than a way of ensuring an organisation’s commercial success in the market place;

• Limited organisational control over product – as with other industries, sport is subject to local, national and international laws that will dictate the rights and responsibilities of organisations within the industry. Yet sport is also exposed to externally imposed sets of laws, regulations and operating criteria that other industries do not have. For instance, the core product specification (i.e. the competitive contest, its duration and its format), are not within the control of individual organisations, clubs or individuals. This effectively removes a series of variables from being within the control of institutional decision-makers, therefore limiting their scope to attain competitive advantage;

• Performance measurement – normal measures of performance evident in other industries, including profitability, turnover and so forth, are also evident in sport, increasingly so in some specific cases. However, sports are subjected to other performance measures that expose the industry to unparalleled and unique levels of scrutiny. League tables, rankings, medal tallies, as well as athlete analytics, bring an additional level of scrutiny and performance measurement. Adding to the distinctiveness of sport, the contradiction between on-field and off-field measures of performance are also often problematic, adding further complications to decision-making and management;

• Fans (customers) are producers & consumers – whenever a customer in an industry such as engineering or financial services makes a product selection decision, they are motivated by an array of factors that often have much in common. But there are two features of these motives that again highlight sport as being different to other industries. Firstly, the importance of other people at the point of consumption is unnecessary; secondly, consumers essentially have a singular role, that is as people who buy and use a product. In sport, customers are both consumers and producers; they not only purchase and consume the product, they also help to create the interest, intensity, atmosphere and rivalry which gives strength to the core product in sport;

• Symbiotic relationship with media – sport provides various media platforms with the content they to deliver products to customers across the world. At the same time, such content provides sport with a level of exposure that ensures it is constantly in the public domain. As such, this symbiotic relationship is self-perpetuating, in a way that is not evident in other industrial sectors.

In combination, these factors mean that sport is distinct from many other industries and products, even those with which sport may share some similarities and characteristics.