᭹The football business has been transformed from a tawdry pastime to a major industry that is scrutinized by city analysts and is the subject of important take-over bids.Yet as Grundy observes in an earlier issue of this journal, there are few serious attempts to examine the industry with strategic rigour. ᭹ This paper reports on and analyses data from professional football clubs and uses SPACE analysis to generate strategic positions for individual clubs and a prognosis for the overall industry. This evidence enables Grundy's model of the industry to be contextualized and shows that in most respects, his ideas are supported. The paper also reveals that environmental factors play a significant role in the business success of a club. This identifies the paradox that success on the football field can have a deleterious effect on the strategic future of the club.᭹ The paper also concludes that the structure of the industry would not support reasonable business expectations and suggests that we are observing a corporate hobby rather than modern business activity.
British soccer has become a large, high-profile industry, but it is constantly dogged by accusations of poor management practices at club level. Yet there are few explorations into what kind of management practices would be most suitable for this industry. In this paper, the authors explore the possible financial benefits that have accrued to English professional football clubs that have developed their market orientation.The research estimates market orientation scores for 26 clubs (28 per cent of the population) playing in the Premiership (six clubs) and Nationwide Leagues (20 clubs). It finds that there is little correlation between financial performance and degree of market orientation. No financially successful club has a low market orientation score, however, suggesting that the marketing behaviours measured are necessary, but not sufficient conditions. This conclusion suggests that clubs would be ill advised to go beyond sound marketing operations to develop the full market orientation philosophy.
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