Co-opetition models for governing professional football

In recent years, models for co-creating value in a business-to-business context have often been examined with the aim of studying the strategies implemented by and among organisations for competitive and co-operative purposes. The traditional concepts of competition and co-operation between businesses have now evolved, both in terms of the sector in which the businesses operate and in terms of the type of goods they produce. Many researchers have, in recent times, investigated the determinants that can influence the way in which the model of co-opetition can be applied to the football world. Research interest lies in the particular features of what makes a good football. In this paper, the aim is to conduct an analysis of the rules governing the “football system”, while also looking at the determinants of the demand function within football entertainment. This entails applying to football match management the co-opetition model, a recognised model that combines competition and co-operation with the view of creating and distributing value. It can, therefore, be said that, for a spectator, watching sport is an experience of high suspense, and this suspense, in turn, depends upon the degree of uncertainty in the outcome. It follows that the rules ensuring that both these elements can be satisfied are a fertile ground for co-operation between clubs, as it is in the interest of all stakeholders to offer increasingly more attractive football, in comparison with other competing products. Our end purpose is to understand how co-opetition can be achieved within professional football

Reconceptualising product life-cycle theory as stakeholder engagement with non-profit organisation

The paper critically re-examines product life-cycle (PLC) theory, developed over fifty years ago. Despite prevalence in marketing pedagogy and continued popularity within empirical research, PLC is seldom challenged. The paper identifies the organisation-centric construct underpinning the theory and highlights a disconnection between PLC theory and the recent academic insight around customer engagement. It reconceptualises the life-cycle concept based on engagement between stakeholder and non-profit organisation (NPO), structured upon both the market orientation and social exchange constructs. The revised framework maps stakeholder engagement with the NPO through the five stages of incubation, interaction, involvement, immersion, and incapacitation. The paper concludes with identifying a roadmap for future empirical research to develop and validate the re-envisaged conceptual model. The methodology used is narrative literature review supported by secondary research from specialist practitioner reports

Determinants of coopetition and contingency of strategic choices: The case of professional football clubs in France

Research question: The research aims to identify the determinants of ‘coopetitive’ strategies compared to more competitive or cooperative ones, while examining the contingency of strategic choices to strategic groups. The focus is on French professional football over the 2006–2017 period. The contribution to the literature comes from using strategic groups and breaking down specific characteristics of player transactions in this industry. Research methods: The methodology is based on an exploratory statistical analysis composed by cluster analysis. First, a Pearson’s principal component analysis (PCA) is conducted, before using K-means classification. Results and Findings: Results provide empirical evidence for a high contingency of strategic choices. The taxonomy found is closely related to the economic, financial and sporting characteristics of a club. Belonging to a specific class highly influences the strategy a club can implement. In addition, the diversity of club behaviours in the league are highlighted. Implications: Our findings bring relevant information for practitioners about their strategies and the managerial implications of a potential reform of player transactions between teams. Indeed, FIFA is working on a reform to limit the number of outgoing loans that a team can use and better control the transfer system