Research pick: Is football coming home? - "A holistic strategic perspective of football industry stakeholders"

A new study in the Journal of International Business and Entrepreneurship Development aims to identify in detail the various stakeholders in the world of professional football. George Yiapanas, Alkis Thrassou, and Demetris Vrontis of the School of Business at the University of Nicosia in Nicosia, Cyprus, have looked at the growth of this “industry” and its impact on business and society.

The team explains how football clubs operate in a dynamic multi-level setting with a wide range of stakeholders that are often demarcated simplistically but in reality represent a granular and very diverse group. Indeed, the ever-shifting relationships between a football club and those stakeholders is very much the heart of the dynamic.

From fans and followers to management and owners, from the players and coaches themselves to the advertisers and broadcasters and the broader media, suppliers and financiers, national and international regulators and advocacy groups. Ensuring that a club is sustainable and goes from strength to strength in terms of winning matches and retaining follower interest is key to maintaining strong relationships with many of the other stakeholders. To underpin the stakeholder relationships, clubs need to understand who their stakeholders are, what roles and involvement each has, and how this all fits together with their seasonal activities. This new research delves into the details of the stakeholder realm in the world of professional football.

“This study significantly contributes to the football industry policymakers and practitioners a detailed analysis and robust knowledge of the relationships between the industry’s stakeholders and the football clubs,” the research team writes.

“Managing stakeholders is all about creating as much value as possible, without resorting to trade-offs,” the team writes. To spin a cliché or two, at the end of the day, in this game of two halves it is obvious that it is not only the club that scores the most goals that wins, but the one that engages with its stakeholders to mutual benefit the most effectively.

Yiapanas, G., Thrassou, A. and Vrontis, D. (2022) ‘A holistic strategic perspective of football industry stakeholders’, J. International Business and Entrepreneurship Development, Vol. 14, No. 3, pp.349–377.