Strategic Management in Tourism, Sports and Event Case Study

Strategic Management in Tourism, Sports and Event - Case Study Example Sports industry has grown considerably due to the growing interests related to games, health and fitness. Focusing on this aspect, the case study intends to reveal ways of doing business in light of increased environmental concerns for a popular sport organisation namely Manchester United Football Club. Besides, the case study also discusses various growth strategies that can be used for Manchester United to expand the business. Corporate Social Responsibility In the context of strategic management, corporate social responsibility (CSR) is significantly influencing the business at an alarming rate. CSR is linked with core business objectives and core competencies and it can provide positive financial yields for Manchester United along with facilitating it to create a positive environmental impact in the world (McElhaney, 2009). New Ways of Doing Business In current business context, environmental problems such as climate change create an impact on every aspect of the economy and sports industry is no exception. Sports business is potentially an environmentally sensitive segment and is likely to be impacted by climate change. In present days, there is an increasing awareness about certain environmental issues such as greenhouse gas (GHG) emission, carbon emission, energy consumption and waste management among others (The Higher Education Academy, 2008; Carroll & Shabana, 2010). CSR Initiative Optimal for Manchester United The corporate trend towards CSR signifies substantial prospects for Manchester United to capitalise on pervasive demands of sports along with the financial strength of the business (Manchester United Limited, 2011). In order to understand the most optimal CSR initiative for an organisation, first there is a need to make an internal analysis such as SWOT. Appendix 1 and 2 shows the SWOT analysis of Manchester United and the SWOT analysis with the aid of Weighting/Ranking System. Concerning the internal aspects of Manchester United, it can be stated that the organisation possesses a number of ways for positioning the CSR strategies. For instance, it can make progression towards accomplishing profit objectives by of its involvement in sport related or spectator services along with developing partnerships with other organisations in an attempt to advance CSR programs (Smith & Westerbeek, 2007). Clear CSR Leadership Position In order to be comp etitive in present day’s business environment, organisations must constantly innovate and observe the activities of the competitors. Manchester United has corporate responsibility to ensure safe and healthy atmosphere and is committed to maintain sound environmental performance by constant maintenance of environmental management system (Akesson, 2010; Breitbarth et al., 2011). Strategic Group Analysis of Sports Industry Strategic group is a concept which is used to classify groups of organisations within similar industry, having similar business models (Reger & Huff, 2010). The following figure will show the strategic groups in the United Kingdom sports industry with reference to football segment. Aspects such as extent of branding and number of market segment served have been used for demonstrating the strategic group of Manchester United. According to the above figure, the key competitors of Manchester United in the Asian market are Arsenal Holdings plc, Chelsea and Liverpo ol Football Club (Henry, 2008). Arsenal and Chelsea have focused on Asian participation being through academies and programs while Liverpool is focusing on Indian market for opening of its own academy (Chelsea, 2013; The Arsenal Football Club Plc, 2011; Eurosport, 2013) Growth Strategy for 2014 to 2015 Business growth for an organisatio