Resources and capabilities to turn business data usage in Football Clubs into a competitive advantage

Details

Supervisors

Hazée, Simon

Faculty

Louvain School of Management

Degree label

Master [120] : ingénieur de gestion, à finalité spécialisée

Abstract

In the last few years, the Football industry has evolved from being a recreational activity to a high-profile industry. In that regard, Football Clubs are now increasingly considering the importance of their business side and seek ways to differentiate on that level. One way to do so is to make use of new technologies, notably Big Data. But as the Football industry is still perceived as very immature, some resources and capabilities are necessary to turn Big Data into a potential competitive advantage. In this master’s thesis, the objective is to determine the impact of Big Data on a Football Club’s business performance and to identify the necessary resources and capabilities to turn business data analytics into a competitive advantage. In the literature review, we identify sources of competitive advantages, potential distinctive resources and capabilities, Big Data usages as well as Football peculiarities. A qualitative analysis, documented by interviewing industry and data experts, complemented our literature review by filling the academic gaps about business usage or about necessary resources and capabilities. First, these analyses led to the development of a research framework identifying the different steps, resources and value creation mechanisms of Big Data in Football Clubs. A particular emphasis has been put on the importance of turning the club into a real business as well as the importance of human resources. We then develop that, by putting the right resources in place, clubs can create value through 4 main pillars: ticketing and sales, CRM and fan engagement, social media and marketing and corporate partnerships. Second, it led to the formulation of four research propositions that pave the way for future research: (1) An organizational data-driven strategy and a business configuration are necessary to unblock to potential of any other Big Data resources, (2) the creation of a “data and technology” department allows for a better communication and detection of insights, therefore improving the value creation, (3) in the business side, Football Clubs need to combine data experts with sport business experts to create value and (4) partnerships can replace the need for human and infrastructure resources on the business side during the first phases of the Big Data implementation.