The course is designed in a hybrid mode. This means that physical presence AND online participation will be possible. If the situation does not allow physical presence, we will change to distance mode entirely (Plan B).

This course focuses on the internationalization of professional sports as a particular international business context. Students work on a practitioner project, conduct a theory-based analysis and present their strategies in front of practitioners.

In addition, we discuss related research on sports and business. We discuss internationalizations of soccer on three different dimensions. First, we address internationalization within clubs, with a specific focus on the challenges and opportunities stemming from increased diversity and adjustments to foreign contexts. Second, we address internationalization across professional sports clubs and analyze the potential and challenges of internationalization along the value chain. Third, we analyze the international dimension of international sports events, such as world championships in different sports.

After the introductory sessions, we invite practitioners to provide insights into soccer business. Classes will be held in a synchronous hybrid mode with students either participating virtually or physically. Please refer to syllabus for detailed information on each class.

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Generally, students must attend all sessions and arrive on time for all sessions (digitally or physically). However, students may miss a maximum of one sessions, bearing in mind that participation points cannot be gathered in case of absence.

· This course uses a combination of different online teaching methods, such as

• Practitioner project (group)
• Online lectures
• Online practitioner content
• Online coaching

Generally, students must participate in all online activities.

Prerequisites for WU students: completed course 1 (Foundations) and course 2 (Applications).

Pre-requisites for WU students: completed course 1 (Foundations) and course 2 (Applications )

Jakob Müllner

jakob.muellner@wu.ac.at

Detailed description

Group projects (group task)

Students are assigned randomly to five groups working competitively on different business cases. Students conduct research with and for our corporate partners Austria Wien.

Specifically, students will work on an international sponsoring project, collecting, analyzing and preparing materials on international sponsoring relationships in the primary European leagues of footballs. In the winter term 2020, student projects address the topic “Soccer sponsoring post Covid-19”. More specifically, students work in five groups to conduct a three-part analysis on two levels of inquiry:

1) Macro- or industry level

a. Quantitative analysis of changes in Sports sponsoring in European leagues

i. Industry changes post Covid-19 (“Who are new sponsors?”)

ii. Geographic changes post Covid-19 (“Where are new sponsors from?”)

b. Qualitative research on innovative forms of sponsoring in sports during the Covid-19 pandemic (“New ways of sponsoring”)

2) Micro- or client level

a. Update existing data on sponsoring in European leagues

b. Develop a decision model to select suitable sponsor for Austria Wien using hard data (e.g. outreach/cost of sponsoring)

c. Use decision model to create a short-list of 10 high potential sponsors and 3 top picks

d. Conduct research on top-pics to develop possible acquisition and sponsoring concept

Grading criteria for presentations of group projects:

· Analytical rigor                                                          40%                

· Data support for business case                                    40%                

· Professionalism in Presentation                                  10%                

· Creativity                                                                    10%                

Online multiple choice test (individual task)

Students will complete an online multiple choice test after Easter on the learn@wu platform. The basis for the questions are the compulsory readers.