Broadly, this practitioner course focuses on the economic value of the sports business industry and international business opportunities within this industry. Within this industry, courses may focus on different aspects and challenges at the intersection of business management and sports. In the past, courses have, for example, international sponsoring, social media or digitalization.

The course is held in cooperation with Außenwirtschaft Austria, students work in groups on real-life consulting projects under the joint supervision of academic partners and practitioners. Group work is supported by theory inputs from academic instructors and a series of guest speakers. Students are given access to the network of RISM and Außenwirtschaft Österreich for their data collection. At the end of the course, students present their work to partners.

Within this course students will:

·       learn to analyze internationalization opportunities in sports business;

·       learn to provide recommendations for the internationalization sports business;

·       learn to analyze international competition in the industry;

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

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

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

o   Theory input

o   Guest speaker sessions

o   Skill sessions

o   Coachings

o   Student presentations and

o   Peer feedback

Grading criteria for final report & presentations:

·       Analytical rigor                                                                        40%                       

·       Data support for business case                                               30%                      

·       Professionalism in Presentation                                               20%                       

·       Creativity                                                                                  10%    

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

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

Please log in with your WU account to use all functionalities of read!t. For off-campus access to our licensed electronic resources, remember to activate your VPN connection connection. In case you encounter any technical problems or have questions regarding read!t, please feel free to contact the library at readinglists@wu.ac.at.

• Chadwick, S., Parnell, D., Widdop, P., & Anagnostopoulos, C. 2018. Routledge Handbook of Football Business and Management: Routledge. Compulsory readings for multiple choice test: Chapters 1, 3, 14, 34, 35, 47.
•  Szymanski, M., Wolfe, R. A., Danis, W., Lee, F., & Uy, M. A. 2020. Sport and international management: Exploring research synergy. Thunderbird International Business Review.
• To be updated

Reference literature is available via WU – library. Students require VPN connection if online book is accessed from home network.

Deliverables for all groups:

1.     Final Report &Presentation                                                       (40%)

• 40 min Presentation Powerpoint

2.     Sportsbusiness Blog                                                                 (10%)

• 1 Page summary of analytical task
• 1 page summary of creative task

3.     Social Media Pitch for your Project                                           (5%)

• 1 LinkedIn post for analytical task

4.     Interview Transcripts                                                               (5%)

• Students must hand in interview transcripts

Detailed instructions for consulting projects in the winter term 2024:

Students are assigned to six groups working competitively on three different consulting projects:

1.      Group 1 & 2: Sport as Business - The economic relevance of Sports Business in Austria

 Groups conduct a qualitative survey of experts with the help of WKO & WU networks.

•  Analytical task

                                               i.     Define Sports Business

                                             ii.     Structure Sports Business Segments

                                            iii.     Assess the size and growth of Sports Business Segments

• Deep-dive (creative task)

                                               i.     Select one interesting growth segment of Sports business

                                             ii.     Discuss opportunities for specific Austrian companies

2.      Group 3 & 4: Sport Exports - Outbound opportunities for Austrian companies in sports business

Groups conduct a qualitative survey of Außenwirtschafts Centres around the world.

• Analytical Task

                                               i.     Identify Austrian Sports Business exporters or prospective exporters

                                             ii.     Screen foreign markets for specific business opportunities

• Deep-dive (creative task)

                                               i.     Select one existing business segment and create a business case

                                             ii.     Select one new product and create a business case

 3.      Groups 5 &6: Sport Imports - Inbound Innovations for Austrian Sports Business companies

Groups conduct a structured research and survey.

• Analytical Task

                                               i.     Identify innovations in Sports Business

                                             ii.     Screen foreign markets for innovations in Sports Business that could be interesting for Austrian companies

• Deep-dive (creative task)

                                               i.     Select one innovations segment that could be interesting for the Austrian market

                                             ii.     Identify Austrian companies that could commercialize the innovation

The two groups sharing a topic compete against each other and across groups. At the touchdown event, three topic winners and an overall winner will be announced. [Prizes]

AI policy

I expect that some of you will use AI (ChatGPT and similar tools) in the CEMS program and potentially also for assignments. There is, per se, nothing bad about that. You will need to learn how to use AI, that is, AI usage is an emerging skill. We will not focus on how to use AI in this class but I would like to highlight a couple of key points:

Be aware of the limits of AI!

• Your prompts and their quality will drive the quality of the output. You will need to refine your prompts in order to get good outcomes.
• Don’t trust anything that the tool is writing. If it gives you some numbers or facts, you should assume that it is wrong unless you can either fact check with other sources, or unless you can be sure that you know that the information is correct. Ultimately, you will be responsible for errors or any other types of limitations that the tool produces.
• AI is a tool and you need to acknowledge the use of it. Please include a paragraph at the end of any assignment that explains if and how you have used AI and what prompts you have used. Failure to do so is violates your pledge of academic honesty and can have serious consequences.
• Note that the use of AI tools can be detected by WU plagiarism software, which I may activate for every assignment. In case that there is indication for undue AI usage, first, an audit interview with the student will be scheduled. Follow-up consequences will be determined afterwards.
• In this context, please note also the official WU guidelines on plagiarism: https://www.wu.ac.at/en/students/my-program/masters-student-guide/course-and-exam-information/plagiarism/"