Network Approach To Strategic Quality Management In Sports Tourism

The Genre of Sports Tourism

Sports tourism is one of the fastest growing industries in the world right now. The economic importance of sports has led to the creation of a vast industry worldwide. Currently, .it stands at $ 7.68 billion. It mainly contains two kinds of participants; one who are the athletes, who gather to take part in a sporting event held in various parts of the world, along with their coaching staff and the other participant is the audience or the fans of these sporting events, who gather up and visit these foreign countries in order to support their favourite teams and athletes.  The genre of sports tourism is mainly classified into two categories, hard and soft sports tourism. The hard one refers to the big genre of events such as the Olympics, FIFA World Cup and other major sports carnivals, while the soft one refers to the occasional short period of sporting events like skiing, running and hiking, which are mainly signed up by tourists for leisure purposes (Hui, 2013). There are two events which attract the most tourists from all over the world, which are the Olympics and the Football World Cup. They are held every four years. These two events are backed by huge sponsorships, star athletes and players.  A wide range of activities are planned from the construction of stadiums to the booking of hotels, everything is done on a prior basis, for the visiting tourists as they bring a lot of economic opportunities for the host countries.

With the upcoming FIFA 2018, which is coming up in Russia, efforts are being made to savour the business opportunity.  With this intention, a sporting accessories shop named ‘SocX’ has been proposed to open with two outlets at Moscow and St. Petersburg. It is expected that the shops would be able to make most of the World Cup which is due to take place in June 2018. A total of thirty two teams have qualified for the grandest stage of them all. Each of these teams have been divided into eight groups consisting of four members. Russia, being the host country gets the automatic qualification nodes. In this year, a number of footballing giants have failed to qualify, while on the other hand, for the first time in the history of the game’s biggest spectacle, four Arab teams have qualified, leaving the big guns behind them. These four Arab teams are Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Tunisia. As the tournament begins its Russian journey, the addictive fever of the world cup has taken over the entire world. From selling of Panini stickers, sale of jerseys of Football stars like Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Neymar Jr and others have taken place, including the sale of football boots, bands, face paints etc. A promotional poster of football’s biggest spectacle has been provided below:

Opening a Sports Accessories Shop Named ‘SocX’

(Source: fifia.com, 2018)

Market research refers to the assessment of the needs of the target market of the business. In this regard, important information are realised with regards to the target market’s taste and preferences, their spending habits, duration of their stay and a host of other factors, which are necessary for the success of the business.

With regards to the FIFA World Cup, at Russia, some vital research was done by the owners of SocX. This business proposal was the brainchild of Mr Reeves, a prominent resident and business man of St. Petersburg, Russia. He is an ardent fan of the beautiful game which compelled him to achieve his dream of opening this shop apart from his business preoccupations. It was his objective to set up two branches of his SocX sport accessories with the help of his family members and business staffs. It was only because of his zeal for the game, which compelled him to meet the Chief of the Organising staff Mr John D’Souza for helping him in arranging the stalls around the stadium. Mr Reeves had no problem in convincing his Italian friend Mr Barzgali for arranging the distribution rights of the famous Italian Panini stickers. The owners, being the residents of St. Petersburg, had no issues with arranging parleys with the team of the organising staff and the head of the organising staff of the Krestovsky stadium. Some important market related information were collected during these meetings, some of which have been listed below:

• In accordance with the past reports, the average attendance at the 2014 world cup tournament was around 53,000; such figures can be expected in this summer too.
• It is viewed by a total of over a 3 billion people across the globe, which makes it a prospective lucrative investing opportunity (‘2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ – FIFA.com’, 2018).
• Setting up of at least total of 20 stalls in associations with Rostelecom, Russia’s largest telecom services company is being done, by providing the rights of using LED board, ticket raffles and the local support of the host cities. There is also a scope of more to be added later.
• Over 1.5 million foreign are expected to be arriving in the country of Russia, these are based on the preliminary reports, although, the figure might increase after the ticket sales are over in May.

The above information is very important for the setting up of up of the two sporting accessories of SocX. The daily intake of tourists and the domestic folks would help in increasing the various kinds of products, which would be up for sale during the sporting carnival of the world cup (Stehle & Weber,2013). This would serve as a big opportunity for the owners of SocX. As the footfalls of the tourists and the ardent fans of the beautiful game increase, the sale of sporting accessories would continue to rise. The sporting carnival of world cup would provide an excellent platform for selling of the sports related accessories. Thus, it can be said, that for opening a sports accessories shop or any of its branches across the country of Russia during the time of world cup is a wonderful opportunity, which must be exercised to the hilt.

In this section of the entire report, the proposed management and the production section would be discussed in detail. The first part would vividly describe the proposed management structure of SocX. In the case of the proposed management system which would be adopted by the owners of SocX is the system of minimum investment and maximum returns. The proposed management of the company involves the following activities:

• Purchase of raw materials and production:The first and foremost priority for the owners at SocX is the purchase of the best quality raw materials for the production of the jerseys. This includes mainly purchasing best quality polyester fabric at the minimum possible prices from the local retailers such as ‘Unique fabric’ in St. Petersburg. Additionally, the owners have also decided to purchase quality jerseys, football boots , footballs, player designed socks and other accessories from the locally available retail stores, in order to cut down on the cost.
• Management of the branches: There would be a total of two branches, one at St. Petersburg and the other at Moscow. These are going to be the two most prominent attractions for the world cup, which is due to take place from the 14thof June. Each of these two branches have been incorporated on behalf of the Government of Russia’s aim of making the world cup more friendly, robust and fulfilling experience for both the visiting tourists as well as for the sports enthusiasts from all across the globe. Each branch would consist of the following members who would have the below mentioned responsibilities too:

• Internal Management: The internal management of any business organisation or any small business venture plays a pivotal role in its overall success. The main outlet in St. Petersburg near the Krestovsky stadium deals with all the primary activities of the business. In the subsequent paragraph a detailed understanding of each of the job positions in both the branches of SocX has been vividly described.

Key Partners, Activities, Value Propositions, Customer Relationships, Customer Segments, Resources, Channels, Cost Structure, and Revenue Streams

There will be a Head Manager that may be the owner, who would oversee every operations of the branch (shop). Along with him, there would be a person who would be in charge of the sales; he or she would look into the sales activities of SocX. Next, a person would be there who would be in charge of the online activities of the shop, advertising, selling online, taking orders online, would be his or her main job (Wäsche, Dickson, & Woll, 2013). There would be another person who would be in charge of the gaming department, which would be provided to the visiting audience, by providing an opportunity of gaming services to the. Along with this, another person would handle the accounts and monetary items of the shop. It includes keeping a track of the money received from sales, all the expenses incurred and the revenue received from different sources. Additionally, along with the person mentioned above, there would be a person, who would look after the supply and distribution of the raw materials and the different goods and merchandise, which have been ordered online. He would ensure that the St. Petersburg branch of SocX, get the right quantity, right quality of raw material (good quality polyester fabric) at the right time, in order to ensure a smooth and uninterrupted production procedure. Along with this, the person would also be responsible for ensuring timely supply of the different kinds of goods which have been ordered online.

In order to show that the shop has been opened to spread the love of the beautiful game of football and to cater personally to the requirements of the different sports enthusiasts, it will be the management’s objective to ensure that all the above positions, would be filled by the close friends, family members and other known associates. The most imperative objective of the owners of SocX remains the fact, which is the owners want to enjoy themselves in the mirth of the world cup and continue to do so for many years to come, just for the love of the beautiful game.

(Source: FIFA.com, 2018)

Hiring objectives of SocX:

Additionally, a need of hiring different assistants for the purpose of helping them out would be necessary. In this case, hiring of relevant people with or without the required experience would be done. Even the fresher’s could also apply or any teenager from the list of family and friends. The objective remains to become a sports family oriented shop, which have a great deal of warmth and love for the beautiful game. Moreover, these steps would also put less strain on the limited financial resources of SocX. It remains the foremost objective of the owners to portray themselves as the lovers of the beautiful game, who have set up the shop in order to promote the feeling of brother hood and This would help the owners to ensure smooth running of the Moscow outlet, without putting any kind of financial or man power pressure.

Proposed Management System and Hiring Objectives

Panini Stickers are going to be back in the FIFA World Cup, 2018 after a gap of several decades:

(Source: Hindustantimes.com, 2018)

As any other business setup, SocX would also incur various kinds of expenditure for the day to day running of the business. The aim of incurring these expenses is to ensure that a smooth and effective business goes on without any kind of untoward interruptions. All these expenses, sales, and efficient organisation is being done under the veil of the primary objective of the owners, which is to enjoy the fever of the 2018 world cup at Russia (Zimbalist, 2016). The detailed mentioning of all the necessary expenses of the shop and the overall business has been provided below:

As the income section mentioned in the above portion constitute a major portion of the sales forecast for the mentioned  period of three years, from the inception year of 2018, which is why the sales figure have been reproduced over here:

It can be seen that the total amount of sales for the period has continued to increase, especially the revenue from sale of sporting equipment’s have been tremendous. The forecast is based on the after math of the Fifa world cup. Due to the world cup, the economic well-being of the residents of St. Petersburg would increase, consequently the popularity of the game in the area would increase. This bodes well for the economy of Russia.

Conclusion: 

Through this report, a detailed understanding of the event of sports tourism has been gained. The aims and objectives of sports tourism and the various activities involved in it has been discussed below. The report throws ample light on the FIFA world cup 2018, which is bound to take place in Russia. There remains a series of items which would be sold through the setting up of the shops near the two branches of St Petersburg and Moscow. Thus through this, a robust business proposal about the various kinds of expenses and incomes have been discovered and seen.

References:

2018 FIFA World Cup Russia™ – Teams – FIFA.com. (2018). Retrieved from https://www.fifa.com/worldcup/teams/index.html

Daily Nation. (2018). Russia creates ‘tourist police’ for World Cup. [online] Available at: https://www.nation.co.ke/sports/football/Russia-creates-tourist-police-for-World-Cup/1102-4368986-7b5sd4/index.html [Accessed 22 May 2018].

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Nooij, M.D., Berg, M.V.D. and Koopmans, C., 2013. Bread or games? A social cost–benefit analysis of the World Cup bid of the Netherlands and the winning Russian bid. Journal of Sports Economics, 14(5), pp.521-545.

Ritchie, B. W., & Adair, D. (Eds.). (2014). Sport tourism: Interrelationships, impacts and issues (Vol. 14). Channel View Publications.

Stehle, M., & Weber, B. M. (2013). German soccer, the 2010 World Cup, and multicultural belonging. German Studies Review, 36(1), 103-124.

Wäsche, H., Dickson, G., & Woll, A. (2013). Quality in regional sports tourism: a network approach to strategic quality management. Journal of Sport & Tourism, 18(2), 81-97.

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