Sport Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Vanessa Ratten, João J. Ferreira, Vanessa Ratten, João J. Ferreira

• Editorial: Routledge
• Año: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781315393360
• Edición: 1
• Categoría: Negocios y empresa
• Categoría: Emprendimiento

This book features international authors discussing the role of entrepreneurship and innovation in the sports context. It focuses on topics such as the role of entrepreneurial marketing in sport, how technological innovation has changed the way sport is played and viewed, the globalization of sport as a product and service, the new types of sports that have emerged, athlete entrepreneurs and their related business endeavors and how sport influences innovation in other industries.

The main themes of the book include: 1) the development of sport entrepreneurship and innovation, 2) entrepreneurship and sport, 3) innovation in sport, 4) internationalization and entrepreneurial behavior in sport, 5) entrepreneurial sport marketing, 6) sport in entrepreneurial universities and 7) the future for sport entrepreneurship and innovation. This interdisciplinary book will appeal to entrepreneurship, innovation and sport management scholars, students and practitioners.

1
SPORT ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION

Concepts and theory

Vanessa Ratten and João J. Ferreira

Introduction

The sport industry is a competitive market in which innovation is important for its sustained success (Ratten, 2010). Sport innovation is important to organizations, individuals and governments due to the important role sport has in the global marketplace. Despite the growing popularity of sport-related innovations there has been minimal progress in theory development unifying the field. This lack of unifying framework for sport innovation makes it difficult to progress research and establish its legitimacy in the management research field. There is research about sport and innovation but there is a disconnect in providing sport innovation as a theoretical framework. This chapter discusses the way sport innovation can provide a school of thought for understanding the way innovation in the sport context is different to other contexts. This will enable researchers, practitioners and public policy planners to use sport innovation theory to identify problems and suggest solutions in the interconnected global business world.

The main focus of innovation in the sport context concerns sports organizations innovating to increase membership numbers and to add more services (Thibault et al., 1993). This is the result of consumers playing a crucial role in sport organizations by generating new ideas as they have more emotional attachment (Franke and Sha, 2003). Innovation in sport is sometimes developed by consumers or participants because of the high level of involvement they have with sport (Newell and Swan, 1995). This means that sport innovation is different to other types of innovation, which is usually developed internally within an organization through research and development activities (Franke and Shah, 2003).

Most organizations develop innovations by spending time and money on internal processes that they control and which lead to commercialization. Sport innovation differs as often the users innovate the equipment themselves instead of waiting for an organization to do this. This leads to the innovation in sport being dynamic as it is refined by members of the sport community. The resulting innovation is then diffused within the sport context and can be used in a variety of different contexts depending on demand. Sport innovation by users instead of manufacturers is popular due to the reward in performance coming from the change. This user-driven innovation can occur in organizations who want to keep the innovation secret whilst benefitting from it for revenue-sharing reasons (von Hippel, 2007).

Some organizations must reveal their innovation because of government regulations that lessen their ability to keep innovations secret. Innovations can take an explorative or exploitative function depending on the level of risk and control involved (Tushman and Smith, 2002). Explorative sport innovations involve looking at ways to use existing knowledge and services to improve design efficiency. Exploitative sport innovations involve the use of resources in ways that have not been done before. Some innovations in sport are not considered innovative at the time they are introduced. This is due to the innovations such as electronic sport games having been invested into other contexts including the manufacturing industry. Sport innovation tends to focus on the idea of improvement in how sport is played, viewed or watched. Some sport innovations are transferred from other industries such as online sport betting.

The purpose of this chapter is to bring the sport and innovation literature together in order to address the following questions: How is sport innovation defined? Why does sport innovation constitute a separate area of innovation management study? And, how can sport innovation be used as a theoretical framework for future research? The consequences of answering these research questions are to encourage future research on sport innovation and to establish sport innovation as a coherent field of research. By doing so, this chapter will pave the way for the systematic development of sport innovation as an important area of business management research.

This chapter is organized over the following sections. The first section discusses the importance of having an innovative perspective within sport. This leads to an exploration of the literature on innovation management. The next section presents a theoretical framework for sport innovation that focuses on the distinctiveness of the field with the innovation management literature. The final section concludes the chapter by highlighting how sport innovation is defined and developed. Implications for sport managers and suggestions for future study and research about sport innovation are stated.

Literature review

Innovation involves the successful exploitation of new ideas that can generate value (Damanpour, 1996). This is important for improving the attractiveness and delivery of a product, process, service or technology (Oke et al., 2007). Some organizations develop streams of innovation over time as changes occur and trends influence behavior (Smith and Tushman, 2005). This has led to organizations having a history of innovation due to their ability to develop better effectiveness with implementation of successful innovations (Damanpour et al., 2009). The implementation of innovation is important to the growth of resources devoted to creative activity (Damanpour and Schneider, 2006).

Some organizations explore innovation by creating new markets that can be used in the international environment. These innovations often bring about radical change as they involve the use of new resources. The range of innovations available in an organization is constrained by internal and external control mechanisms (Hull and Lio, 2006). This means that organizations have less market freedom in some circumstances to incorporate innovative strategies (Damanpour, 1996). Resource constraints both in terms of time and money may further limit the innovative capability of some organizations due to their strategic goals.

Innovation strategy describes the way an organization positions itself in its competitive environment for new product and market development. Part of an organization’s innovation strategy involves management making specific decisions about innovation goals. Organizational innovation is defined as the “implementation of an idea – whether pertaining to a device, systems, process, policy, program, or service – that is new to the organization at the time of adoption” (Damanpour and Evan, 1984, p. 393). Sometimes the strategic direction an organization will take involves focusing on the resource allocation decisions that lead to innovation (Li and Atuahene-Gima, 2001).

Innovation strategy operates within the context of an organization so it can commit to developing new products and markets. The interaction between innovation and strategy will be embedded in an organization’s actions, behavior and culture. The key attributes of innovation strategy are proactiveness, risk taking and commitment to innovation (Saleh and Wang, 1993). These attributes combine with the top management leadership in an organization to link innovation strategy with overall business goals (Pinto and Prescott, 1988). Organizational leadership that has a long-term commitment to innovation is part of their strategic vision.

In an organization, resources need to be allocated to innovation goals in order for new products and services to be developed. This resource allocation is part of an organization’s strategic objectives that shape innovation (Tipping and Zeffren, 1995). The strategic leadership of managers is important in making innovation happen. Managers can champion innovation by having a clear strategic direction based on communication. Furthermore, managers who tolerate change are able to support and champion innovation in an organization (Damanpour, 1991). Providing the climate for implementing innovation is important in order to facilitate change. This is impacted by the managerial attitude towards innovation that includes having practical support for change in an organization. Some managers expect innovation in an organization as they offer ways of doing new and improved practices.

Innovation management literature distinguishes between the adoption and appropriation process (Clark, Staunton and Rogers, 1989). Newell and Swan (1995) discuss how this is important in the sport context with adoption involving decisions to use a new idea for a specific purpose. The adoption process of the idea can promote and help an activity be introduced but might not always mean it will be implemented (Rogers, 2010). Appropriation involves translating the idea into reality within an organization (Newell and Swan, 1995). The appropriation process means making it appropriate for the context in which an organization operates (Clark, Staunton and Rogers, 1989). Some organizations will design the innovation differently so it is appropriate within their environmental setting, Rogers (2010) in his discussion about adoption and appropriation also refers to the reinvention process as being linked between both phases of innovation. Reinvention means some innovations come from doing things differently with an innovation that in the past has not been successful (Newell and Swan, 1995). Innovation adoption and appropriation can be considered from a function and psychological perspective (Antioco and Kleijnen, 2010).

Service innovation

Service innovation is relevant to sport as the delivery of services is at the core of many organizations in terms of how they adopt and appropriate innovation (Newell and Swan, 1995). Service innovation involves introducing new services to a group of customers in order to increase quality rates (Walker, 2008). The effectiveness of an organization is impacted by service innovations as they link to customer satisfaction. Some service innovations already exist in other industries but when introduced in a new context they become innovative. This comes from new knowledge, acts or processes resulting in service innovation (Hipp and Grupp, 2005). When new services are developed they are intangible in form as they cannot be physically defined (Damanpour, 1991). Lovelock and Gummesson (2004) state that services are purchased for a time period with a certain location and this is the main way they are distinguished from other types of innovation.

Services occur when consumption and production take place at the same time for a consumer (Hipp and Grupp, 2005). Innovation in the service sector can include the service itself in terms of the way it is done or the conditions surrounding the service (Edvardsson and Olsson, 1996). Hoeber and Hoeber (2012) in a study on community soccer organizations discussed how new electronic devices are developed. They found that service innovation needs a connection between staff and managers that includes good communication.

The creation of new knowledge by exploring opportunities is important for organizations that rely on innovation to stay competitive. The willingness of an organization to explore new ideas is an important determinant of whether an innovation will be successful (Damanpour, 1991). The creation of new knowledge is impacted by the commitment an organization has towards innovation. Innovation is facilitated in an organization when there is a favorable attitude towards knowledge development (Rogers, 2010). This attitude can be incorporated into staff behavior that encourages knowledge development (Bierly et al., 2009). Innovation can be implemented into an organization more easily when staff are engaged with the knowledge process (Walsh and Ungson, 1991). The ability of an organization to innovate is related to how they assimilate knowledge by valuing good ideas (Hull and Lio, 2006).

Process innovation

Innovation is different to invention as it involves something perceived as new and often incorporates processes (Rogers, 2010). Invention refers to the creation of a product, service or process that has not been done before. The invention of new materials such as quick-drying material in sports clothing and aluminium baseball bats are innovations that were originally developed in other industries. Adoption perspectives of innovation focus on understanding how innovation develops from changes in the environment (Kimberly and Evanisko, 1981). These changes make some organizations more receptive to innovation than others.

The diffusion perspective of innovation focuses on why and how innovation spreads in society (Kimberly and Evanisko, 1981). In order to diffuse innovation more quickly it is important to coordinate both the design and marketing approaches. This enables innovation to incorporate both the adoption and diffusion process when they are integrated in an organization. The decision to adopt an innovation involves making use of the innovation because it is the best course of action (Rogers, 2010). The diffusion of innovation includes the adoption process as a social system communicates the reasons why an innovation should be adopted (Rogers, 2010). Diffusion can occur over a time period to increase the probability that other people in the social system will adopt an innovation. Communication of innovations can take a variety of different forms including through social networks that are common in sport communities in which individuals have a common interest in performance outcomes.

Theoretical framework for sport innovation

Sport innovation takes place in a v...