Business strategy of for-profit-oriented sports enterprises in Hungary

Abstract

AbstractMany sports organisations operate as non-profits, but the emphasis and role of for-profits in this sector cannot be avoided. Today, sports activities are connected to the business sector and generate profit, hence, sports sector is a decisive part of the economy. Sport profile companies differ in their organisational strategy formulation approach. The main focus was to learn more about their strategy approach and market behaviour. 350 sports business organisations were involved in a survey of 3,248 companies, and the Chi-square test, variance analysis, and principal component analysis were applied to the sample. Results showed that 75.7% of the responding sports companies had no written strategic plan. The availability of written strategies seemed to depend on the organisation's scale. The market-following behaviour was confirmed in the case of smaller sports enterprises. Fitness service providers appeared to follow a market-leading behaviour. Growth, investment, and development naturally emerged as essential factors for companies with higher sales revenue and operating sports facilities, and they were relatively less important in sports goods production and trade. Most of the results showed that in the sports business sector, large-scale organisations focus on strategic-related issues more than other players in the industry.