Abstract
This article analyzes the use of strategy, structure and professionalization to improve the long-term competitiveness of sport organizations. The case study contemplates two of the top ten Brazilian football clubs using qualitative data from 21 interviews with their upper management, and a documentary research of secondary data. The results indicate that similar structural changes and professionalization processes have different implications for the clubs, with distinct contributions to their growth and competitiveness. The research presents evidence that both the formulation of the strategy and the way it is implemented are determinant in conciliating sports and financial objectives with the responses to internal and external contingencies, implementing organizational changes to benefit the performance of the club on-field and off-field.
Highlights
The strategic management of football clubs in Brazil has become as challenging as winning football championships
During the past two decades, management professionalization was and still is a mantra used by football fans and professionals to express their vision on how to improve football practices
This article sheds light on how the clubs are dealing with these challenges and to which extent strategy, structure and professionalization are being used to their benefit
Summary
The strategic management of football clubs in Brazil has become as challenging as winning football championships. Between 2003 and 2014, the revenue of the 20 biggest Brazilian teams grew 388% (SILVA, 2016; SOMOGGI, 2015) and despite this growth, their total debt increased 530% during the same period, reaching BRL 6.2 billion, the equivalent to two years of their total revenue. When confronting the past decade’s financial performance of football clubs with this early definition of strategy, we may infer that their general managers rather choose to deal with the following season’s championship sportive priorities, no matter the cost. Apart from the risk of insolvency, the collateral effect of this practice is that these 20 clubs have a renegotiated tax liability of BRL 2.1 billion in 2014, 34% of their total debts
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