• University of Exeter Business School
• Module

Sports Management Business Plan

Module description

The Sports Management Business Experience is designed as a cap-stone course that will help you to integrate the knowledge that you have gained over the course of terms one and two and apply that knowledge towards a Sports Management Business Plan model. Building from the foundational and applied knowledge in Sports Management that you have developed over terms one and from the disciplines of Sport Marketing, Sport Finance and Accounting, Sports Management and Leadership, Governance, Sports Economics, and International Sport Business, you will be offered the opportunity to write an individual business plan. This project will use an applied, data-driven approach to understanding an international sports business issue. This practice-based approach will help to equip you with the research consultancy skills that sports managers use in developing international sports business strategy.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module will take a case study approach to understand the challenges that sports organisations face when competing in global environments. You will take data that you have collected on a specific product/ service from the sport industry and develop your own individual sports business plan. The core aim of the module is to simulate the challenges sports organisations face when competing in international environments. The aim is not just to understand the problems that sports organisations face, but to action these challenges into clear strategy recommendations that form the substance of a consultancy sport business plan. You will be challenged to collect data to gain a better understanding of how to develop an International Sport Business Strategy.
Graduate attributes. As part of this module, you are expected to develop the following skills:

• Sourcing Information: A Sports Management Business Plan is data driven. There is no dedicated literature review section in a business plan. A business plan uses market data. This is information that publicly available and contains key insights on sports industry data, trends and sports business strategy. In a business plan we use data as the basis to help us substantiate our arguments.
• Data Collection: A Sports Management Business Plan primarily uses secondary data collection. This means your skills as a researcher are focused on compiling information that has already been collected previously in the Sports Industry within Sports Organisations. Of course, you can collect primary data in such business plan (if needed), but it is not a requirement of this module.

By the end of the module, you will be able to:

• Construct applicable methods of business investigation and analysis procedures appropriate to sports management.
• Evaluate relevant sourced information and sports business data in order to design and propose innovative solutions to unpredictable challenges within the sport industry.
• Conduct appropriate research (secondary / primary if needed) to produce effective business recommendations in a sports consultancy style.
• Reflect on and judge aspects impacting on the achievement of the aims and desired outcomes your Sports Management Business Plan.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Critically analyse, discuss and apply theories relevant to international sports business and present managerial recommendations.
• 2. Develop your own ideas and strategy recommendations and incorporate them into an individualised sport business plan.
• 3. Critically evaluate and enhance specific sport business competence in core and optional areas of study.
• 4. Understand the relationship between sport globalisation, international sport business and cross-cultural contexts within the sport industry.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 5. Critique a business problem, evaluate data and provide strategic sport business recommendations.
• 6. Relate theories to specific case studies, research data and literature bases, and incorporate them into a structured sport business plan.
• 7. Critically analyse a sport business problem using both practitioner and academic material.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 8. Assess sport business practice and research as it relates to the internationalisation strategies of sports organisations.
• 9. Demonstrate time-management skills, self-reflection, initiative, and self-discipline in the context of analysing and writing a significant piece of sports business research.
• 10. Write about sports business practice and prepare critiques of those practices and approaches in a manner that is clear, concise and logical.

Syllabus plan

Illustrative content which may be subject to change:

This is an independent piece of in-depth practice-based research. We will however provide you with foundational training on how to write sports management business plans and what is expected. We will follow these formal training sessions with student led open dialogue sessions. These sessions are opportunities for students to discuss the challenges they are facing, what works for them, or any questions that they have on their business plan.

Spring Term (Workshops & ELE Activities)

• Introductory Concepts & the Sports Business Process
• Managing Resources / Developing Internal Control systems
• Project Management for Sports Business Plan
• Introduction to Sports Business Plan Writing / Business Plan Template
• Case Study Analysis from the Sports industry
• Consultancy Skills and Strategic Recommendations
• Situational Analysis
• Environmental Scanning
• Market Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning
• Report Structure and Content
• Data Collection and Analysis
• Strategic Analysis and Data Representation
• 1-1 progression meetings with Supervisors
• FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT 1: Individual Poster Presentation / Project Plan

Summer Term

• Data collection, analysis, and fieldwork relevant to Sport Business Plan
• 1-1 progression meetings with Supervisors
• FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT 2: Individual PowerPoint Presentation / Progress of Project
• SUMMATIVE: Final Written Sports Management Business Plan (end of August/September / TBC)

*NOTE: All students undertaking primary research (if needed) will be required to obtain ethical approval by the Ethics Committee. Any primary data collected and submitted without ethical approval will receive a mark of zero. Please ensure that you are aware of the ethics committee deadlines. Failure to submit an ethics application before the final ethics deadline will result in a mark of zero for the written form of assessment.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 50%) you will be required to resubmit the dissertation or redo the presentation as required. If you are successful on referral, your overall module mark will be capped at 50%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Wilkin, C. (2015). FT Essential Guide to Writing a Business Plan: How to Win Backing to Start Up or Grow Your Business, Vaughan Evans. Teaching Business & Economics, 17(1), 26.
• Indicative Reading (non-exhaustive): Casadesus-Masanell, R., & Ricart, J. E. (2011). How to design a winning business model. Harvard business review, 89(1/2), 100-107.
• Hormozi, A. M., Sutton, G. S., McMinn, R. D., & Lucio, W. (2002). Business plans for new or small businesses: paving the path to success. Management Decision, 40(8), 755-763.
• Lasher, W. (2010). The Perfect Business Plan Made Simple: The best guide to writing a plan that will secure financial backing for your business. Broadway Books.
• Mullins, J. (2012). The new business road test: What entrepreneurs and executives should do before writing a business plan. Pearson UK.
• Sahlman, W. A. (1997). How to write a great business plan. Harvard business review, 75(4), 98-10

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

• ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/

Indicative learning resources - Other resources

• International Review for the Sociology of Sport 
• Journal of Sport Management 
• Journal of Sport and Health Science
• Journal of Sport and Social Issues
• Journal of Teaching Physical Education
• Leisure Studies 
• Managing Leisure 
• Sport, Business and Management: An International Journal
• International Journal of Sport Management and Marketing
• Sport, Education and Society 
• Soccer and Society 
• Sociology of Sport Journal 

Key words search

Business, Sports Management, Strategy, Consultancy, Planning, Organisations, Research Design, Data Collection, Analysis, Recommendations, Solutions