Marnix Hommerson 7/02/2021

Course code
MGT - 432 - LON1
Student name
Marnix Hommerson
Course tittle
Sports Management
Assignment
Assignment 1.1
Professor Name
Max Neal
Word Count
699
Marnix Hommerson 7/02/2021
Competition in grassroots analysis

The research question proposed by the study follows the argumentations of the more traditional school of
thoughts and literature arguments deriving from Breuer & Wicker, 2010; Gratton & Taylor, 2000 and Jütting
& Marker, 2011. Within these studies, it is claimed that the rise of commercial organisations of health and
fitness programs exert an increasing amount of stress upon the financial livelihood of non-profit
organisations. Thus increasing the competitions on grassroots sports organisations seeking to prioritise the
social benefits above the economic aspects (McGee, 2014). This argumentation is fundamentally based upon
the observation that the commercial sector of these providers have been experiencing a massive growth in
members leading to financial growth while the total population of all active participating membership
holders have remained stable. Explaining a likely shift from non-profit organisations to commercial
organisations ((Borgers, Pilgaard, Vanreusel, & Scheerder, 2018).

In contrast to these findings, this study — backed by empirical data — disproves the previously made
statement to a certain degree. By examining and interviewing highly populated, densely knit communities
and more remote and independent communities, it showed that only 35,3% of non-profit organisations
acknowledge the perceived competition from commercial providers (Rossi, 2019). The reason for a low
share of perceived competition is due to non-profit organisations being keen that their programs and
offerings are unique and distinct in combination of targeting a different audience than from what commercial
programs are focused upon.

An essential distinction of commercial and non-profit organisations is underlined within this study, allowing
us to differentiate the two models. A non-profit organisation focuses on two pillars: the social benefits it can
bring to their community, influences such as tradition, social, integrative, and diversification while
combining economic aspects such as service-orientated, price, and quality leadership order to sustain itself.
Another unique aspect of those organisations is that they are a community-driven organisation, requiring the
participation of all its members to take certain decisions. Whereas a commercial organisation solely focuses
on generating economic benefits and is capable of independently making decisions to act in their business's
best interest. Therefore, it should bring them into contention with these non-profit organisations as they have
a more comfortable and more streamlined approach to gain economic traction and public popularity.

However, what this study fails to reflect is the scale and diversity of those non-profit organisations that have
been examined in detail within this. To further expand on contextualising this study's reach, of all 90,240
non-profit organisation within Germany, only 20,546 clubs have responded. Yet most of them have not
included financial information such as balance sheets and various instruments to examine their economic
performance, leaving only 4456 clubs to be thoroughly examined and interviewed (Rossi, 2019). From this
pool, of which most of them are smaller, single-sport, non-profit providers. Hence, why these findings
correlate more closely with the responses of smaller and single-sport non-profit organisations than those of
more extensive multi-sport programs. This is a significant issue since larger, multi-sport organisations are
more prone to suffer from the competition as they experience increased economic burdens and are less likely
to have a sustainable and profitable business model yearly. Indicating an explanation as to why many clubs
did not want to share their financial reports publicly.

Nevertheless, this study argues that an organisation's financial profitability depends on its internal focus on
strategic management rather than integration of social factors. This is an evident characteristic within
stronger performing candidates of non-profitable organisations (Rossi, 2019). This analysis aims to help
Marnix Hommerson 7/02/2021
struggling organisations to shift to a more business and strategic approach to dealing with the demand of
health and fitness.

Where this study shines the most information upon our group presentation covering the UFC, is when
discussing mixed martial art in non-profit organisations, they perceived the most amount of competition from
commercial organisations. This showcases that a large pool of younger and more active participants within
the sport involve themselves at a higher level within the sport itself, increasing the likelihood of talent rising
through these organisations' ranks. It, therefore, highlights, the importance of the decision faced by our group
as it could have an impact on the popularity of the sport amongst new entrants.
Marnix Hommerson 7/02/2021

Sources

L. Rossi, et al., Determinants of non-profit sports clubs’ perceived competition from commercial
sports providers, Sport Management Review (2019), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.smr.2019.10.001

McGee, J. (2014). Strategic groups, (3 ed.) In J. McGee, & T. Sammut-Bonnici (Eds.), Strategic
management: (Vol. 12. pp. 434–438).Strategic management, Hoboken: Jon Wiley & Sons, 434–
438.

Jütting, D. H., & Marker, U. (2011). Sports clubs in Germany - current developments and
challenges in a turbulent environment. In A. Zimmer (Ed.), Beyond Beer and Tulips - Sports,
Culture and Social Affairs in the Netherlands and Germany (pp. 183–202). Münster: Waxmann.

Breuer, Christoph & Pawlowski, Tim & Wicker, Pamela & Poupaux, Sandrine. (2009). Travel Time
Spending Behaviour in Recreational Sports: An Econometric Approach with Management
Implications. European Sport Management Quarterly. No. 3. 215-242.
10.1080/16184740903023971.

Gratton, C., & Taylor, P. (2000). Economics of sport and recreation. London: Spon Press

Borgers, Julie, et al. “Can We Consider Changes in Sports Participation as Institutional Change? A
Conceptual Framework.” International Review for the Sociology of Sport, vol. 53, no. 1, Feb. 2018,
pp. 84–100, doi:10.1177/1012690216639598.