According to the book Competing on Analytics, there are four pillars of analytical competition. These are distinctive capability, enterprise-wide analytics, senior management commitment and large-scale ambition. In order for ESPN to stay ahead of its competitors, it has always had the distinctive capabilities to create talent (sports analysts of the highest quality), understand that live television is the most valuable and produce content that surpasses all of its competitors. Fortunately, ESPN has always been able to make its sports-rights-buying one of its distinctive capabilities; however, with new media companies coming into the mix it now does not have the luxury of maintaining its sports-rights-buying as one of its distinctive capabilities. …show more content…
Nationally, ESPN attempts to employ this quality but there are still too many decisions being made without any analytical approach. The hiring of talent is an example where ESPN does not use analytics to make sound decisions. This has led to an overpaying of individuals who were not giving the company value or strengthening it. In turn, as we have seen this year, ESPN has had to have many layoffs in order to restructure its budget. This goes hand-in-hand with senior management commitment, which just now understands the need of being an analytically driven decision maker. John Skipper, CEO of ESPN, demonstrated this through his decision to renew the show “First Take”, which he has admitted to not liking but understands the value it brings based on sales revenue and ratings. The fourth pillar is large scale ambition. ESPN positions itself as a sports media giant, but lately has not been able to keep up with changing video streaming and digital demand. Therefore, ESPN does not yet possess large scale ambition, because analytically part of the company has known that it needed to begin making changes towards a more digital world long …show more content…
Based on my discussion about where ESPN lands within each pillar, I would place it under stage number four: Analytical companies. ESPN is currently changing its strategies based on analytical input provided through ratings, impressions and consumer behavior/feedback. They are innovating new technology to broaden their overall reach and adapt to changing consumer consumptions. However, they do not make the best use of this information and use it more as a feedback tool than a trend predictor. The reason being that they have not yet made it to stage five is that the analytical strategy is fragmented throughout the company. There are senior executives implementing analytics as their number one decision maker and there are senior executives that choose to disregard this focus and use more “gut based” decision making. This leads to a broken distinctive capability and the company does not take full advantage of its analytical strategy. I strongly believe that ESPN is capable of reaching stage 5 soon, but it is something that will only happen when everyone is on board with the analytical strategy. The mentality of everyone has to be that of being an analytical competitor, not just
Division I intercollegiate athletic departments, especially those that are home to Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams, increasingly resemble front offices of professional sport organizations in regard to their mission and business operations. With huge operating budgets, state-of-the-art facilities, world-class athletes, and multinational corporate sponsors, these sport businesses strive to produce winning teams and profitable events every season. The outsourcing of marketing operations and rights is common practice in American college athletics today. According to Li and Burden (2002), more than one half of all NCAA Division I-A athletic programs have outsourced some or all of their marketing operations and rights to a growing number of nationally prominent outsourcing agencies. Among the operations commonly outsourced are the production of radio game broadcasts, production of radio call-in shows, coaches' television shows, sales of media and venue advertising, sales of "official sponsorship" rights to corporations, and production and management of Internet websites, etc. (Li & Burden, 2002).
One of the top sporting events in the world is considered to be the NCAA March Madness tournament. This tournament is ranked third just behind the Super Bowl and FIFA World Cup. It’s unbelievable to think that one of the top sporting events in the world is college athletics. You have other professional sports like basketball, baseball, hockey and NASCAR, but their championships still don’t compare to the NCAA championship. March madness is so popular that global firms Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. believe that companies are expected to lose about $1.2 billion because of every hour of work that employees are watching games instead of working (Koba, 2014).
Over the centuries, the media has played a significant role in the shaping of societies across the globe. This is especially true of developed nations where media access is readily available to the average citizen. The media has contributed to the creation of ideologies and ideals within a society. The media has such an effect on social life, that a simple as a news story has the power to shake a nation. Because of this, governments around the world have made it their duty to be active in the regulation and control of media access in their countries. The media however, has quickly become dominated by major mega companies who own numerous television, radio and movie companies both nationally and internationally. The aim of these companies is to generate revenue and in order to do this they create and air shows that cater to popular demand. In doing so, they sometimes compromise on the quality of their content. This is where public broadcasters come into perspective.
Worsnop, Richard L. "Pro Sports Big Challenge." Editorial Research Reports 9 Feb. 1990, Vol. 1, No. 6, pp. 82-94
The behaviors of the athletic management staff can affect the team performance and temperance. This has been evident in the case scandal of the Baylor university basketball team. However, there is a great need for those in leadership of the universities to evaluate constantly the behaviors of the staff concerned with various games in the school. This will make such cases to be evaded and when problems occur, they can be timely handled.
The government’s lack of regulation in sports leagues: allowing mergers, entrance fees, and expansion control, has created monopolies that stop the free market (Grow). Decisions made by the owners who run the league are made in their interest not the public and there is no rival leagues of the same sport to combat
The mixture of these four factors creates great rivalry among teams chasing sponsors, licensees and fans for a fixed pool of revenue with covering high and often increasing costs.
The NCAA is a global, and well-known company that regulates collegiate sports with thousands of universities across the country. The NCAA organizational assessment shows its strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats relative to all competitors. In this current market environment, I assessed and prioritize what strengths and weaknesses were most important and which strengths have to continue to grow and what weaknesses needed to be mitigated. It is tough for the NCAA to have great competition due to the fact that it is far beyond any competitions and doesn’t seem to show any sign of slowing down soon. Issues, whether political or ethical, or whatever the case may be, as long as the NCAA continues to analyze its “SWOT” then they will always be the leader in the current market
Mihai, Alexandru. “The Strategic Sports Marketing Planning Process.” Manager. Manager Journal, 2013. Web. 6 December 2013.
Every day people use ESPN to explore the sports world. If they put false information frequently people would figure it out and not use it.
Thomas, L. L., & Litman, B. R. (1991). Fox broadcasting company, why now? An economic study of the rise of the fourth broadcast `network.'. Journal Of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 35(2), 139.
...rial in the way that they do. There are many reasons why people use the media or different medium to view the same media. Those reasons are the uses and gratification model provided by McQuail, Blumler, and Brown. People want to get a fulfillment after watching a show or in this case a sports broadcast. They wanted to achieve something like making sure there team is doing well or all the players are healthy. In case of ESPN there are two ways to view this information. The viewer can either watch the broadcast and be entertained by the broadcasters and see the plays. Or the viewer can take the more direct route by going to www.msn.espn.go.com and getting the exact same information only with more detailed. Either way the viewer is accomplishing something it could be bonding with a child, conversing with co-workers, or just being aware of the sports world around them.
The findings of this study offer view on multiple sides involving opportunies and challenges for broadcast media companies and digital platform partners to exploit audience participation for the purposes of profit and the strategic expansion to multi-platform formats.
Year after year, college athletes make the headlines of newspapers and magazines across the country, not only for their accomplishments on the field, but more for their antics off the field. College athletes sacrifice their bodies, integrity, and character to gain an advantage over their opponent. Athletes give up the very things that make them who they are to feel appreciated by their coaches, teammates, and fans. Players cheat by taking anabolic steroids and other banned substances that give them a chemically induced physical advantage (Eitzen 3). Athletes desire to be identified with a team that works and sacrifices together to reach a common goal. The guestion we should ask ourselves is: Why? Why do individuals give up so much to be a part of a team? The answer lies within the organization of how big-time college sport exists. Fans are drawn to big sporting events such as the Super Bowl and the World Series. College athletes want to be in that spotlight, and they sacrifice everything to gain that status. Fans are consumed by sports. USA Today, the most widely read newspaper in the United States, devotes one-fourth of its space to sport (14). Fans know every detail about their beloved sports team. Not only the latest box scores, but also the win-loss record, point spread, current statistics, play-off probabilities, and biographical information about athletes and coaches (16). College sports appeal to the general public, young and old.
Sources:Strategy and the Business Landscape, by Pankaj GhemawatBritish Satellite Broadcasting versus Sky Television. Harvard Business School Case