Moving forward: business model solutions for amateur sport clubs

ABSTRACT

Rationale/Purpose: The survival of New Zealand’s amateur sport clubs is threatened by a range of factors. This study investigated how club partnerships may address sustainability concerns brought about through sport environmental changes.

Design/Methodology/Approach: Semi-structured interviews with representatives from five sport clubs explored how partnerships could alter sport clubs’ business models for long-term viability.

Findings: Partnerships enabled clubs’ governing bodies to appeal to a wider cross-section of society through improved strategic focus, direction and resource use. This led to membership growth and diversity, enhanced financial viability, improved governance, greater community connection and improved HRM functions.

Practical Implications: The study suggests the RCOV model and RDT helped clubs’ pre-partnership sustainability issues. Partnerships created larger clubs, enabling financial stability, retention of members, and resource management to overcome environmental challenges.

Research Contribution: This study offers perceptions of club partnership outcomes. Critical success factors are presented as a guide of best practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Sport clubs
• business models
• partnerships
• critical success factors
• resources competences organisation and value proposition
• resource dependency theory

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The Active New Zealand 2018 Participation Report (2019) does not provide the sport club breakdown statistics as did SNZ (2015) or SPARC (2008).

2 These organisations are responsible for governing and leading sport and recreation from grassroots through to elite sport ensuring an integrated pathway (Sport New Zealand, 2018).