Stakeholder management in Greek professional football: identification and salience

Abstract

Football is not only the most popular sport in Greece; it is also a sport with remarkable economic and political dimensions. Operating in such a perplexing environment, managers of professional football clubs are often confronted with equally complex tasks. In order to make the best possible decisions, managers need to prioritize these tasks based on identifying the stakeholder who really matters at any given time. This article, hence, uses the lens provided by the Mitchell et al. framework to identify the most salient stakeholders in Greek professional football that managers should pay attention to, and suggests practices that could or should be adopted for the best possible results.

Notes

1. See http://www.iae.gr, April 14, 2008.

2. See Senaux, ‘A Stakeholder Approach to Football Club Governance’.

3. Mitchell, Agle and Wood, ‘Toward a Theory of Stakeholder Identification and Salience’.

4. Dobson and Goddard, The Economics of Football, 22.

5. Most of the traits that characterize professional football sector can also be applicable to other league sports (i.e. basketball and volleyball, two sports that also have professional status in Greece).

6. See Flynn and Gilbert, ‘The Analysis of Professional Sport Leagues as Joint Ventures’ for a more detailed analysis on this point.

7. Chadwick and Des Thwaites, ‘Sport Marketing Management’.

8. McArdle, ‘Sport and the Law’.

9. Holt, ‘UEFA, Governance, and the Control of Club Competition in European Football’, 10.

10. Sloane suggests ‘profit, security, attendance/revenue, playing success and health of the league’ as some of the plausible and quantifiable objectives the European football clubs aim to. Sloane, ‘The Economics of Professional Football’.

11. Senaux, ‘A Stakeholder Approach to Football Club Governance’, 5.

12. See Ferrand and McCarthy, Marketing the Sports Organization, 24.

13. Ibid.

14. Freeman and Philips, ‘Stakeholder Theory’, 334.

15. See Freeman, Strategic Management.

16. Mitchell, Agle and Wood, ‘Toward a Theory of Stakeholder Identification and Salience’, 854.

17. Ferrand and McCarthy, Marketing the Sports Organization, 26.

18. Farquhar, Machold and Ahmed, ‘Governance and Football’, 333.

19. See Donaldson and Preston, ‘The Stakeholder Theory of the Corporation’.

20. See Jones and Wicks, ‘Convergent Stakeholder Theory‘.

21. See Mitchell, Agle and Wood, ‘Toward a Theory of Stakeholder Identification and Salience’.

22. Donaldson and Preston, ‘The Stakeholder Theory of the Corporation’.

23. Harry and Van Buren, ‘If Fairness is the Problem, is Consent the Solution?’, 482.

24. See Freeman, Strategic Management.

25. See Mitchell, Agle and Wood, ‘Toward a Theory of Stakeholder Identification and Salience’.

26. Ibid., 859.

27. Ibid.

28. Ibid.

29. Ibid., 875.

30. See, for example, Wood, ‘Corporate Social Performance Revisited’.

31. Mitchell, Agle and Wood, ‘Toward a Theory of Stakeholder Identification and Salience’, 875.

32. Ibid., 876.

33. See Senaux, ‘A Stakeholder Approach to Football Club Governance’.

34. Ibid., 9.

35. See Hill and Jones, ‘Stakeholder‐Agency Theory’.

36. See Senaux, ‘A Stakeholder Approach to Football Club Governance’, 7.

37. See Sloane, ‘The Economics of Professional Football’.

38. For a sound examination of the organization of French football, see Senaux, ‘The Regulated Commercialisation of French Football’.

39. See Morrow, The People’s Game?, 123.

40. See, for example, Peter Kenyon’s case at Chelsea Football Club.

41. AEK Athens F.C. is the prime example. The club also offers since 2007 a scholarship to a Greek graduate to study the business of football in a UK institution and guarantees employment after successful completion of the programme.

42. See Senaux, ‘A Stakeholder Approach to Football Club Governance’.

43. In particular, after the Euro 2004, a long‐standing debate took place as to whether the players should receive – as had been promised – 1 million each as a bonus for their achievement to become European champions.

44. See Szymanski and Kuypers, Winners and Losers, 109.

45. Ibid.

46. See Morrow, The People’s Game?, 151.

47. See Douvis and Baros, ‘Comparative Analysis of Football Efficiency Among Two Small European Countries’. Data refers to 2002/3 season.

48. Gazos carried out a descriptive study on 10 of the most dominant football clubs in Greece and revealed the poor financial conditions under which these clubs operate. See Gazos, ‘Accounting and Financial Analysis of the Greek Professional Football Clubs’. See also Alexopoulos and Anagnostopoulos, ‘The Structure and Organisation of Greek Professional Football’.

49. See Mitchell, Agle and Wood, ‘Toward a Theory of Stakeholder Identification and Salience’.

50. According to Super League’s reported figures for the season 2006/7, the average attendance among all 16 clubs was 6405 spectators.

51. Moralis, ‘Supporters’ Clubs’, 330.

52. At the time of writing, AEK’s organized fans seem to be winning the ‘battle’ and the new ground will be built where the old one was.

53. See King, ‘The European Ritual, 134.

54. Ibid.

55. See Henry and Nassis, ‘Political Clientelism and Sports Policy in Greece’, 86.

56. See Dimitropoulos, ‘The Accounting and Tax Legislation of the Greek Football Clubs’.

57. Despite the initial law 789‐1979, and as Dimitropoulos (ibid., 56–7) points out, many alterations took place most notably with the law 2725/1999 which created the financial and operational framework under which the football clubs would operate.

58. According to 2725/1999 law (article 66), the amateur club is represented at a rate of 10% of total share capital, under the sole condition of maintaining the other sports divisions (as a multisport organization).

59. Avgi, October 14, 2007.

60. ‘Political clientelism’ involves the disbursement of financial, employment, or other forms of patronage in exchange for political support. Henry and Nassis, ‘Political Clientelism and Sports Policy in Greece’, 43.

61. Henry and Nassis, ‘Political Clientelism and Sports Policy in Greece’.

62. Morrow, The People’s Game?, 56.

63. Panionios F.C., Ergotelis F.C. and AEK Athens F.C. are good examples of professional clubs who have started implementing Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices.

64. See Antonopoulou, ‘The Development of Sport Press in Greece After 1990’, 5.

65. Ibid.

66. Personal communication with the chairman of the official supporters’ club Red or Dead‐Gate 7, March 2009.

67. Senaux, ‘A Stakeholder Approach to Football Club Governance’, 12.

68. Morrow, The People’s Game?, 43.

69. To some extent, that could be done by drawing on Senaux’s work.

70. Gammelsaeter, ‘Institutional Pluralism and Governance.’