A resource-based perspective on countries’ competitive advantage in elite athletics

Abstract

The success of a country’s elite sport success tends to be concentrated on specific sports or specific events. Additionally, as the predictive value of macro-level factors (e.g. population and GDP) for success decreases, the management of elite sport systems becomes more important. Even though multiple authors developed frameworks referring to common characteristics of these systems, little is known about the organizational development in specific sports and the allocation of resources to elite development. According to the resource-based view (RBV), management strategy is a function of organizations’ resources and the efficiency in which these resources are structured and combined in higher-order capabilities. This article identifies organizational resources and first-order capabilities in the development of a competitive advantage in elite athletics. Based on a literature review and 34 interviews with national coaches and high-performance directors, 98 resources and first-order capabilities were categorized according to the nine policy pillars of the SPLISS (Sport Policy factors Leading to International Sporting Success) model. Although this list encompasses key resources for a competitive advantage, there remains a diversity of ways to combine and configure these resources in higher-order capabilities. As countries represent a diverse configuration of these resources, further empirical research is necessary to explore and assess countries’ core capabilities and competitive position in elite athletics.

Keywords:

• strategy
• organizational resources
• first-order capabilities

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Flemish Ministry of Sport and the Steunpunt Cultuur, Jeugd en Sport for financially supporting the research project. Also, we acknowledge the support of the Vlaamse Atletiekliga and the European Athletics Association in contacting international high-performance directors.