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Abstract
This essay gathers what we know about innovation in soccer clubs but also reports from an ongoing study on innovation in Swedish elite soccer clubs. The research could be described as an ethnographic endeavour into the world of Swedish elite soccer. By picking up pieces here and there at meetings, games, interviews and so on, I gradually build knowledge on ‘what is going on’ and ‘what do they think they are up to?’, The empirical material is presented in relation to four innovation options identified in the literature: adding new products/services, changes in the business model, new ways to manage the team and organize the team around the team and rethinking what the business is all about. The study shows that there are many innovations going on in Swedish soccer but also that there are several ways to improve both what is being done and how.
Notes
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18. Schumpeter, The Theory of Economic Development.
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21. Johansson and Lindberg, ‘Making a Case for Gender-inclusive Innovation through the Concept of Creative Imitation’.
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24. den Hertog et al., ‘Capabilities for Managing Service Innovation: Towards a Conceptual Framework’.
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31. Gilmore and Gilson, ‘Finding Form: Elite Sports and the Business of Change’.
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33. Henderson, ‘Football Broadcasting: Tipping Point or Bleeding Edge?’.
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35. Gammelsæter, ‘The Organization of Professional Football in Scandinavia’; and Rosca, ‘Strategic Development of the Manchester United Football Club’.
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38. Williams et al., Passing Rhythms. Liverpool FC and the Transformation of Football.
39. Callejo and Forcadell, ‘Real Madrid Football Club: A New Model of Business Organization for Sports Clubs in Spain’; and Garcia and Rodrigues, ‘From Sports Clubs to Stock Companies: The Financial Structure of Football in Spain, 1992–2001’.
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42. Baden-Fuller et al., ‘Editorial’.
43. McNamara et al., ‘Competing Business Models, Value Creation and Appropriation in English Football’.
44. Gerrard, ‘Why do Manchester United keep Winning on and off the field?’.
45. Ibid., 85.
46. Darby et al., ‘Football Academies and the Migration of African Football Labor to Europe’; and De Heij et al., ‘Strategic Actions in European Soccer: Do They Matter?’.
47. Hoyos, ‘Media Sport Stars and Junior Players: The Design and Analysis of the Recruiting Methods of Players in Real Madrid’.
48. Wilson, Inverting the Pyramid.
49. Kelly and Waddington, ‘Abuse, Intimidation and Violence as Aspects of Managerial Control in Professional Soccer in Britain and Ireland’; andWilders, ‘The Football Club Manager – A Precarious Occupation?’
50. Johnson et al., ‘Sport Psychology Consulting among Swedish Premier Soccer Coaches’.
51. Gilmore and Gilson, ‘Finding Form: Elite Sports and the Business of Change’.
52. Van Uden, ‘Transforming a Football Club into a “Total Experience” Entertainment Company: Implications for Management’.
53. Thrassou et al., ‘Contemporary Marketing Communications Framework for Football Clubs’.
54. Storm, ‘The Rational Emotions of FC København: A Lesson on Generating Profit in Professional Soccer’.
55. McGuire, ‘Football in the Community: Still “the Game’s Best Kept Secret”?’; and Watson, ‘Football in the Community: “What’s the Score?”’.
56. Parnell et al., ‘Football in the Community Schemes: Exploring the Effectiveness of an Intervention in Promoting Healthful Behaviour Change’.
57. Walters and Hamil, ‘Ownership and Governance’.
58. Thrassou et al., ‘Contemporary Marketing Communications Framework for Football Clubs’.
59. Gilmore and Gilson, ‘Finding Form: Elite Sports and the Business of Change’.
60. Shaw, ‘Manchester United Football Club: Developing a Network Orchestration Model’.
61. Stokvis, ‘Ajax isn’t Ajax Anymore: On Power, Rhetoric and Identity’.
62. Sondaal, ‘Football’s Grobalization or Globalization? The Lessons of Liverpool Football Club’s Evolution in the Premier League Era’.
63. Castillo, ‘The Other Basque Subversives: Athletic de Bilbao vs. the New Age of Soccer’.
64. Geertz, The Interpretation of Cultures.
65. Agar, The Professional Stranger: An Informal Introduction to Ethnography.
66. Andersson and Carlsson, ‘Football in Scandinavia: A Fusion of Welfare Policy and the Market’.
67. Ericsson, ‘Football, Foundry Communities and the Swedish Model’.
68. Billing et al., ‘Paradoxes of Football Professionalization in Sweden: A Club Approach’.
69. Imai, Kaizen: The Key to Japan’s Competitive Success.
70. Van Uden, ‘Transforming a Football Club into a “Total Experience” Entertainment Company: Implications for Management’.
71. Pine II and Gilmore, ‘Welcome to the Experience Economy’.
72. Andersson, “Spela fotboll bondjävlar!”: en studie av svensk klubbkultur och lokal identitet från 1950 till 2000-talets början [Play Soccer You Peasants!: A Study of Swedish Clubculture and Local Identity 1950 to 2000].
73. A Whole Section of the Stadium was “Forgotten”, MFF CEO Per Nilsson said.
74. Compare Johansson and Lindberg, ‘Making a Case for Gender-inclusive Innovation through the Concept of Creative Imitation’.
75. DiMaggio and Powell, ‘The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organizational Fields’.
76. Quinn, ‘Managing Innovation: Controlled Chaos’.
77. Stacey, Managing Chaos. Dynamic Business Strategies in an Unpredictable World.
78. Flores et al., ‘Universities as Key Enablers to Develop New Collaborative Environments for Innovation: Successful Experiences from Switzerland and India’.
79. den Hertog et al., ‘Capabilities for Managing Service Innovation: Towards a Conceptual Framework’.
80. Chesbrough, Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology.