WORKSHOP I

ESMQ 2013 Special Issue:
Value co-creation in sport management

Pre-publications Workshop at the EASM 2012 Conference

Guest Editors:
Herbert Woratschek, Chris Horbel, Bastian Popp.

Invitation to authors and Workshop Contributors:
The special issue of the journal for 2013 will be on “Value Co-Creation in Sport Management”. There will be a workshop organized at EASM’s 2012 conference under this title, where potential contributors to the special issue have the opportunity to make a conference presentation of their prospective paper. While acceptance to present at the conference will not have any impact on the acceptance of the related article, it is anticipated that the workshop and its oral presentation format will be very helpful to authors to receive feedback from the audience and editors before papers are submitted to the journal.

Rationale and purpose of the special issue:
Traditionally, the role of management of profit and non-profit organisations in the field of sport has been focussed on the effective use of the firm’s resources in order to create products and services which provide high value to customers. For example, concepts like the service-profit chain that are widely used in Marketing and Sport Management suggest, that highly efficient internal service operations allow firms to provide high service quality to their customers. This is why these concepts are based on the assumption that sport managers are able to solely and independently control service production and delivery processes, and therefore, the outcome for their customers.

However, academia and practice are increasingly recognising the significance of customers and other firms (service networks) for the creation of high quality products and services. In recent years, a lot of attention has been given to the concept of value co-creation which implies that value is not produced and sold by a firm but created in a collaborative process between parties. Therefore, the firm and each other party involved in value co-creation processes can only offer a value proposition and value is collaboratively created by various actors. For example, a sport event cannot solely be produced by an event organiser. A memorable event experience can only be created through the contributions of various parties: teams and/or athletes perform the sport, the event organizer contributes the facility, police and security service personnel ensure safety during the event and even the fans and spectators themselves are involved in the creation of value by contributing to the specific atmosphere in the stadium.

This “new” perspective for the consideration of value creation has important implications for sport management. Managers must be aware of the fact that value creation is no longer confined to the firm, but takes place in a collaborative process among the firm, the customer and other parties. As a consequence, management has only a limited influence on some factors that contribute to the creation of value for their customers. Under this conceptualization the role of management changes to the provider of a platform which allows people to interact and co-create value with sport organisations. This perspective is in contrast to sport economic literature and partly to traditional sport management literature, where sport events are interpreted as sport products.

It is paramount that scholars and practitioners recognize the potential of this changed perspective for organizations in the field of sport management. Therefore, it is necessary to shed more light on the concept of value co-creation in the context of sport management and to broaden our understanding of the processes which lead to joint value creation by different parties. In addition, more insightful practical implications and directions need to be developed and strategies should be implemented that comply with value co-creation.

The aim of this ESMQ Special Issue is to spark the debate over value co-creation in the context of sport management, to develop better theories, and to provide guidelines for sport managers for the design of value creation as a collaborative relational and dynamic process between multiple actors.

Indicative Themes:
For the special issue authors are invited to submit articles which address topics that cover any of the following subjects, but are not (necessarily) limited to:

• Conceptualisation of Value Co-Creation in Sport Management.

• Relationships and Relationship Marketing.

• Resource Integration in Sport Management.

• Cultures of Consumption and Brand Communities in Sport Management.

• Co-Branding in Sport Management.

• Fan Behaviour.

• Cooperation and Competition in Sport Management.

• Alliances and Networks in Sport Management.

• Service Dominant Logic and Sport Management.