The Manchester City Football Club (MCFC) has created a competitive advantage by using a number of different approaches. Firstly, the fact that their ownership group backs them with significant financial backing has enabled them to invest heavily in player training, world-class training facilities, and top-notch coaching staff. This financial strength has also helped MCFC to build a competitive squad and to sign top talent from around the world, which, in turn, gives them an advantage on the pitch.
Additionally, MCFC has heavily invested in establishing a strong brand image and reputation not only domestically but also globally. Using strategic marketing, international brand collaborations and fan engagement, they have formed an intense and devoted fan base (Chadwick et al., 2023). Such brand power not only generates revenue through ticket sales, clothing, and sponsorships but also improves the team’s appeal to players and possible business partners.
Notably, MCFC is integrating data analytics and technology to understand better player performance, scouting, and instantaneous match strategies. They can benefit from cutting-edge analytics and technologies for decision-making on player recruitment, training, and tactics, giving them a competitive edge in the dynamic world of football.
Diversification has created value for MCFC in some rare cases. By way of instance, their diversification into the Middle East, Asia, and other geographic regions has generated new income streams from broadcast rights, merchandise sales, and sponsorship agreements. With the aid of these burgeoning markets, MCFC not only enlarged their global fan base but also diversified their revenue sources, which include other streams such as match day incomes, thus reducing reliance on traditional streams of revenue.
Moreover, they have been aggressively pursuing ventures in areas complementary to sports like sports academies, media production, and esports, which has helped them boost their revenues. Thus, their investment in CFG, which owns and operates football clubs worldwide, enables them to transfer different resources, knowledge, and best practices among different regions, making the club more efficient and generating more revenue.
Nevertheless, there were also cases where the diversification of MCFC needed to have the value production within the company. For instance, entering MLS with New York City FC, a professional soccer league, proved challenging due to the intense competition, government regulation and cultural differences in the market. While this effort aimed to make a profit from the football popularity growth in the US, however, at this point it did not generate much money as much as it could on other markets the club invests in.
In addition, the success of the club’s diversification into non-football ventures like hospitality and entertainment has been a case for both pros and cons. On the one hand, such opportunities may include revenue diversification, brand building, and merging, but on the other hand, they involve risks, complexities, and outside MCFC’s core competency (Weidner et al., 2019). Consequently, a thorough examination of the strategic matching and goal consistency with the club’s future plans is crucial to guarantee that the diversification efforts generate long term value.
MCFC’s assets and abilities can be a determining factor in launching a multiport. Their financial resources are bolstered by the endowment of their controlling group, allowing them to reach into new territories and plough into high potential investments. Besides, MCFC’s spectacular success in football management, the scouting of talents and the marketing of brands gives them a significant competitive edge in the development of new regions and new businesses.
Besides, MCFC’s global network of contacts including athletes, agents, sponsors and business partners provides the company with advantageous the ability to find attractive diversification opportunities. Multinationals rely on their existing relationship and industry connections to take mitigate risks, negotiate advantageous deals, and passage regulatory barriers more expertly in unfamiliar markets and industries.
Nonetheless, the diversity limits and challenge are also MCFC’s resources and capabilities. Such as, their only concentrations on the football business may confine them to have the limited resources and capabilities to run multiple businesses than outside their core business (Roslender, 2024). Thus, they should consider consideration of strategic fit, resource needs, and potential similarities when they conduct any diversification activity to guarantee the harmony with their long-term objectives and sustainability.
References
Chadwick, S., Burton, N., Widdop, P., & Bond, A. J. (2023). Networks, strategy and sport: the case of City Football Group. Journal of Strategy and Management.
Roslender, R. (2024). The spread of sportswashing within top-flight football: a discussion of its underpinnings, mechanisms and probable consequences. Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, 37(2), 638-648.
Weidner, E. O. C. R. D. J., Ortiz Cebolla, R., & Davies, J. (2019). Global deployment of large capacity stationary fuel cells. Joint Research Centre (JRC), 1-48.
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