Cricket Scenario Planning Report

1. Introduction:

Cricket is one of the most popular sports in the world, according to ICC’s first-ever market survey (2018). Australia has a long tradition of Cricket dating back to the 18th century. Therefore, Cricket has become a significant part of Australian culture and identity. The QLD Cricket is a governing body for Cricket in Queensland in, Australia. QLD Cricket’s mission is to create and develop a culture of excellence in the cricket world to ensure a sustainable future for the game (Crowther et al.,2020). In recent years, Cricket under the governing Queensland has decreased by 3.8% in registered participation (709,957). This was seen for the last three years consecutively. Cricket has now identified the need for trending innovative resolutions to advance junior participation across the state. This report will explore intelligent digital, technological, and other innovative trends that can be initiated to enhance the growth of junior participation across Queensland using scenario planning.

2. Scenario planning method

Scenario planning is a tool for understanding the future by looking at various possible outcomes. Planning scenarios help in the decision-making process. The planner learns about the factors that create the future by understanding behaviors and attitudes, patterns, and trends that enable people to make better decisions for the future. It is a systematic way of envisioning and translating a desired future into defined goals and objectives (Ahmed, 2016). Therefore, scenario planning focuses on creating multiple possible futures that will enable an organization to plan for various outcomes. The scenarios might be relevant in relation to the primary problem and the exercise’s objectives, providing more information and choices for the planner. (the use and value of scenario planning 2014. It involves the following steps.:

Step 1: Establishing the key issue or question

Step 2: Identifying and prioritizing critical influences

Step 3: Selecting two critical uncertainties

Step 4: Drawing a matrix and write scenario stories

Based on the scenario planning method, the critical influences for QLD Cricket’s goal to improve participation in juniors/new generation are the following trends:

1. Technological trends: The body should consider the current hardware and software developments that can be used to engage junior players. This includes video analysis tools, virtual training programs, and mobile apps, which will enhance the tracking progress and organization of the junior teams.
2. Social trends: There should be an emphasis on the gender gap. This can involve the mobilization of additional girls to participate in Cricket. There is also a need to focus on addressing the diversity of the sport, which includes creating more chances for players represented by any group.
3. Business trends: This involves consideration of how Cricket is marketed and endorsed to the public. This involves activities such as sponsorship, broadcast rights, and merchandise sales. This is essential to be considered as it entails the needs and wants of the target audience, such as affordability and convenience.
4. Unique aspects of the product and customer: It is essential to understand the needs of the target audience, which are junior players and their parents. Consider the role of people, technology, infrastructure, and resources. This factor is essential because it gives the “customer” what they need, for example, a safe and inclusive playing environment, accessible training programs, and engaging coaching staff.

3. Critical uncertainties

The two critical uncertainties identified by QLD Cricket are technology trends and social trends.

Technology Trends

Technology trends refer to the evolution of technology, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and the Internet of Things (IoT). These technologies are being used in sports to improve performance and data analysis. For example, machine learning techniques to be used to predict the outcome of cricket competitions. Technology trends are essential since they will shape the innovation techniques available in the organization. The technology will be used to enhance the growth and development of the juniors.

Social Trends

Social trends refer to societal changes, such as the gender gap in sports, the role of sports in society, and the sport’s popularity among children. These trends are essential for QLD Cricket to consider, as they will ultimately affect the demand for Cricket in Queensland. For example, historically, the sport was created by men to benefit men, but now there is increasing demand for equal access to sport for both genders.

These two are essential for Cricket because it is a strategy that improves coaching and training processes. The strategies are meant to develop and improve the effectiveness of the cricket coaching process. This strategy includes the use of a specialized expert in training and coaching. A new methodology for assessing and developing players’ skills should also be implemented by applying technological factors.

The two critical uncertainties identified by QLD Cricket are technology trends and social trends. Technology trends refer to the evolution of technology. Social trends refer to societal changes, such as the gender gap in sports.

These two uncertainties are essential to QLD Cricket because they will ultimately affect the demand for Cricket in Queensland.

Technology trends will shape the innovative techniques that are available in the organization. For instance, machine learning techniques can be used to forecast the outcome of cricket competitions. Social trends, on the other hand, will impact the effect of the demand and performance of Queensland, as historically, the sport was created by men to benefit men. However, now there is increasing demand for equal access to sports for both genders. The two critical uncertainties were selected based on the analysis of the external environment of QLD Cricket. The analysis examined the macro environment, such as the political, economic, social, technological, and legal factors affecting the QLD organization. The external environment analysis showed that technology trends and social trends are two of the most critical uncertainties that QLD Cricket needs to remain considered competitive.

4. Scenarios

Below is a matrix depicting the four possible future scenarios for QLD Cricket.

Figure 1: Scenario matrix for QLD Cricket

Scenario 1: High technology, high social and business trends

In this scenario, technology, social, and business trends are strong drivers of QLD Cricket’s growth. If technology is high, innovative solutions are available to Queensland cricket. When implemented, this solution creates a variety of experiences for junior players. High social and business trends mean that Queensland Cricket comprehends the needs of the junior participants and can fully meet their needs and expectations. The organization should adopt and integrate intelligent digital, technological, and other innovative solutions. The gender gap in sports will close, and the sport’s popularity among juniors will grow. QLD Cricket can capitalize on these trends and create new growth opportunities.

The plausibility of this scenario manifesting in the future is high, given that technology and social trends are already in play. For example, the use of technology in sports is becoming more common, and the gender gap in sports is slowly decreasing.

The plausibility of this scenario manifesting in the future is high if the technology and social trends are in place. For instance, the use of technology in sports is becoming more common and the gender gap in sports is slowly decreasing in the sports sector, cutting across the sports industry. Furthermore, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported that from 2017 to 2018, the number of children aged 5-14 participating in the sport grew by 6.7% (ABS, 2021). With the continued growth in technology use and social trends, this scenario will likely manifest in the future. The growing technology makes use of the social trends continued advancement shows that this scenario will further manifest in the future,

In this scenario, QLD cricket has to consider a firm technic to implement research and development. This will enhance organizational competitiveness and keep up with inevitable technology and social trends.

Scenario 2: High technology, low social

Technology is a strong growth driver in this scenario, while social trends are not. Intelligent digital, technological, and other innovative solutions are readily adopted and integrated into the organization. However, the gender gap in sports remains and the popularity of sports among children is decreasing. The plausibility of this scenario manifesting in the future could be higher. This is with the consideration that social trends are not in play. It is unlikely that the gender gap in sports will not close and the popularity of sports among children will not increase. This is evidenced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which reported that from 2017 to 2018. The study shows that the number of children aged 5-14 participating in sports decreased by 6.6%.

In this scenario, QLD Cricket will have to pay into consideration the investment they make in marketing and promotions. This is to increase the popularity of the sport among junior and growing children. QLD will also have to take into account initiatives to close the gender gap in sports.

Scenario 3: Low technology, high social

Social trends are a strong growth driver in this scenario, while technology is not. The gender gap in sports is closing, and the popularity of the sport among children is increasing. However, intelligent digital, technological, and other innovative solutions are not readily adopted or integrated into the organization (Culot et al.,2020). The technological factor is considered not likely to enhance social change. The social element such as the state of society, cultural norms, and infrastructure are significant determinants of the social factor.

The plausibility of this scenario manifesting in the future is medium, given that social trends are in play, but technology is not. The gender gap in this issue is closed and sorted up, but the sport’s popularity remains an essential benefit of this scenario. This is because it increases s junior become well-known and famous among the consumers of administrative services (Culot et al.,2020). Technological factor in this scenario is not likely to enhance social change. The social element such as the state of society, cultural norms, and infrastructure are significant determinants in the social factor and need to be met to ensure the organization’s credibility in the socio-economic environment. It is possible that the gender gap in sports will close and the popularity of the sport among children will increase. However, with the use of technology, QLD Cricket will be able to capitalize on these trends (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2023). This is evidenced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which reported that from 2017 to 2018, the number of children aged 5-14 participating in sports rose by 6.7%.

Scenario 4: Low technology, low social

In this scenario, technology and social trends are not strong growth drivers. Intelligent digital, technological, and other innovative solutions are not readily adopted or integrated into the organization. Therefore, the gender gap in sports remains unchanged, and the popularity of the sport among children is decreasing. Intelligent digital, technological, and other innovative factors should be integrated into the organization to improve its performance. Also, the cases of the gender gap in sports remain without any change. This issue could be more efficient if some issues have to be settled to ensure the organization’s growth fails, which can complicate the operation of the cricket sport in Australia. The scenario also indicates that the sport’s popularity among children is to be diminishing.

The plausibility of this scenario manifesting in the future could be higher. This is because, given that technology and social trends are not in play, it will be unlikely that the gender gap in sports will close and the popularity of the sport among children will increase. Furthermore, it is unlikely that this case will be applicable in sorting the gender gap and the popularity among juniors. In this scenario, QLD Cricket will have to consider investing in marketing and promotions to increase the sport’s popularity among children. The other initiative they can implement is an initiative to close the gender gap in sports. They will further need to pay into consideration the advancement in technology to increase participation among juniors.

5. Conclusion

This report has explored the use of intelligent digital, technological, and other innovative solutions to grow junior participation across Queensland cricket using scenario planning. The two critical uncertainties identified were technology, industry,s, and social trends. Four possible future scenarios were explored; of these four. Scenarios the first one were the most plausible. This report has also identified the critical influences impacting Queensland Cricket’s potential to grow junior participation. The development of future scenarios matrix based on these influences were used to analyze the critical influences of high or low levels of hardware and software development and high or low levels of social and business trends. The report has also summarized the findings and recommended the next steps for developing strategies for the identified scenarios.

References

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Appendix

Overall participation rates in 10 sports: 2015 and 2019

Source@ Frontiers Media SA (2021)