STRATEGIC ANALYSIS OF ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE

Strategic Analysis of Royal Challengers Bangalore

Table of Contents

Chapter One: Introduction3

Introduction3

Chapter Two: Literature Review8

Background: the Re-branding of Indian cricket through IPL8

Associations of cricket as a sporting brand13

Nostalgia14

Patriotism16

The viewing experience18

Role of social influence19

Gender differences21

Further possible influences25

The study26

Chapter Three: Methodology31

Methodology31

Chapter Four: Finding and Discussion35

Findings35

Applied strategic planning theory40

Chapter Five: Conclusion49

Conclusions49

References55

Chapter One: Introduction

Introduction

India's T20 World Cup win could be the best thing that's happened to Indian cricket.

This paper is a critical evaluation and analysis of the current level of strategic analysis of activities in Indian Premier League's team Royal Challengers Bangalore. The paper is the outcome of research which began in September 2009 and which was concluded in April 2010. The basis for this paper is a completed case study of Royal Challengers Bangalore and Bangalore's Cricket Clubs.

As a spectator sport, cricket is facing the fact that the traditional structure of the game does not have wide appeal. The governing body for INDIAN cricket, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), is funding and promoting initiatives to widen the appeal of cricket from providing cricket equipment to inner city schools to encouraging greater participation in the sport by women. At the professional level, although the national team attracts sponsorship and significant IPL backing, the county teams are finding that in order to remain viable business and sporting propositions, they have to increasingly adopt a strategic, consumer-oriented vision.

In today's increasingly competitive business environment, the realisation is dawning that in order to attract and keep customers and others interested and loyal to the organisation, high quality products and services are no longer enough. Contemporary organisations have come to understand that they can differentiate themselves and their offerings and also gain competitive advantage by developing the strategic planning function as part of their communications and relationship building strategies. This same understanding is also true for sports organisations. The transactions and relationships that exist in all modern sports are frequently of a commercial nature and market pressure imposes an instrumental rationality on sporting institutions, just as it tends to do so on the institutions that comprise civil society as a whole (Hargreaves, 1998).

The study was conducted in order to find out if and how professional cricket clubs use strategic planning. Cricket, though not enjoying the same popularity as football, does have an extremely loyal following with widespread support at grass roots level. The sport does, however, suffer from a serious and long-held image problem, which is proving difficult to reverse and which is undoubtedly affecting cricket's potential to attract essential media and financial support. The IPL does have a marketing orientation and disseminates good practice throughout the 18 first class county clubs but each club is responsible for promoting the game at a local level. A significant finding from the research is that no unified or consistent promotional strategy currently exists in the professional game in the INDIAN.

Strategic planning, as an essential tool in the organisational communications armoury, are of just as much value to the sporting organisation as it is to the ...