Evaluating the Components of Marketing Mix (7Ps) of Iran's Volleyball Super League
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Annals of Applied Sport Science, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 35-40, Autumn 2016 DOI: 10.18869/acadpub.aassjournal.4.3.35 Original Article www.aassjournal.com www.AESAsport.com ISSN (Online): 2322 – 4479 Received: 07/06/2015 ISSN (Print): 2476–4981 Accepted: 11/08/2016 Evaluating the Components of Marketing Mix (7Ps) of Iran’s Volleyball Super League 1Siavash Khodaparast Sareshkeh*, 2Seyed Mohammad Hossein Razavi, 3Morteza Rezaee Soufi, 4Ali Mohammad Safania 1Department of Sport Sciences, Lahijan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Lahijan, Iran. 2Department of Sport Management, Faculty of Sport Sciences, University of Mazandaran, Babolsar, Iran. 3Department of Sport Sciences, Rasht Branch, Payam Nour University, Rasht, Iran. 4Department of Sport Sciences, Science and Research Campus, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran. ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to evaluate the sport marketing mix and its seven elements (product, price, promotion, place, public relations, people, and physical evidence) in Iran’s volleyball super league from the viewpoint of ministry of sport and volleyball federation managers in two conditions, namely existing and optimal. For this purpose, 102 subjects, among them the official staffs in the ministry of youth and sport up to general managers and volleyball federation’s officials up to the managers of the sub-divisions, filled in the researchers’ constructed questionnaire with an appropriate validity and internal reliability of 91% (Cronbach alfa). Based on the findings taken from the viewpoints of the staffs in the ministry of youth and sport up to general managers, and volleyball federation’s officials up to the managers of the divisions, CEOs, leaders, coaches and academics, it has been found that in the existing condition, the component of product enjoyed the highest mean. Other components including price, physical evidence, public relations, promotion, and distribution had lower means (in order mentioned). In the optimal condition, the public relations variable had the highest mean, and other components had lower means. However, there was a statistically significant difference between the two existing and mix optimal conditions and their 7 Downloaded from aassjournal.com at 0:27 +0330 on Wednesday September 29th 2021 components such that according to the rank means, the existing condition had a lower score compared to the optimal one. This means that in the existing condition, less attention has been paid to the mix elements. KEY WORDS: Marketing Mix, 7Ps, Volleyball Super League. INTRODUCTION Marketing is a social-managerial process with Influential elements of marketing are called which people and groups can reach their needs marketing mix which are the available through producing, generating, and exchanging instruments to organizations through which they products and values with others (1). Sport can provide their products (2). These marketing is the application of marketing components from one viewpoint include 4Ps principles in relation to sport products and non- including product, price, place or distribution sport products through sponsoring in sport. and promotion. However, Lovelock and Wright *. Corresponding Author: Siavash Khodaparast Sareshkeh E-mail: [email protected] 36 Components of Marketing Mix (7Ps) of Iran’s Volleyball Super League (1999) believed that other elements besides these the most important sport for sport specialists. elements can be noticed. They proposed the 8Ps The long history of this sport in Iran is obvious. paradigm including 1) Product, 2) Place and In some parts of Iran like the western north, time, 3) Process, 4) Productivity and quality, 5) eastern north and the central parts of Iran, People, 6) Promotion, encouragement, and special attention is paid to this sport. In the last education, 7) Physical elements, and 8) Price and decades due to the encouragement of volleyball other expenses of services (3). Another proposal federation of Iran a number of triumphs have was made by Botten and McManus (1999) been achieved in adolescents and youth which include 7 Ps which are 1) Producing competitions in Asia and global competitions. products and goods (related to services), 2) However, the victories achieved were unstable Price, 3) Place, 4) promotion and and heterogeneous over the years. encouragement, 5) Physical elements, 6) What is the reason that volleyball enjoys Partnership, and 7) Process (4). By marketing different sources of money like advertisement, mix it is meant that there must be a kind of ticketing, TV rights, etc. in different European systematic and coordinated view between its and Asian countries, but in Iran it lacks such components such that they can be influential in sources? convincing the customers. In other words, a What is the share of volleyball in Iranian better product with better a price and applying sport sector? Is it consuming resources or better communication and advertising producing them? Are volleyball clubs procedures get to the hand of customers (5). The independent or dependent to the government for number of components in marketing mix is not their expenses? If these clubs were independent, so important. The important issue is to have a were this money paid to coaches and players? If paradigm to organize activities and strategies of such money is paid to players, is the marketing. In other words, marketing mix is management of volleyball players still the same considered as a box in which people put their as today? If Iranian volleyball clubs enhance instruments such that finding the right their financial powers, does it volleyball instrument is easy in the right time (6). The progress? management of marketing mix includes The fact is answers to such questions will decision-making and programming concerning change based on the financial power of Iranian the strategic structure of influential components volleyball clubs. But what is the right strategy to of marketing mix in sport. The determination of reach this? the mix is very important because it specifies The Queensland volleyball association in policy-making in the determined sport trade, and Australia has tried to design a strategic program based on the sensitivity of it in marketing for the years 2005-2020. In this proposal they management, it causes that traders take a lot of have worked on marketing, cooperating, time to analyze it (7). financial, and official sectors in the structure of Downloaded from aassjournal.com at 0:27 +0330 on Wednesday September 29th 2021 The existence of people who are eager for volleyball. Moreover, in England there has been sports, sport competitions, health fans who want development in sport whose aims were variable, fast and unique services has caused improvement in information technology, sport takes the form of a rich and famous increasing the human workforce, developing industry whose day-to-day growth can be felt in clubs, and cooperation between clubs and all realms including entertainment, markets, schools (8). fitness, professional and academic sport and so High amount of turnover of such forth. In fact it has been one of the most money- competitions was due to the presence of rich making industries in the world especially in sponsors, experienced people, and educated ones developed countries such that it is estimated that in the realm of sport and marketing who guide in America it has been 6th among the best such trends. The volleyball sport sector also industries with an estimated 300 billion dollars needs educated and professional people in of worth (2). marketing trends to control part of the Volleyball is among attractive and famous complexities due to such transactions and sports, and based on research after football it is turnovers. If clubs and their managers can earn Khodaparast, S. Sareshkeh, et al. (2016). Ann Appl Sport Sci, 4(3): 35-40. Components of Marketing Mix (7Ps) of Iran’s Volleyball Super League 37 money sources independent of government organization managers and Iran’s soccer involvements, they can pay to players and federation and found that in optimal and existent coaches based on their skills and abilities; such circumstances these components do not have any an affair will certainly encourage players and priority in relation to each other. Moreover, in coaches to enhance their abilities. the premier league he didn’t find any statistically One of the most important strategies in this significant differences between the components sense is having a strategic marketing program in the optimal and existent circumstances (17). and then operationalizing it. If sport managers Memari et al. (2008) tried to determine the follow a strategic marketing program, they can elements of marketing mix in the sport industry control the complex environment of sport and in Iran and modeling it. The statistical samples gain high financial benefits. of this study were teams of 9 different leagues Today volleyball too has passed the (not including soccer). She reported 8 transformation stage from a simple sport to a components four of them as independent trade sector. In foreign studies, researchers have variable including financial support, focused on influential factors in marketing (9- management, allocation, pricing management 12) as a determinant industry in economy, and governing powers, and four others as the politics, culture, society, etc. Wilson (1997) in dependent variable including public relations an article titled “Does sport sponsorship have a management, process management, place direct effect on product sales?”