Racketlon and the Swiss Racketlon Federation
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Racketlon and the Swiss Racketlon Federation Recommendations for the further Strengthening and Establishment of the Discipline Employer: Swiss Racketlon Federation SRF Author: Alain Haller 19 December 2014 Supervisor: Felix Strebel (Business Administration, International Management) SRF and Racketlon in Switzerland Abstract The purpose of this thesis is to propose possible measures and implementations in order to strengthen and further establish the Racketlon sport in Switzerland. Racketlon is a young and promising discipline combining the four major return plays table tennis, badminton, squash, and ultimately tennis where players compete in all four disciplines subsequently. The winner is the one contender with the most points after all disciplines have been played. Currently, the Swiss Racketlon Federation (following SRF) is elaborating how to best proceed in the future to promote the sport, the federation itself, and to create advantages for all stakeholders. The project analyses the current and past proceeding in the event organisation, marketing of the sport towards the public as well as junior promotion, and sponsoring activities. A method triangulation by comparing the analysis of the discipline and the federation with literature as well as acquired expert knowledge from qualitative interviews will detect possible areas that could be improved and finally three recommended measures for improvement will be presented. The work implies that the federation generally is on the right track. However, with only small adjustments in terms of its communication policy, sponsoring concept and succession control, the sport could advance at a significantly higher rate. Alain Haller 19 December 2014 Page 2 of 62 SRF and Racketlon in Switzerland Declaration of Authenticity I, the undersigned, declare that all material presented in this paper is my own work or fully and specifically acknowledged wherever adapted from other sources. I understand that if at any time it is shown that I have significantly misrepresented material offered here, any degree or credits awarded to me on the basis of that material may be revoked. I declare that all statements and information contained herein are true, correct and accurate to the best of my knowledge and belief. Alain Haller 19 December 2014 Alain Haller 19 December 2014 Page 3 of 62 SRF and Racketlon in Switzerland Acknowledgements This thesis was elaborated under supervision a scientific researcher at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern (FHNW) Switzerland. I would like to express my gratitude to my supervisor Felix Strebel for the very friendly, constructive and competent guidance during the elaboration. Not only he gave me his expertise, but also always had an example or contacts I could consult on hand. This was hugely helpful and has guided me throughout my project, which I am extremely grateful for! A second duo I am very grateful to are the two contact persons of my employer at the SRF: Karim Hanna, the president of the federation and Marc Duckeck, head of Media also facilitated my work. By integrating me in their team I was able to experience Racketlon very closely from a point of view of a player as well as from the federation’s perspective. Furthermore, they have been very understanding and have provided me with all the necessary information from the organisation in an uncomplicated manner. Last but not least, I would like to thank all the people for their contributions such as prove reading and giving their opinions about any other matters! !THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! Alain Haller 19 December 2014 Page 4 of 62 SRF and Racketlon in Switzerland Table of Content 1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 7 1.1. Initial Situation ...................................................................................................................... 7 1.2. Objectives of Thesis .............................................................................................................. 7 1.3. Methodology ......................................................................................................................... 8 1.3.1. Analytical Period ............................................................................................................. 8 1.3.2. Conceptual Period .......................................................................................................... 9 1.4. Authenticity of Findings ......................................................................................................... 9 2. Important Aspects of the Sports Market ..................................................................................... 11 2.1. The Sports Market .............................................................................................................. 11 2.2. Sport as a Product .............................................................................................................. 12 2.3. Marketing in Sports ............................................................................................................. 13 2.4. Internationalisation .............................................................................................................. 15 3. Racketlon and the Swiss Racketlon Federation SRF ................................................................. 18 3.1. Emergence of the Discipline ............................................................................................... 18 3.2. Racketlon worldwide ........................................................................................................... 18 3.3. Racketlon in Switzerland and the Swiss Racketlon Federation ........................................... 19 3.4. Financing ............................................................................................................................ 20 3.5. Stakeholder Analysis of the SRF ......................................................................................... 21 4. Important Business Fields of the SRF ....................................................................................... 26 4.1. Event Organisation and Planning ........................................................................................ 26 4.2. Marketing of the Sport and Junior Promotion ...................................................................... 28 4.3. Sponsoring .......................................................................................................................... 32 5. Strategy Development of SRF ................................................................................................... 40 5.1. Field Research Swiss Indoors ............................................................................................. 40 5.2. SWOT Analysis ................................................................................................................... 41 5.3. Amendments to Expert Interviews ....................................................................................... 43 5.4. Room for Improvement SRF ............................................................................................... 44 Alain Haller 19 December 2014 Page 5 of 62 SRF and Racketlon in Switzerland 5.5. Positioning .......................................................................................................................... 46 5.6. Mission and Vision .............................................................................................................. 46 5.7. Objectives ........................................................................................................................... 47 6. Recommended Measures.......................................................................................................... 49 6.1. Communication Plan ........................................................................................................... 49 6.2. Further Elaboration of Sponsoring Concept ........................................................................ 51 6.3. Crowd Funding ................................................................................................................... 53 7. Controlling and Succession Analysis ......................................................................................... 55 8. Conclusion and Recommendation ............................................................................................. 57 9. Bibliography .............................................................................................................................. 58 10. Bibliography of Graphs ............................................................................................................ 61 11. Annexes .................................................................................................................................. 62 11.1 Annex A: Guiding Questions of Expert Interviews .............................................................. 62 Alain Haller 19 December 2014 Page 6 of 62 SRF and Racketlon in Switzerland 1. Introduction Racketlon is the combination of table tennis, badminton, squash, and tennis (Swiss Racketlon Federation website 2014). It constitutes a sport for everybody and interdisciplinary combines the four return plays in a similar manner like triathlon and or decathlon. Players usually have their origins in one of the games and the idea of racketlon as a sport is to combine