Strategy Making in Professional Football

Harvard Business School case studies from the sports industry, co-authored by Prof. Sascha L. Schmidt, will be used to discuss strategy making within professional football:

• FC Bayern Munich to understand why and how the club entered a new mar-ket and nurtured growth in China

• TSG 1899 Hoffenheim to understand why and how the club applies an early adopter innovation strategy to its football business

• German National Football Team to understand why and how balancing ex-ploitation and exploration is crucial to escape the success trap after winning the FIFA World Cup

• FC Schalke 04 to understand why and how the club entered eSports as an adjacent business

The course is divided into four sessions that consecutively build upon each other.

Guest speakers from football clubs represented in the respective case studies will be invited to discuss major challenges of successful strategy making in professional football and interchange ideas on future developments with students.

With the help of case study method, students will apply strategy making tools and frameworks to real-life situations that business executives have faced. They will analyze the situation, decide on the best possible solution and defend their conclusions. We will advance their problem-solving skills as well as their ability to think and reason rigorously.

In the first session, student teams will get a work assignment to solve a specific issue on how to develop growth in adjacent businesses of Schalke 04. While in the first three sessions, students will mainly participate in inclass discussions and group work, the forth session is dedicated to present an overall recommendation to a Schalke 04 executive. The professor and research assistants will coach dedicated groups of students in class as well as in between lectures to support them on their individual learning journey and to help them prepare their final presentation. This will include, amongst others, specific growth measures to be taken by the club, estimates and approximations of expected business impact, and concrete action plans.

Since the format of the course is highly interactive, the number of students will be limited. Students will be admitted to the course based on the “first-come, first-served” principle. Registrations to this course are mandatory for each student.

Students will have the opportunity to assign themselves into groups for the final presentations.