Utilization of business analytics in professional sports organizations

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bachelor_Nurminen_Eetu_2020.pdf (432.53 KB)

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School of Business | Bachelor's thesis
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Date

2020

Department

Tieto- ja palvelujohtamisen laitos

Major/Subject

Mcode

Degree programme

Tieto- ja palvelujohtaminen

Language

en

Pages

26

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Abstract

This thesis aims to provide an overview on how business analytics can be used in sports organizations. In addition, another objective of this thesis is to study the strategic implementation process of a new technology and the challenges of it from an organizational perspective, and then link it to the adaptation of business analytics. To achieve these objectives, existing literature on the subjects is reviewed. The scope of this research is on professional sports organizations. The literature review highlights that so far, the academic research has mostly focused on sports analytics instead of business analytics in sports organizations. There is no clear distinction between these two, but this thesis uses a straightforward division where sports analytics refers to the use of analytics in the improvement of sports performance, while business analytics refers to the business operations of a sports organization. The findings indicate that professional sports organizations can utilize business analytics in four different business areas, which are ticket pricing, sponsorships, customer relationship management and social media. By applying analytical methods to these business areas, sports organizations can improve their revenue and attendance rates, fan engagement and loyalty, and the efficiency of their marketing campaigns. The main finding of this thesis is the interconnected nature of these different business segments: utilizing analytics in one of these segments can potentially also improve another segment. The findings also emphasize the importance of strategic planning in the implementation of business analytics. The organization has to acknowledge its own current capabilities and resources and understand the challenges they can pose to the implementation process. To conclude, business analytics provide exciting opportunities for professional sports organizations. However, analytics should not be used just for the sake of doing it, but rather it should be properly planned to successfully achieve the desired benefits.

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Thesis advisor

Seppälä, Tomi

Keywords

business analytics, analytics, data-driven, sports industry

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https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-202109199204

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[kand] Kauppakorkeakoulu / BIZ (Open Access)