Professional players, their brands, and the competitive strategies of tennis clothing companies
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Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
School of Business |
Bachelor's thesis
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Author
Date
2021
Department
Major/Subject
Mcode
Degree programme
Johtaminen
Language
en
Pages
28 + 7
Series
Abstract
Competitive strategies, the framework around how a company achieves a competitive advantage within its industry, are an essential part of corporate strategy. When trying to create value to their customers, the value exceeding their costs and being superior to the value of the company’s competitors’, companies usually opt for one of the four generic competitive strategies: cost focus, cost leadership, differentiation focus, or differentiation. Personal brands of athletes have only grown stronger, as the 21st century has elapsed. Athletes are active on social media, they attend a variety of events, and – most importantly – they practice their profession on the field, on the court, or in the rink. Tennis professionals compete in one of the biggest sports in the world, and the best players stand among the best and most recognized athletes globally. Thus, tennis players and their brands constitute a major spokesperson for their sponsoring companies. This research was conducted to look into the effect the brands of tennis players have on the competitive strategies of tennis clothing companies. The research was conducted through a theoretical approach, investigating the connection between player branding and the competitive strategies as a means to achieve a competitive advantage within the tennis clothing industry. It was noted on the results of the research that there indeed might be a connection between the brands of tennis players and the competitive strategies of tennis clothing companies. On the basis of the research, it was found out that fans of a certain player typically are loyal to the player, as long as the player is unique by way of a certain attribute or ability – this loyalty can be captured by the tennis clothing company that sponsors the said player, and the fan may become loyal to the company, thus resulting in a competitive advantage. Although results were obtained with the research, it must be noted that further research has not been conducted on the topic. Although the theory behind the two elements of the research has been assessed vastly, the literature review is not all-encompassing. Additionally, the case study only included two tennis clothing companies and should not be considered a thorough strategy analysis of the two companies. Regardless, the research results set a trend to further research around the subject – further research could be done to assess the historical development of the branding effect within the industry.Description
Thesis advisor
Yli-Kauhaluoma, SariKeywords
competitive advantage, competitive strategy, athlete brand, brand image, differentiation, brand loyalty
