Relationship marketing has become a fundamental concept within modern marketing thought. Some authors even suggest it is the fundamental concept. Its rise to prominence has seen it become a unifying force within the marketing discipline given its application to a whole range of areas. It promises benefits to organisations that can be distilled down to greater profits over the longer term, with less cost. The focus of relationship marketing is relatively simple. Rather than acquiring customers, the retention and development of customers is emphasised. Regrettably, the implementation of relationship marketing is not as straightforward as its definition. It requires at the very least a long-term outlook, an embracing of technology and a commitment to a customer focus. If relationship marketing is such a critical element in modern marketing, it follows that its application across industry sectors be examined. Sport is one such industry and has coincidentally emerged as a major business sector in the same time-frame as relationship marketing's maturity. As the markets for sport have grown, so too has the sophistication of the sport marketer. From amateur, myopic beginnings, sport continues to claim a strong grip on the cultural identity of countries such as Australia. Buoyed by strong media interest, attendance at sporting events continues to grow, albeit across a much larger choice-set. The road ahead is not necessarily bountiful however. Information presented in Chapter 1 of this thesis suggests that the frequency of individual attendance at major sports in Australia is declining, despite some positive overall attendance figures. In essence, it appears that loyal customers are being replaced by newer, less committed ones. While this might not be instantly damaging, it does require sport marketers to ensure that strong levels of identification with their products are developed. All of this is supported by the existing literature that has recognised that sport can likely benefit greatly from the implementation and application of relationship marketing, but is in urgent need of further study. These scenarios suggest a need to understand where relationship marketing in sport currently rests and this thesis answers the call and asks the following research questions: RQ1) To what extent do professional sporting organisations in Australia undertake relationship marketing; RQ2) what strategies do they employ and RQ3) what are the issues faced in implementing a relationship marketing approach? This thesis takes an organisational perspective, across multiple-cases in major professional sport and considers the sport-consumer relationship exclusively. It is the first study of its kind in this area and adds significantly to the body of knowledge, both within sport marketing and the broader concept of relationship marketing. It indicates that while relationship marketing is acknowledged and indeed welcomed as a concept by practitioners, their efforts at implementation have been primitive, largely unplanned and generally sporadic. More than often they reflect a reactive rather than proactive strategic approach. A range of barriers are presented and discussed as are some examples of organisations that have incorporated some parts of a relationship marketing philosophy into their structure. A conceptual model in the final chapter of this thesis synthesises the issues extracted from the various cases and existing literature. It depicts a challenging road ahead for professional sport organisations.

The purpose of this study was to understand the relationships among brand image, loyalty of fans, and purchase intention. It also discussed the influence of different ways of watching the baseball games on the relationship. This study was based on internet and on-site questionnaire investigation. The sample of this study consists of the CPBL (Chinese Professional Baseball League) fans. The valid sample was 631. The results were as follows: Team¡¦s brand image affected the loyalty of fans positively. Team¡¦s brand image had positive effects on purchase intention of fans. Fans¡¦ identification with a team had the strongest influence on purchase intention for accessory products. Besides, stadium environment also had the strongest influence on purchase intention for parent company¡¦s products. Loyalty of fans affected fans¡¦ purchase intention positively. Different ways of watching baseball games had effects on fans¡¦ purchase intentions. The purchase intention of the fans who watch the games on-the-scene more often was higher than of those who watch the games on TV or internet. According to the conclusion, this study gave some suggestions to the operators of the professional baseball teams.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This study examines professional Australian coach and athlete perceptions of effective coaching. Rather than assess the ability or effectiveness of the coaches and teams involved, the purpose was to gather perceptions of what professional coaches and players believe it takes to be an effective coach. Given the broad range of tasks that fit under the auspice of coaching, an important question to address was ‘what’ a coach does in order to be considered effective. In addition, an understanding of ‘why’ and ‘how’ these factors are effective was also essential. These questions formed a starting point in order to find out what professional coaches do (including how they behave), and why players and coaches perceive certain coaching strategies to be effective. This study employed a qualitative research design to identify perceptions about, and strategies of, effective coaching within the professional sport context. Interviews enabled participants to discuss their interpretations of the world in which they live, from their own point of view – a key feature of the present research. Observational data allowed me to view coaching behaviours and interactions with players in training and competition contexts. Using professional Australian coaches and players from cricket, rugby union and rugby league, 6 coaches and 25 players were interviewed while up to 16 coaches and 80 players were observed during 41 observation sessions at training and competition venues. The constant comparative method (Côté, Salmela, Baria, & Russell, 1993; Côté, Salmela, & Russell, 1995b; Glaser & Strauss, 1967) was used to analyse the observation and interview accounts. This enabled rich descriptions of what effective coaches do as well as providing information regarding how and why they carry out certain actions. Findings from the current research indicated that an effective coach possesses specific personal characteristics, qualities and skills as well as a general philosophy or direction for the team. The effective coach uses their own unique leadership, player management, communication and planning skills to create and maintain the team environment to ensure that everyone involved with the team ‘works off the same page’. The interaction of all these features leads to the primary goal of player development, improvement in player performance and winning matches. This thesis identified key perceptions and applications of effective coaching based on Australian professional coach and player experiences.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This study examines professional Australian coach and athlete perceptions of effective coaching. Rather than assess the ability or effectiveness of the coaches and teams involved, the purpose was to gather perceptions of what professional coaches and players believe it takes to be an effective coach. Given the broad range of tasks that fit under the auspice of coaching, an important question to address was ‘what’ a coach does in order to be considered effective. In addition, an understanding of ‘why’ and ‘how’ these factors are effective was also essential. These questions formed a starting point in order to find out what professional coaches do (including how they behave), and why players and coaches perceive certain coaching strategies to be effective. This study employed a qualitative research design to identify perceptions about, and strategies of, effective coaching within the professional sport context. Interviews enabled participants to discuss their interpretations of the world in which they live, from their own point of view – a key feature of the present research. Observational data allowed me to view coaching behaviours and interactions with players in training and competition contexts. Using professional Australian coaches and players from cricket, rugby union and rugby league, 6 coaches and 25 players were interviewed while up to 16 coaches and 80 players were observed during 41 observation sessions at training and competition venues. The constant comparative method (Côté, Salmela, Baria, & Russell, 1993; Côté, Salmela, & Russell, 1995b; Glaser & Strauss, 1967) was used to analyse the observation and interview accounts. This enabled rich descriptions of what effective coaches do as well as providing information regarding how and why they carry out certain actions. Findings from the current research indicated that an effective coach possesses specific personal characteristics, qualities and skills as well as a general philosophy or direction for the team. The effective coach uses their own unique leadership, player management, communication and planning skills to create and maintain the team environment to ensure that everyone involved with the team ‘works off the same page’. The interaction of all these features leads to the primary goal of player development, improvement in player performance and winning matches. This thesis identified key perceptions and applications of effective coaching based on Australian professional coach and player experiences.

No description available.

Excerpt: Success in marketing requires creativity, and sport marketing is no different (Schwarz & Hunter, 2008).

Virtually the entire body of scholarly literature on professional sport focuses on athletes themselves, rarely directly considering the impact of sport on the significant others in their lives or the role these significant others play in the career path and decision-making processes of athletes. In recent years, a limited, but growing, body of scholarly literature on athlete’s wives and sport marriages has begun to emerge with respect to American sports. However, little work has been done on the role and experiences of football spouses in the Canadian context. This dissertation focuses on football spouses in the Canadian Football League (CFL). I use an ethnographic approach relying on in-depth interview with football spouses from the CFL to explore how they experience their partners’ football careers, with a focus on their identity construction. I also used participant observation (at training camp and football related events) to gather data and collected and analyzed secondary documents (newspaper articles, blogs, tweets). Working from an interactionist perspective, I offer the empirically grounded concept of a “courtesy identity” to explain how these women confront the challenges of being known through their intimate relationships. I argue that these women are active agents who negotiate how much they are willing to transform themselves to meet the demands of football life. The “football wife” identity is always emerging and changing in response to the messages women receive about being a football wife during their interactions with others (both insiders and outsiders in the social world of the CFL) and as they encounter new situations. I demonstrate this argument by exploring: (a) how these women develop the football wife identity by focusing on their day-to-day private lives; (b) how the spousal subculture helps these women to negotiate the challenges of being a football wife while at the same time creating challenges of its own; and, (c) how football spouses negotiate their husbands’ celebrity status by examining how these women manage their presentation of the football wife identity in public. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

There is no common opinion, if the final height of female artistic gymnasts is jeopardized due to excessive training from early childhood. The aim of this master thesis is to compare a trend in human height of artistic gymnasts in three consecutive generations. Auxologic and related information were obtained from 49 elite artistic gymnasts via questionnaire. All were the members of national team. We figured out that artistic gymnasts are statistically smaller than their same-age peers. However, all of them have reached their genetically determined growth potential. The final height of artistic gymnasts across generations was increasing as well as the average female population. According to growth charts, constitutional delay is typical for artistic gymnasts. The age of menarche was statistically higher in the two youngest generations in comparison with the average age of their peers. According to our results, artistic gymnasts are not smaller due to excessive training from childhood, but on the grounds of genetic predisposition for small stature, which is favorable for this sport. Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)

The diploma thesis focuses on designing a business plan for a company organizing educational seminars for professional athletes and people interested in fitness. The business plan was prepared on the basis of a detailed literature search and marketing survey. The author of the thesis plans to implement this business plan.

[pt] Esta pesquisa examina as carreiras profissionais de atletas do iatismo por meio das suas histórias de vida. Usando como base teórica os estudos de narrativas, histórias e contação de histórias (storytelling), a pesquisa explora como velejadores e velejadoras atribuem sentido e narrativizam suas trajetórias profissionais. O estudo objetiva compreender quais histórias emergem das narrativas sobre as trajetórias de carreira de atletas de alto rendimento da Vela Esportiva. Em termos de procedimentos metodológicos, a pesquisa é qualitativa e os depoimentos foram recolhidos por meio de entrevistas. Buscou-se compreender as histórias relacionadas à construção da carreira esportiva, desde o primeiro contato com o esporte até o momento de conversão da carreira em profissional, considerando-se as transições vividas ao longo de todo o processo. Para a análise dos dados, procedeu-se a abordagem temática a partir da proposição de cinco temas explorados nas diferentes histórias narradas: (1) histórias sobre a origem; (2) histórias sobre o planejamento de carreira; (3) histórias de oportunidades; (4) histórias de desafios e superações; e (5) histórias de sucesso. Os dados apontam que a maioria dos atletas encontra dificuldades em manter a carreira profissional como meio de subsistência. Atribui-se grande importância ao contexto familiar e social como influência na introdução ao esporte. O ambiente familiar é destaque no que diz respeito à orientação e planejamento na trajetória profissional destes jovens velejadores. Observou-se que organizações e entidades, ligadas ao esporte, são presenças constantes no enfrentamento e desenvolvimento da carreira no iatismo. Este estudo revela desafios e conquistas enfrentadas na trajetória destes velejadores, e assim, contribuir para melhorias na gestão de carreira de alto rendimento no esporte. / [en] This research examines the professional careers of yachting athletes throughout their histories of life. Using as a theoretical basis the studies of narratives, stories and storytelling, the research explores how sailors attribute meaning and narrativize their professional journeys. The study aims to understand which stories emerge from the narratives about the career trajectories of high-performance sport sailing athletes. In terms of methodological procedures, the research is qualitative and the testimonies were collected through interviews. When conducting the interviews, we sought to understand the stories related to the construction of each career, from the first contact with the sport until the moment in which a professional career started, considering the transitions experienced throughout the process. For data analysis, thematic examination was carried out, based on the proposition of five themes addressed in the different narratives: (1) stories about the origin; (2) stories about career planning; (3) stories of opportunities; (4) stories of challenges and how those were met; and (5) success stories. The several pieces of data indicate that most athletes face difficulties maintaining their professional careers while having to make ends meet. Great importance is attributed to the family and social context as influence factors, regarding the introduction to the sport. The family environment is highlighted when it comes to guidance and planning in the professional trajectory of these young sailors. It was observed that organizations and entities linked to sports are constantly present on the development of their careers in yachting. This study reveals challenges and achievements faced in the trajectory of these sailors, and thus contribute to improvements in high performance career management in the sport.