Sponsorships related to sports is a type of marketing that’s occupying more space in today’s corporate climate. Investing in sports benefits companies in multiple ways, such as exposure, increased sales and as a way of taking social responsibility. The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine and understand what motivates three companies’ choice of sponsoring, how they evaluate these sponsorships and how big of a role social responsibility takes in the decision-making. By conducting three interviews with representatives from Carlsberg, Eleda and Stadium, the study presents results on influential factors in sports sponsoring. Most research report an overall positive response to sponsorships and sport, which this study confirms. Furthermore, the results implicate that the biggest motivating factors for sponsoring are brand awareness and trademark association. All partnerships are based on a win-win-situation, where both parties benefit. This study also examines the value of social responsibility in sponsorships, often phrased as Corporate Social Responsibility. Working with sustainability is important for all three companies, with an increased awareness and demand for equality and inclusion. The evaluation of sponsorships differs between the companies, but the main evaluation point is the fulfilment of the partnerships’ set goals.

Sports sponsorship has become a global and multi-billion dollar business. It is an integral part of the company's marketing strategy and viewed as a highly effective form of advertising. Clearly, companies have understood the value of sponsorship for their marketing portfolio and aim to build brand awareness, image, customers’ and employees’ loyalty, and generate higher revenues. However, previous research has shown that the potential of sports sponsorship is still not sufficiently used in Poland. Companies in this country lack knowledge and awareness about the sponsorship of sporting events.The purpose of this study is to analyze differences and similarities between companies' sponsorship processes that sponsor local, national, and international sporting events in Poland. It includes exploring sponsorship promotional activities, objectives, selection criteria, as well as decision-making procedures followed by businesses in the sponsorship exchange process.A qualitative comparative study consisting of 19 interviews with representatives sponsoring sporting events in Poland was used.The results revealed that sponsorship processes vary depending on the level of the sponsored sports event. As the level increases from local to national or international, companies adopt more profit-oriented goals and decisions. Whereas companies sponsoring local sporting events often based their choices on emotions and sympathy to sports disciplines or event organizers. Furthermore, the results also suggested that there is a significant difference between the decision-making procedures of companies involved in sponsoring different levels of sporting events. As the event level rises, it becomes more complex, considered, and longer.In summary, the study shows that companies in Poland recognize event sponsorship as an efficient way to create brand and product image. Although the study also discovers that the role of event sponsorship as a communication tool to achieve commercial goals is not seen by some corporations as a key aspect of strategy.

The purpose of this study was to explore issues of ethics as they relate to corporate sponsorship within Division IA college athletics. The research was conducted as a case study of a private Division IA college athletic department. Data were collected through a series of semi-structured interviews with areas of inquiry including corporate sponsorships, allocation of funding, and related budgetary concerns. Twenty individuals were interviewed. These included coaches, athletic administrators, and marketing representatives. All interviews were taped, subsequently transcribed, and analyzed for content and themes. Quotes were examined in terms of content and grouped according to similarity of themes. A number of themes were identified and categorized in line with "ethical phenomena" as discussed in the literature. The results revealed eleven categories and subcategories. These included Gender Inequity, Financial Elitism, Corporate Sponsorship Ethics, Corporate Sponsorship Advancement, Coach's Roles, Winning is Everything, Budget Inequities, Marketing Responsibility, Organizational Concerns, Sponsorability and Fundraising Necessity. Similarities existed between the groups of respondents. Specifically, the coaches responded similarly to questions relating to gender inequity. Additionally, the athletic administrators differed in their views from the coaches in matters of funding and marketing. In conclusion, analysis suggests an inequality of financing between revenue producing sports and non-revenue producing sports. Conflicting views existed between administration and coaches in regards to the organizational structure of the athletic department. Corporate sponsorships were found to be an essential part of an athletic department for the present and future. Gender discrepancies appeared when marketing corporate sponsorships within an athletic department. Further discussion focuses on the need for corporate sponsorships.

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Bakgrund: Sponsring är en väsentlig del för företag och ett sätt för dem att nå ut till sina konsumenter genom varumärkesexponering. Genom idrottssponsring har företag därmed möjligheten att bemöta en större publik under en längre period. Det som styr kostnaden för sponsring bygger på den nivå av mediebevakning som den sponsrade enheten besitter. Problematiken bygger påen kunskapslucka där forskning inte har studerat SMEs sponsring i större utsträckning. Syfte: Syftet är att undersöka sponsring av av elitidrott, för att urskilja vilken nivå av dessa som ger SMEs största mängd exponering i förhållande till sponsringsinvesteringen. Teori: De teorier som används och presenteras är utgångspunkter och centrala begrepp inom ämnesområdet sponsring som ska bidra till att förstå och analysera materialet. Metod: Studien har formats utifrån en kvalitativ metod med semistrukturerade intervjuer där val av studieobjekt utgått från ett mål och kriteriestyrt urval. Slutsats: Sponsring av lägre mediebevakad elitidrott ger SMEs större mängd exponering i förhållande till sponsringsinvestering än vad högre mediebevakad elitidrott. / Background: Sponsorship is an essential part for businesses and a way for them to reach out to their consumers through brand exposure. Through sports sponsorship, companies thus have the opportunity to meet a larger audience for a longer period. What governs the cost of sponsorship is based on the level of media coverage the sponsored entity possesses. The problem is based on a knowledge gap where research has not studied SME sponsorship to agreater extent. Purpose: The aim is to investigate the sponsorship of elite sports, to discern which level of these gives SMEs the greatest amount of exposure in relation to the sponsorship investment. Theory: The theories that are used and presented are starting points and central concepts in the subject area of sponsorship that should contribute to understanding and analyzing the material. Method: The study has been designed based on a qualitative method with semi-structured interviews where the choice of study object was based on a goal and criteria-driven selection. Conclusion: Sponsorship of elite sports with lower media coverage gives SMEs greater amount of exposure in relation to sponsorship investment than elite sports with higher media coverage

Studien undersökte sponsring, som har kommit att bli ett uppmärksammat marknadsföringsverktyg och forskningsfält. Specifikt har studien fokuserat på motorsport och ligan Formel 1, som är den snabbast växande sporten sett till antal följare. Mer specifikt undersökte studien kongruens mellan sponsorer och Formel 1 utifrån fem varumärkespersonligheter. Ett företagsperspektiv antogs och studien utgick ifrån företagens marknadskommunikation för att analysera deras varumärkespersonligheter. Varumärkespersonligheter definieras som en uppsättning mänskliga egenskaper som går att relatera till ett varumärke, och studerades utifrån Aakers (1997) ramverk för varumärkespersonligheter. Studien syftar till att undersöka kongruens utifrån en sponsrad organisation och dess sponsorer, genom deras respektive varumärkespersonligheter för att förstå om kongruens har den praktiska betydelse som teorin betonar. Då vikten av kongruens ofta lyfts fram teoretiskt ämnar studien att empiriskt undersöka förekomsten av kongruens i ett sammanhang där ekonomisk tyngd i sponsorskapet kan antas innebära särskilt stora förväntningar på utfallet, och således teoretiskt borde innebära kongruens mellan sponsorer och sponsrad organisation. Studien utgick från en kvantitativ metod där data samlades in via Formel 1 och officiella sponsorers hemsidor. Data som samlades in bestod uteslutande av engelska ord som analyserades genom en innehållsanalys, där totalt 16 sponsorer undersöktes. Slutligen genomfördes en statistisk analys för att undersöka samband mellan sponsorernas- och Formel 1s varumärkespersonligheter. Studien kunde inte redovisa ett komplett resultat där alla fem varumärkespersonligheterna studerades samtidigt på grund av variansskillnader i datamaterialet. Två resultat med olika justeringar i datamaterialet presenterades och därmed skiljde sig resultatet åt från tidigare forskning då studien enbart kunde undersöka två av fem möjliga personligheter i taget. En av varumärkespersonligheterna gick inte att statistiskt undersöka och uteslöts därför ur det statistiska resultatet helt. Däremot visade resultatet på att 12 sponsorer var inkongruenta med Formel 1 i en eller fler varumärkespersonligheter i test två. Två sponsorer var inkongruenta med Formel 1 i en eller fler varumärkespersonligheter i test ett, och övriga sponsorer antogs vara kongruenta med Formel 1 i var och ett av testen. / The study examined sponsorship, which has become a popular marketing tool and research field. Specifically, the study has focused on motorsport and Formula 1, which is the fastest growing sports league in terms of follower numbers. More specifically, the study examined congruence between sponsors and Formula 1 based on five brand personalities. A company perspective was adopted and the study used the companies' marketing communication to analyze their brand personalities. Brand personalities are defined as a set of human characteristics that can be related to a brand, and were examined based on Aaker's (1997) brand personality framework. The study aims to examine congruence based on a sponsored organization and its sponsors, through their respective brand personalities to understand whether congruence has the practical significance that the theory emphasizes. As the importance of congruence is often highlighted theoretically, the study intends to empirically examine congruence in a context where large financial costs can be assumed to imply high expectations of the outcome, and thus theoretically should imply congruence between sponsors and a sponsored organization. The study was based on a quantitative method where data was collected via Formula 1 and their official sponsors' websites. The data collected consisted exclusively of English words and were analyzed in a content analysis. A total of 16 sponsors were examined. Finally, a statistical analysis was performed to examine the relationship between the sponsors and the Formula 1 brand personalities, and thus whether they were congruent. The study could not present a complete result where all five brand personalities were studied simultaneously because of differences in variance. Two results with different adjustments in data material were presented, and thus the results differed from previous research as the study could only examine two of five possible personalities at one time. One brand personality could not be statistically examined and was therefore completely excluded from the statistical result. However, 12 sponsors showed incongruence with Formula 1 in one or more brand personalities in test two. Two sponsors showed incongruence with Formula 1 in one or more brand personalities in test one, and the remaining sponsors were assumed to be congruent with Formula 1 in each test. The study is written in Swedish.

Channel relationships, market knowledge, strategic partnerships and brand equity are examples of marketing resources which firms can possess. Marketing resources are especially valuable when they are properly leveraged by agents of the firm (Srivastava, Fahey, and Christensen 2001). This dissertation examines how one marketing resource - corporate sponsorships - can be leveraged by companies to enhance financial performance. Based on the tenets of social identity theory (Tajfel and Turner 1985), two conceptual models are developed which propose corporate sponsorship can develop the attractiveness of a company's identity and thus enhance levels of company identification among salespeople (Study 1) and customers (Study 2). It is further proposed that through this strengthening of company identification, these stakeholders will become motivated to perform supportive behaviors on behalf of the company which will lead to the firm's enhanced performance. To empirically test the conceptual models, data were collected from the sales force and a sample of customers of a Fortune 1000 company which actively engages in a single national corporate sponsorship. The data set used in Study 1 includes survey responses from 490 sales representatives (21.7% response rate) which are combined with objective sales data gathered from company records. The data were analyzed utilizing linear regression and Hierarchical Linear Modeling. The conceptual model developed in Study 2 was tested utilizing structural equation modeling of survey data collected from 246 active customers. The two studies contained in this dissertation make several important theoretical and substantive contributions to both marketing theory and practice. First, evidence is provided that company identity can be influenced by a company and its marketers. By affiliating with a prestigious entity through a corporate sponsorship, a firm can enhance the attractiveness of its identity which in turn, influences levels of identification among salespeople and customers. The studies also provide additional evidence highlighting the power of identification in terms of predicting firm-directed supportive behaviors. The analysis in Study 1 shows that company identification influences salesperson sales growth and Study 2 confirms that customer-company identification leads to customer sales and positive word-of-mouth communications. Implications of these findings are provided.

Accessing and exploiting organizational resources plays an integral role in not only a firm’s propensity to achieve a competitive advantage, but also its mere survival in a competitive environment (Ulrich & Barney, 1984). One of the most common means of resource acquisition for both large administrative firms and smaller entrepreneurial enterprises is interorganizational alliances (Ireland, Hitt, & Vaidyanath, 2002). Utilizing the resource-based view of the firm within a strategic alliance framework, this dissertation examines a particular type of interorganizational exchange relationship permeating the marketing discipline. The promotional alliance is defined within this research as a strategic alliance based on resource exchange between a promoting enterprise and a firm seeking to fulfill promotion-based objectives through an ongoing collaboration with the enterprise. Each of the two sides of the promotional alliance relationship served as a focus for one of the two studies presented within this work. In the first study, a longitudinal survival model was employed to investigate the dependency of a promotional enterprise on external resource acquisition via alliances with promotion-seeking firms. Also at issue were the heterogeneity of resources accessed and the dynamics of the institutional forces regulating such alliances. Alliances with sponsoring firms offering financial and performance-based resources, as opposed to operational resources, were found to have a significant influence on the survival of sponsored enterprises. However, these dependencies were subject to changes in institutional support and the potential for diminishing returns. The second study approached promotional alliances from the perspective of the firms seeking promotion. Relying on the theory of efficient capital markets (Fama, 1970), an event study analysis was undertaken to determine the impact of internationally prominent promotional alliance announcements on the equity value of the sponsoring firms, which theoretically reflects investors’ expectations of future cash flows. Contrary to prior research, the initiation of these alliances demonstrated a negative impact on shareholder value. Several alliance, firm, and promoting partner characteristics were hypothesized to influence alliance outcomes to varying degrees within the cross-sectional sample of promotion-seeking firms. Surprisingly, only the magnitude of the sponsoring firm’s alliance investment and the nationality congruence within the alliance were influential in predicting investors’ reaction to such alliances. Each study was embedded within the institutional context of Formula One (F1) motor racing and focused on the promotional alliances involving corporate partners (sponsoring firms) and their affiliated racing teams. In this context, the racing teams acted as the promoting enterprises charged with providing the marketing platform to meet their sponsoring firms’ objectives. With annual races on four or more continents; a global television audience rivaled only by the Olympics’ opening ceremony, FIFA World Cup finals, and the NFL’s Super Bowl; direct competition between promoting teams; and sponsoring firms hailing from fifteen different nations and over twenty diverse industry sectors; F1 provided an ideal setting for the evaluation of interorganizational alliances’ impact on the survival of promoting enterprises and a promotion-seeking firm’s value implications. To compliment and strengthen the applied contribution of both studies, the analyzed results were subjected to a discussion with industry experts representing both sides of the promotional alliance relationship (Lane & Jacobson, 1995). Not only did this closing analysis reinforce the relevance of the research offered here, but it also presented a practitioner-focused examination of the industry challenges inherent in the theoretical tenets underlying such research.