In order to interpret the growing interdependence of the world’s economy, the term globalisation is coined. Usually, it is considered a common process of integration and interaction among business professionals worldwide. Accelerated since the 18th century, several influencers are identified as the drivers of global market aspects. The current study is intended to represent these identified drivers of the globalisation process for the amendment of its impact on organisational business, functions and culture.
LO1: Analysis of key factors to drive globalization
P1: Key factors regarding cost, market, environment and competition
Cost
Different costs need to be taken under consideration while manipulating business in a global aspect apart from the domestic ventures. Costs regarding the shipment and managing technology from remote locations along with logistic operations are the most concerning aspect of maintaining the cost of business globally1. In addition, the taxation, rate of marketing and advertising is different, possibly increasing the outflow of cash from the business of Manchester United FC.
Market
International business laws and differences identified in Corporate laws in different countries can come to the forefront as obstacles often in the continuation of global business. The market can be differentiated or be more complex and competitive to be handled by the legal, economic and political stability index of the particular country4. For instance, countries like the UK, and Canada can be beneficial for the global expansion of business as it provides minimal freedom to the business to attain intended profit from the target market2. Additionally, the global market outlook helps to conjecture the future growth of the business on global platforms. For instance, the global sports market has reached a value of nearly "$388.3 billion" in the past few fiscal years which promotes a more positive growth rate of the market.
Environment and competition
Moreover, the environmental conditions including labour mobility, economic liability held by the people and the cultural heritage of different countries can be considered the most important factors affecting the business of Manchester United FC. As per the financial statements presented in the annual report of Manchester United FC, 2019, the organisation has been able to grab an effective business growth by following the major preferences of customers from particular countries with unique taste15. This unique taste and choices of the product help to distinguish the core customers by matching the production with the market need. As sports is socially acknowledged in the majority of the country, maintenance of reputation becomes an important act for the Manchester United FC in the global market3. The grand partnership not only helps in shopping the business with valuable marketing strategies but serves the target audience as well. The growth of the sports industry has touched the height of worth up to "$620 billion". This phenomenon helps to increase the inter-industrial competition that makes several challenges for attaining business sustainability in the global market.
M1: Critical analysis of the key factors
An effective analysis of the factors driving the global business of the sports industry has contributed to deriving major changes in sports and entertainment rights based on the "user consumption patterns". In auditions, brands have started focusing on connecting with mass through different channels therefore a span in sports marketing is observed5. Switching back and forth within multiple screens, the audiences are not more interested in sitting for two to four hours before a single screen television for getting the score update. The majority of the audience built an intention of watching and meeting the players physically rather than via screen for increasing the popularity of both the players and the audience on different social media platforms4. Based on this need, the partnership in sports marketing has started changing in a rapid manner that has changed the business of Manchester United FC in a far extended manner. On these mentioned challenges, the growth of popularity has become a norm as the exploration of a mix of ad channels is evolving. This phenomenon has appeared as an opportunity for meaning the fan base of the players individually in the global aspect.
P2: Complexities of strategic challenges faced by the organization
Over the years, with the advent of technology, the user consumption pattern has changed radically where the TV is not considered one of the media for enjoying sports to the audience. The players need to interact with their fans as well through different social media platforms to maintain their reputation along with their fame as sportsmen. The spirit of sportsmanship needs to be disclosed not in marketing media but necessarily on social media pages as well.
Managing millennials
The current society that is highly digitised with the advancement of technologies creates different challenges before the strategy makers of the FCs'. Rapid digitisation allows the audience to watch sports events in their own comfort. As a result, professional sports groups like Manchester United FC are required to offer such comfort to the audience through developing mobile applications or their own TV stations5. On the other hand, as the particular TV stations and the applications, language barriers can be an issue as well as the applications can be run in different countries with different languages.
Gaming experience
The audience nowadays, not only needs the simple bliss of enjoying sports events, but the integration of the advanced technology increased their requirement of enjoying pregame shows, halftime entertainment and many more. Coming up with an in-game experience is not so satisfying for the audience these days, the introduction of the t-shirt-gun, and kiss cam may be able to increase the excitement but the actual essence of sports fades away eventually7. Therefore, finding the necessary funds for these extra in-game experiences has built a challenging phenomenon for the strategy developers of the Manchester United FC for managing the global reputation.
Focusing on negative stories
In recent days, audiences are starting to be attracted by the negative storylines about their favourite sportsman which is itself a complex and challenging situation to handle. The hyper-focus created surrounding the athletes not only displays the need of being fed with scandalous news like-mentality of the audience but it possibly ruins the career of an athlete as well8. The advancement of social media usage is increasing such a phenomenon on a daily basis thus, extra cautions need to be taken by the managers of the organisation for the mental health and safety of the players.
M2: Evaluation of strategic challenges
The profit marketing segments have started decreasing in quality that has influenced different strategic challenges in the global market for the FCs like Manchester united. Integration of different in-game experiences for the audience has become a risk for the cost management in the global aspect for this football club8. The development of advertisement without being caught in any controversial news regarding any athlete of the team has become an important aspect to keep eyes on for the betterment of the business on a global platform7. Additionally, investment is the most important risk identified by the professionals as the maintenance of all kinds of requirements of the audience is not an easy job. However, the growth of the sports industry revenue speaks for the positive growth.
D1: Critical evaluation of the global environment
The main issue that is faced by Manchester United FC may be the maintenance strategy of the cost-effectiveness. Including all the advertising activities along with safeguarding the athletes from being found in a piece of controversial news has started increasing the outflow of liquidity of the business which is not be observed as a positive phenomenon in the business sustainability maintenance. The other challenge is to overlap the hyperfocus of the audiences on negative stories shared on different social media platforms. Presenting the sports events without being focused on the language barriers has come to the forefront as a crucial risk that has been considered one of the challenges6. On the other hand, the mix of advertisement partners has increased the opportunities of increasing the popularity among different people with different cultural backgrounds.
LO3: Influence of global market on structure, culture and functions
P3: Impact of globalisation on leadership and governance
The newly developed or revised regulations regarding sports and entertainment can become a barrier for the leadership management or the governance of the strategy practised by the football clubs like Manchester United. As this Club is already a part of the global sports industry, the leadership of the organisation has faced different issues in managing athletes and other business-like aspects9. This not only contributes to building limitations regarding the capabilities of the leaders of Manchester united but it also affects the efficiency of the leaders of the organisation as well. On the other hand, the governance of different countries' governments can be effective for the leadership as it presents a barrier to managing the organisation at its own pace. The shift of the organizational people can be changed and the management of professional teams with diverse cultures and different languages has been considered one of the difficulties of the managerial professionals.
Manchester United, as a global football club, needs to interact with the media professionals from worldwide which can be an issue for the professionals responsible for managing the governance activity. If the company fails to interact correctly within and with the media houses, no proper information can be shared with the audience. On the contrary, the Club will lose its reputation if the athletes have started showing in different controversial terms or news6. Therefore, based on the corporate laws of different states or countries, the specific corporate business needs to maintain the leadership in an effective manner otherwise the club can be labelled with accusations of being unethical towards the respective country or to the people of the country as well.
In addition, a diverse culture needs to be maintained within the organisational workforce otherwise the workforce will be divided into segments and increase the complexity of governance policies. The specific organisation has been able to introduce the corporate policies by supporting the particular corporate policies of the respective country8. The reason for this particular managerial step is that the organisation needs to follow up the global integration along with showing the local responsiveness too. Otherwise, the organisation may not be able to manage the capital expenditures that are crucial for the leaders to be maintained the increment of the business sustainability from a global perspective.
P4: Influence of ethical and sustainable globalisation
Globalisation has enabled the government in terms of increasing regulation in the corporate world, especially in terms of job regulations and employee welfare within organizations. In this scenario, companies are directed to maintain a common ethical standard that can enable them to meet the expectations of the global market in terms of managing sustainability in business. It can also confront issues like taxation error and corruption in organizations that are beyond the ethical guidelines10. Similarly for Manchester United FC, maintaining sustainable development has become a proper challenge that needs to be managed immediately to make their international business presence more viable. The operationalization of ethics can also be enshrined based on national constitutions, especially while entering new marketplaces in different countries. Additionally, sustainable globalisation has made justice, equality and human rights more important for companies in terms of appearing in different marketplaces. Here, ethical guidelines can influence business in terms of creating a very collaborative environment within the workplace which eventually can foster innovation and creativity in the workplace.
Maintaining business ethics can allow Manchester United FC to set a standard in the international market that can boost its international presence properly. In order to do so, the company needs to work on adapting a collaborative culture altogether8. This can incorporate multiple perspectives at once which eventually is going to enable the company to make a proper appearance in the international market successfully. Further, maintaining ethics can allow the company to create a moral reputation in the international market that eventually is going to boosts business scalability in the international market. The compliance with sustainable guidelines can further allow Manchester United FC to create a viable business place in the international market successfully.
M3: Critical evaluation of the global influence
The global market requires a standard of culture and an incorporative cultural model to blend into the market properly. Manchester United FC follows a uniting culture where people recognize the abilities of other people on a global scale. This allows them to nurture their potential and invest in their betterment properly 10. Further, they are heavily moved by the culture of approaching the market collaboratively and making the company diverse in terms of cultural integration. The company intends to follow a stakeholder-centric model and different theories of cultural diversification in order to cope with the stability of the global market properly.
LO4: Impact of globalization on decision making
P5: Different ways of decision making
The process of decision-making varies from company to company based on their approach toward the global market. Most times, the decisions for the global businesses are strategic, tactical or operational based on the current standing of the company in the global market. Similarly, for Manchester United FC, the decisions need to be mostly operational that can support their infrastructure to approach the global market with utmost agility 11. The influence of globalization has made crossing borders seamless for businesses. Now business organizations can penetrate a potentially wider customer base by incorporating the traits of globalization in their decision making strategy.
In order to make the business decision-making process more seamless, organizations can follow three consecutive approaches that can enable them to make potentially viable decisions for the global market. The effective strategies for the decision-making process in Manchester United FC are:
Using a proactive decision-making strategy
Proactive decision making enables business organizations to make decisions beforehand based on the stability and position of the company in the global market. This decision-making process offers a great deal of interest for business owners that enables them to make effective decisions even before the occurrence of any kind of business event within the company 12. Manchester United FC can use this proactive strategy in order to boost its global outreach and scalability in the global market.
Involving the whole business management team in the decision-making process
The decision-making process within a company needs to be collaborative and the decision needs to be full of exposure to approach the global market properly. In this scenario, Manchester United FC needs to involve its whole business management team in the process of decision making to take a collaborative mindset in approaching the global market 13. It can allow the company to bring in multiple perspectives within the decision that can boost both emotional intelligence within the team and business viability in the international market.
P6: Various routes of internationalism including key barriers
Internationalism in business advocates political and economic cooperation in business that can help businesses attain both practical and theoretical benefits successfully. In order to introduce internationalization in business, organizations can follow its stages chronologically. Here, Manchester United FC needs to make direct exportation and indirect exportation to approach the market with ample resources. Further, the stages of exportation can allow the company to make an international customer base that can boost the scalability of the businesses of Manchester United FC successfully. Further, it can build up a potential customer base for the company on a global scale that is eventually going to help the company in terms of its internationalization successfully.
Further, Manchester United FC can go for making a foreign presence in the international market that can boost their business volume even more for global outreach. The foreign presence of the company in the global market has earned the business a profit margin of about €580.04 million 16. The global outreach of Manchester United FC can further allow the business to become more viable in the international market, especially in terms of maintaining international business share conveniently over time. Based on the current scenario of the market, Manchester United FC needs to focus more on its import and export on a global scale along with more opportunities for international joint ventures. This can help the company elevate itself amid the fierce competition in the international market successfully.
M4: A critical evaluation of the barrier
Internationalization in business can experience some major barriers that can minimize the chances of global expansion for businesses. The first issue with internationalization is funding where most companies face hustles in the international market. Manchester United FC is currently operating with major international market operators like “Joel M. Glazer”, “Edward Woodhood”, “Kevin Glazer” etc 15. It allows the company to move into the international market with a competitive advantage. With the help of international joint ventures, Manchester United FC can mitigate the issues of funding in the international market. Further, the company can face issues in terms of choosing a suitable marketplace to enter the global market. Here, it can assess a range of audiences it wants to cater to with its business offerings in the international market.
D2: A critique of strategies
Approaching the international market can sometimes be seamless with the outlined strategies but most times they can even fail due to a lack of stability within the strategies. The collaborative and team-centric approach can be beneficial to some extent but too many perspectives in businesses can even make the process of decision-making extensive and time-taking. Additionally, the choice of a stable market can also include barriers to scalability in business 14. In this scenario, expanding the business on a global scale can sometimes be a major issue, especially while approaching the market with these strategies.
Conclusion
Manchester United FC is currently facing restrictions in terms of internationalization due to the changing taste of customers on a global scale. This has created a major restriction for the company in terms of assessing funding on a global scale. Despite having some of the major market players as stakeholders Manchester United FC is witnessing issues regarding further expansion in the global market with utmost agility. With the help of proper strategies for international scalability, Manchester United FC can make its presence more viable in the international market.
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Websites
Manchester United. The Manchester United Database. 2022. Manchester, U.K:https://www.manutd.com/ (accessed May12, 2022)
The revenue of Manchester United FC. 2022. U.K: https://www.statista.com/statistics/271665/revenue-of-manchester-united/ (accessed May 12, 2022)
