Theses on Golf

Are commercial strategies synonymous with business or sports success? (BSc) 

Carl Lundborg and Jakob Nordström (2015) 

Abstract: Commercial strategies are becoming more common in an increasing number of sports - Swedish golf is no exception. Previous research shows that new opportunities for nonprofit organizations to assign parts of their operations to a limited company do not have any economic significance. This raises the question of why more golf clubs nonetheless choose to corporatize their activities. Is the purpose of commercial strategies generally linked to business- or sport-related success? 

This paper, which contains two studies, aims to create an understanding of the underlying drivers of commercialization and to quantitatively demonstrate how commercialization is reflected within Swedish golf in terms of strategy and marketing. Swedish golf clubs were categorized as more or less commercial and examined based on business-related variables such as communication, brand awareness, and price discrimination, as well as sport-related variables such as success factors and performance indicators. 

The results show that the high level of competition is, at least partially, due to the commercialization of Swedish golf. Additionally, commercialization interacts with both business- and sport-related variables. Finally, the thesis presents evidence that the number of golf players and their budgets are the factors most strongly correlated with high rankings. From a marketing perspective, the findings provide in-depth knowledge about the commercialization of golf and offer a strategic starting point for executives within the sport, enabling them to position their golf clubs strategically.