Mrs Hormatosadat Borhani, Dr Mohammad Hami, Dr Vahid Shojaei,
Volume 100, Issue 100 (10-2020)
Abstract
The present study aimed to comprehensively elucidate and identify the entrepreneurial and goal-oriented strategies of sports startups entering both domestic and international markets. The research employed a qualitative method, falling under the category of exploratory studies in terms of objectives, foundational and applied research regarding outcomes, and was grounded in the postmodernism paradigm. The research population comprised experts in marketing, sports management, and successful entrepreneurs with experience in launching sports startups. Purposeful sampling was employed for participant selection. To construct the initial research tool, the researcher, after reviewing relevant studies on sports startups, developed a semi-structured questionnaire for in-depth interviews with experts. The research strategy followed a phenomenological approach, and data analysis was conducted using MaxQDA software, version 20. The results of the data analysis unveiled eight key concepts within the entrepreneurial strategies section, pertaining to the entry of sports startups into domestic and international markets. These concepts encompass partners, stakeholders and customers, tolerable loss, flexibility and adaptability, experiences, uncertainty, service quality, available financial resources, and operational strategies. These concepts were derived from the interviews, contributing to theoretical saturation. Furthermore, in the section on goal-oriented strategies, five concepts were identified: exports, communications, market strategies, market research, and risk management.
