Essay: NWHL And Beep Baseball - Expansion And Growth In International Markets.

In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:
Assess the current state of a sport organization for informing potential expansion to international markets 
Evaluate potential threats to and benefits for a sport organization entering international markets for informing business expansion recommendations
Analyze international sport markets for distinguishing the working rules and regulations of that market
Determine potential challenges and benefits facing sport organizations entering the international marketplace for informing components of effective 
international sport business plans 
Develop effective components of international sport business plans that incorporate appropriate ethical and cultural considerations.

Overview of National Women's Hockey League (NWHL)

National Women’s Hockey League is first professional women’s hockey league present in North America. The organization was introduced in the year 2015 with the Founding Four: Buffalo Beauts, New York Riveters, Boston Pride and Connecticut Whale. The team Boston Pride became the first team in the history of NHWL to raise the Isobel Cup in the year 2016. Further, the mission statement of the sports organization states that help the women hockey players to come forward in the industry and earn optimum money as well. The Equality, Empowerment and Inclusiveness for women are the current objectives of the company. The biggest achievement of the organization is the Isobel Cup that led to popularity and financial changes in the organization. The goal of global business sports plan is to target the women of country India. As hockey is national sport of the country so there more chances for the organization to grow in the Indian International market. The organization earns money-using tickets for championship and federation as well (NHWL, 2018). The organization has a great scope to succeed in the Indian market due to large fan base.

Strength: The strength of this organization is that it is specially formed to promote the women hockey player present in the society. Also, this organization promote is a sport that is  not famous in many parts of the world.

Weakness: The company requires strong promotion and advertisement strategies in order to raise money for the cup and interest of people as well.

Opportunities: ice hockey is field that in known to many people but not played in different regions. So, diversification of this type of organization will increase the scope of sport as well.

Threats: College hockey association is the biggest threat for the organization and the NWHL also do not have enough experience as well (NHWL, 2018).

Thus, it can be said that the organization is fully prepared to enter in the market of India because of its available opportunities and strength to conquer the communities.

The Indian economy is very befriending to the sport economy as it promotes different types of sports in the society. Hockey being the national game of the country will support the organization in promoting ice hockey as well.

The Indian hockey sport market is efficient but not seized as well as. This aspect acts as a positive as well as negative aspect for the NWHL. However, the sports association have started increasing the funds in the insignificant sports such as ice-hockey, kabaddi etc. Talking about political factors, it can be said that major investments are made for cricket in India due to which the national sport is left behind (NHWL, 2018). Further, it can act as a positive aspect for the organization it can help the country in concentrating towards hockey as well. People of the country also pay less attention towards promoting women hockey.

Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) Analysis of NWHL

NWHL can offer recognition to the players of the country and it can improve the level of healthy competition as well. In this way, the country can promote their national sport and excellence among players as well. Ignorance of the marketing campaign can be the biggest communication challenge that the association might face in Indian industry. Ice Hockey Association of India team is the biggest direct competitor of the organization and BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket) is the biggest indirect competitor. Further, NWHL will target the people between age group 16-27, male and females who are interested in sports (Fullerton, & Merz, 2008). TV and brand endorsement are way to advertise the association because the targeted people are active on these platforms. The organization is different as it organizes Isobel Cup and bestows attractive rewards to the people as well. Also the tournaments are organized in a professional way. The pricing strategy should be comparative lower that cricket and other tournaments so as to attract visitors. It should be around $ 54.10.

• Cultural communication challenge should be addressed through brand endorsement strategies.
• Media plays biggest role in helping prospective people in attaining information about the tournaments. It will also help the association in attracting prospective players. Like, the association can offer Indian players to take part in the event and win.
• Goals for gaining market presence should be to develop the interest of people in the ice-hockey sport.
• Potential profitability should be measured in terms of tickets sold for the tournament.
• Success for the organization would be increasing interest of people in the sport and their contribution in playing the sport in the ice hockey rink (Shank, & Lyberger, 2014).

Beep Baseball is a form of baseball that is played by the people who are visually impaired. In this game, the players use the ball that beeps. The National Beep Baseball Association was formed in the year 1976 in America to provide pastime baseball services to the legally blind and low-vision people. The mission of Beep Baseball is to help those people to play games that are full of zeal and enthusiasm but lacks the capability to play with normal people. The organization wants to help the people who are disabled in playing baseball. Currently, the sports organization has a rich history to show it to the world that states that the organization has strong current presence in external market. The goal of the organization is to create global presence as well as awareness regarding the recognition of Beep Baseball sport in the environment (NBBA, 2018). The aim of the global sport business plan is to develop the recognition of this sport in the market. The organization was developed in the year 1976 and has a strong market presence till now which shows that the association is capable to expanding in diverse markets. Potential sales can be judged using the preference of sport in the target nation that is Australia. The potential cost for bringing this sport organization into the international market would be around $ 20 million.

India: Potential for NWHL Expansion

Strength: The biggest strength of this organization that it helps disabled people in playing sports. Apart from this beep baseball is a less recognized sport that should be recognized by all people.

Weakness: the biggest weakness of this sport is that there are very few people present in market who knows about this sport and its proper applicability as well (Lieberman, Linsenbigler & Stribing, 2015).

Opportunities: Opportunities of this Beep Baseball is that it is a sport that is very useful the visual impaired people and can help as a therapy as well.

Threats: The threat of this sport is that where it is important to have adequate instructors with the player all the time otherwise problems can arise.

Readiness of this sport in the market of Australia is that will help in increasing the interest of baseball among the visually impaired people.  

The Australian team is recognised as one of the best teams of baseball in the world. The country has a strong presence in the sports industry but lacks focus on Beep Baseball. Thus, introduction of this type of sports in the society will increase the baseball fans in the country. The policy in the country are friendly for the sports associations so the expansion strategies of this association will also not get negatively affected with the regulations (Taunton, Brian, & Monsma, 2017).

The factors that impact the Australian Beep Baseball activities are the interest of people and lack of human resource in the industry. There are very few number of skilled people present in the society to take charge of the game and bring it forward in the society. There are as such no political factors present to barr the growth, instead the regulations support the activities. Further, interest of people is a cultural factor that the association needs to take care of. As such there are no direct competitors of the association present. The demographics explain that the association should target the sports person of different fields, visually impaired people and normal public (18-45 years) as well. The competitors in the society use print as well as social media to promote the activities in the market. And the sports organization can differ in the market reaching out to the right type of people in the society (Stewart, Nicholson, Smith, & Hoye, 2018). The pricing of the event should be set comparatively low so that people buy tickets and attend the event atleast for once.

Cultural challenges in Australia can be properly addressed using the advertisement and promotion strategies. Social media and word of mouth advertisement techniques should be used in the society to create market presence. The goals for gaining  market presence would be that the organization want to encourage more and more disabled people in invest their time in playing sports than sitting idle and encouraging others. The potential profitability at the initial would be low (Fetchko, Roy, & Clow, 2016). Evaluation strategies for the determining can be looked the number of participants increasing in the event.

References

Fetchko, M. J., Roy, D. P., & Clow, K. E. (2016). Sports marketing. UK: Routledge.

Fullerton, S., & Merz, G. R. (2008). The four domains of sports marketing: A conceptual framework. Sport Marketing Quarterly, 17(2).

Lieberman, L. J., Linsenbigler, K., & Stribing, A. (2015). Camp Abilities After 20 years: Where We Have Been and Where We Are Going. Retrieved From < https://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1096&context=divconf>

NBBA, (2018). About the National Beep Baseball Association. Retrieved from < https://nbba.org/about/>

NHWL, (2018). About. Retrieved from <https://www.nwhl.zone/about-the-nwhl>

NHWL, (2018). Foundation. Retrieved from <https://www.nwhl.zone/foundation>

NHWL, (2018). Statistics. Retrieved from <https://www.nwhl.zone/stats/league_instance/57888?subseason=407749&tab=league_instance_player_stats>

Shank, M. D., & Lyberger, M. R. (2014). Sports marketing: A strategic perspective. UK: Routledge.

Stewart, B., Nicholson, M., Smith, A. C., & Hoye, R. (2018). Sport management: principles and applications. UK: Routledge.

Taunton, S. A., Brian, A., & Monsma, E. (2017). Developing Intrinsic Motivation Toward Beep Baseball Through Physical Education. PALAESTRA, 31(4), 21-25.