The deployment of professional football clubs’ eSports strategies: a dynamic capabilities approach
Résumé
Research question: There is currently poor understanding of how
professional football brands can take advantage of eSports
activities. Therefore, drawing on sense-seize-transform model of
dynamic capabilities (DC), the purpose of this study is to analyse
how eSports divisions can be deployed.
Research methods: Based on a qualitative approach, a thematic
analysis was conducted of semi-structured interviews with
managers responsible for eSports activities with 28 professional
clubs from 24 countries.
Results and findings: The results identify the specific DCs, internal
(i.e. microfoundations) and external factors which enable the
deployment of eSports strategies. They also describe the
outcomes for each step of the deployment process, i.e. (1) the
strategic objectives resulting from the sensing step, (2) the
strategic choices made by clubs to seize eSports opportunities,
and (3) the creation of new sources of value. Hence, these
findings lead to the building of a preliminary model of
professional football clubs’ involvement in eSports.
Implications: Several implications are outlined, including the need
for eSports’ managers to characterize more precisely their strategic
objectives, to adequately select and allocate their resources –
notably eSports players – and to better integrate eSports in the
core value chain of the club.