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This paper aims to contribute to the concept of co-branding by recognising the role of consumer perception and the importance of the variety of contexts in which co-branding is perceived. This is done by studying the way in which two service brands cooperate. A framework based upon previous research is contextualised into 'service branding' and used to investigate the associations between Hong Kong and the Olympic Equestrian Games.

This case study focuses on basic business approaches in the decision-making by considering owners and stakeholders’ perspective in highlighting the related issues in customer service, marketing (marketing mix and product mix), strategy, business management and operational management of the sport business in the private sector of Abu Dhabi. At the end of this exercise, students should have a clear consideration of the following: understanding of the equestrian business products and services elements, description of the marketing mix the equestrian business products and services elements, definition of the product mix approach of the marketing mix in equestrian business management, distinguishing needs of product mix alternative decisions approach in equestrian business management in the private sector and labeling of two main customer services based issues and propose a solution using product mix alternatives approaches (expand/eliminate).

Mandara Equestrian Club (MEC) was the culmination of a dream for Faysal Urfali, a Lebanese entrepreneur, and his wife, who lived in (and loved) United Arab Emirates (UAE) for more than 20 years ago. The dream started in 2012, when the Urfali family was vacationing in Spain. They fell in love with the Arabian breed of horses, famous for their wide, flat forehead, soulful eyes, broad muzzle, erect ears, slender neck and flowing, shining mane. Arabian horses are also renowned for their beauty, loyalty, strength and intelligence. Arabian horses are an intrinsic part of Arabian tradition and heritage, always described in Arabic literature as a sign of pride, courage and dignity, in recitation legends of wars. The Urafalis did not have experience with horses during that period, but that did not stop them from starting an equine business in the UAE, specifically in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Urfali started MEC in Al Rahba City, a small town in the north site of Abu Dhabi, the Capital of UAE. At its inception in 2013, MEC was open only for private use. In 2014, Urfali decided to open the club to the public due to high demand from visitors and horses’ lovers who were visiting the place to see the horses and request horse rides. MEC carries forward Urfali’s passion for Arabian horses, as it specializes in the care and training of show horses. MEC also offers other equine activities and services for both horse owners and horseback riders. In early 2019, Urfali conducted a meeting to assess MEC’s financial statements and discuss daily business operations. The meeting determined that the club was facing several business challenges to address which, it needs some substantial changes in order to maintain its smooth-functioning. Challenges the club faced involved customer relationship management, customer attraction and skill shortages in the industry. Urfali understood that focusing on MEC as a business operation means raising the marker of success to more than just the fulfillment of a dream. Will MEC be able to keep its focus with such changes?

Undergraduate students majoring in Business Management, Marketing and Strategic Management.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy

This paper aims to conduct the first cross-sectional survey on depression, Resilience, well-being, depression symptoms and concussion levels in equestrian athletes and to assess whether past concussion rates were associated with depression, resilience and well-being.

In total, 511 participants from Canada, Republic of Ireland, UK, Australia and USA took part in an international cross-sectional, online survey evaluating concussion history, depression symptoms, resilience and well-being.

In total, 27.1% of athletes met clinically relevant symptoms of major depressive disorder. Significant differences were shown in the well-being and resilience scores between countries. Significant relationships were observed between reported history of concussion and both high depression scores and low well-being scores.

Findings highlight the need for mental health promotion and support in equestrian sport.

Results support previous research suggesting a need for enhanced mental health support for equestrians. There is reason to believe that mental illness could still be present in riders with normal levels of resilience and well-being.

This study examined an understudied athlete group: equestrian athletes and presents important findings with implications for the physical and mental health of this population.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the determinants of volunteer's motivation at major sporting events, how those affect future voluntary engagement, and whether there are differences in motivation based on the type of event.

A quantitative research design was chosen and volunteers at two major events in handball (n=96) and equestrian (n=83) were surveyed. Structural equation modelling was used based on a multi‐group analysis to answer the guiding research questions.

The results reveal that the expression of values and personal growth are the strongest factors influencing volunteer motivation and future behaviour. The factor “love of sport” had surprisingly no major effect on volunteer motivation at the handball event. Significant differences in volunteer motivation based on the type of event were detected.

A limitation of this study is the rather small sample sizes. Nonetheless, the results appear reliable. One implication of this research is that a model proposed in previous research to investigate volunteer motivation at mega sport events can be applied to major sport events and the multi‐group approach is useful when analysing different events.

Practitioners should try to find a good match between the interests and abilities of the volunteers and their tasks at the event, which includes their motivations.

The value of this research lies in applying a new methodological approach using multi‐group analysis to volunteer research.

Horse racing occupies a significant but separate part of sports gambling provision. The historical importance of horse breeding as well as employment effects have been used to justify the necessity of betting revenue in the horse sector. In the Nordic countries, these arguments are used to organise horse racing separately from other sports betting. In this context, horse racing, and particularly trotting, remains a lucrative sector for horse owners and producers of racing. The current study focuses on the production chains and financial interests behind horse racing in the Nordic countries. We use financial statements and annual reporting of Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish horse betting companies to determine who benefits financially from racing, what kind of production-related interests are involved and whether horse racing produces surplus to societies or merely maintains its own function. The results are discussed in light of the intertwined organisation of horse racing in the Nordics and the role of horses and animal welfare in the production of racing.

This paper tests and validates a conceptual model linking the attachment points, team identification, attitude towards the team sponsors and the behavioural intentions in the context of Indian Premier League (IPL), while testing for the moderating effects of age and gender.

Data were collected from 1,053 participants through both online and offline survey and then analyzed using exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and structural equation modelling (SEM).

Attachment points influence the formation of team identification, which, in turn, affect the attitude towards the team sponsors. Attitude towards the team sponsors influence the behavioural intentions. Player attachment influences team identification the most. Age and gender have a moderating effect on the constructs of the study. Team identification in females is stronger because of attachment to sports, whereas males have stronger team identification based on player attachment. Males have a stronger intention to spread positive word of mouth (WOM) about sponsor products as compared to the female respondents. The younger age group of less than 21 years has more intention to spread positive WOM compared to the other age groups considered in the study.

This study contributes towards sports sponsorship research and the paradigms of social identity and attachment theories. Moreover, it will also help the marketers (sponsors) in IPL to strategically market their brands.

This is the first study to investigate the impact of attachment points on sponsorship outcomes in the context of IPL. Further, it is also the first to investigate the purchase intentions and WOM for the team sponsors in IPL. The multi-group analysis results will provide insights into marketers to better understand IPL viewers' segments and their behaviour.

Major sport events are facing increasing demands. These events are no longer “just” about sport, but are now expected to be sustainable, multicultural, democratic and convey specific political values such as “unity,” “identity” and “peace.” The increasing demands on major sport events place local hosts in a difficult situation, accommodating both the organization of the sport competitions and the ideologies connected to these events. The purpose of this paper is to identify motives for engagement among stakeholders of the 2017 Barents Summer Games. Furthermore, it investigates how and in what ways these motives are conflicting, and what the consequences of conflicting motives of engagement can be for the development of innovation in major sport events.

The empirical data in this study are derived from one year of ethnographic fieldwork, focusing on participant observations of the planning and execution of the 2017 Barents Summer Games.

The analysis identifies key economic, socio-cultural, political and athletic motives for engagement among six different stakeholders involved in the games. Additionally, the results indicate how there are both conflicting economic, socio-cultural and political motives for engagement among the stakeholders. Finally, the analysis illustrates how conflicting motives for engagement constitutes an innovation barrier for major sport events.

The study is based on ethnographic fieldwork of the planning and execution of the 2017 Barents Summer Games, a major sport event in the Barents region. The Barents region is characterized by its unique nature and vulnerable environment, with wide tundra areas in the north and extensive boreal forests zones in the south. The region represents an area as large as Poland, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, France (mainland) and Spain (mainland) together, totaling 1.75m km². Several indigenous peoples and minority groups live in the region, such as the Sami and the Komi. Hence, the context of the study is quite unique and the results may not be transferable to other major sport events with regional significance.

Previous research on motives in major sport events have focused on motives and motivation for engagement among volunteers in major sport events. The paper contributes to this research field by studying motives of engagement among stakeholders from private, public and volunteer sectors in a major international sport event with regional significance.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate what factors have a significant effect on equestrians’ participation in equestrian tourism.

The methodology was quantitative research data analysis. Survey questionnaires (perceived risk, involvement, and intention to (re)visit questions) were developed based on pertinent previous studies. A main study was conducted in West Texas in the USA with college students.

This study found that the perceived risk factors significantly affected involvement factors and, in turn, affected intention to (re)visit in equestrian tourism.

Although equestrian tourism has many positive effects on tourists such as health benefits as well as local economies, equestrian tourism in the USA is considered one of the least favorite leisure sports compared to other sports activities. Consequentially, there are few studies related to equestrian tourists, this paper adds to a currently niche area of study.

This study aims to investigate the correlations between latent variables embedded into three clusters (equine agritourism, therapeutic horse riding and equine sports) and entrepreneurial intentions of people interested to invest in equestrian sector.

The authors propose a conceptual framework focused on three latent variables that influence the interest of horse enthusiasts to embrace an entrepreneurial career. Statistical analyses via Pearson’s chi-square tests, analysis of variance (statistical formula used to compare variances across the means (or average) of different groups) and regression analysis have been performed to validate our assumptions.

Findings reveal a high level of interest of from horse enthusiasts to opt for an entrepreneurial career, as funding opportunities in this sector are growing due to European union and national funding available for this endeavour.

Very limited research studies have been explored the entrepreneurial intentions in equine industry. This study proves that sports and therapeutic activities influence to the greatest extent, the entrepreneurial intention in the equestrian sector.